Making Up Ground

My New Year's resolution was to read one book a month. I started off well, but fell into the black hole of failed resolutions. I have a lot of excuses for Feb through May. Every month, I had a reason why I didn't read. June rolled around and I hit my stride. The past couple months, I've finished five books and started another one a couple days ago. 

LOVE & RESPECT

Our church's small group studied this book by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. It was OK but frankly, we didn't find it that helpful. He did make his point that women need love and men need respect. Unfortunately, his approach is often condescending, especially when talking to the wives. I'd recommending this book with a bunch of conditions. One being that you don't expect to much from it.

THE NAKED ANABAPTIST

Last month, I was listening to a podcast that referenced this book. It sounded interesting especially sense I hadn't ever heard of the Anabaptist. It only took me three days to read this book. Murray does a great job of describing Christendom and the roots of the Anabaptist tradition. I really liked how he shared both the positive and negative sides of the Anabaptist tradition. 

The Essence of Anabaptism

• Jesus is our example, teacher, redeemer and Lord
• Jesus is the focal point of God's revelation
• Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era
• The frequent association of the church with status, wealth, and force is inappropriate for followers of Jesus and damages our witness
• Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission
• Spirituality and economics are interconnected
• Peace is at the heart of the gospel

NOT A FAN

I wasn't expecting much from this book, but was pleasantly surprised.  Here are the names of the first few chapters and will give you an idea of where Kyle Idleman is coming from.

• a decision or a commitment?
• knowledge about him or intimacy with him?
• one of many or your one and only?
• following jesus or following the rules?
• self-empowered or spirit-filled?

INTERRUPTED

Jen Hatmaker tells her story of how God interrupted her traditional Christian life and lead her toward a missional life. 
Here are a few of my favorite quotes.

"..my life resembled the basic pursuit of the American dream; it just occurred in a church setting."

"It is hard to hate a rich country that is feeding you, advocating for your orphans, building schools in your villages, championing your human rights, and empowering your leaders."

"I found the descent to be terribly painful, and confronting my own selfishness was excruciating."

"We don't get to opt out of living on mission because we might not be appreciated.


BAREFOOT CHURCH

Brandon Hatmaker titles this book after an experience he and Jen had when they visited a small church and were asked to leave their shoes at the alter. The shoes were given to the homeless the next day. Everyone left that church barefoot.

Brandon describes how they changed their views about community groups. They went from:

• Control to Accountability
• Suspicion to Permission
• Fixed to Flexible
• Majority to Priority

"Each of us has the responsibility to navigate what serving the least looks like in our life, in our context, and in our church."

"Proclamation and incarnation are inseparably linked together. A spoken word can quickly be discredited through our actions, and the in the same way our actions can quickly validate the message we speak."

Son of God - A Movie Review

I watched Son of God this past weekend at my local theater and decided to share my thoughts. Not sure why, except I started blogging a couple weeks ago and I'm starting to like it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a movie critic, as a matter of fact, this is the first movie I've ever reviewed. Although, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. 

Disclaimer: I'm biased and know it. Any movie that comes close to my own values will automatically get an extra star.

  4/5

Not many have rated it as high as I have. I'm OK with that, mainly because I think it's weaknesses can be a strength.

Strengths
Realistic Characters - I loved the disciples. They were gruff with shaggy beards. Some with hair and some without. I could relate to them because they seemed like normal guys.

Great Setting - It was filmed in Morocco and looked like what I expect Judea to look like in A.D. 30. I've never been to Israel and don't know what the area looks like personally, but I'm assuming it looks something like the movie depicts.

Thought Provoking - I'd love to say that I would never have reacted to Jesus the way the Pharisees did. The movie caused me to stop and ask myself how I would have reacted. The reality is that I'm part of the modern day religious system similar to how the Pharisees were in their day.  I could compare and contrast but I hope you get my point without it.

Weaknesses
Conclusion - While watching the movie, I tried to think about how someone who didn't know the story would interpret it. My first thought when leaving the theater was that they lead you to believe that 40 days after Jesus resurrected, he disappeared. Then all the original disciples died as martyrs except one.  End of story. Really. It would have only taken five more minutes to describe what God accomplished through the disciples, and show how the resurrection changed everything.

Lack of Tension - When you read the Gospels chronologically, you start to get a sense of God's plan and how the tension builds from Jesus' first miracle till he enters Jerusalem just before Passover. I have to admit that trying to recreate the last 3 years of Jesus' life in a two hour movie is nearly impossible. Personally, I was able to fill in the gaps, but again, if you didn't know the story, it might have seemed odd that Jesus was such a threat to the religious establishment.

Summary
I liked the movie, even with its weaknesses. There are many sites that describe all the inaccuracy, etc. but I didn't notice anything that warranted that much scrutiny.  I think they just create a reason to discuss the movie, and Jesus in particular.

Go see it and keep in mind that they are only presenting a very small slice of the whole story.

You can find professional opinions here:
Washington Post
Roger Ebert
Christianity Today