Get Ready for the Holy Wild
In January we will begin a new Christian Book Club by reading “The Holy Wild”. Earlier this year we read another book by Buchanan called “Your God is Too Safe” which received good comments from everyone who read it in the club. I am including a link for you here if you need to order it.
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The Holy Wild: Trusting in the Character of God By Mark Buchanan / Multnomah It’s the direst question in human existence: Can God be trusted? With refreshing honesty, Buchanan poignantly explains what’s riding on our answer. Whether we’re peaceful or suspicious, happy or discontented, everything hangs on our perception of divine character—and matters mightily at the day of our death. Discover meaning for your life—and joy for living! 292 pages, hardcover from Multnomah. |
In February we are going to be reading “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller After that I have a few books that have been suggested but I would appreciate any suggestions you have as far as book to read for 2009. I like to read a variety of Christian literature, both new and old, so don’t hesitate to let me know what books you would like to discuss. My hope and prayer is that we will continue to pick up new readers and ‘comment-ers’ in the coming year. Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
The Shack
I hope you have enjoyed November’s Christian Book Club book of the the month “The Shack”. By now you should have completed all 18 chapters. As we started reading this book I told you about how controversial it was. People seemed to love the book or be really upset with it.
Personally, I really enjoyed the book. It was well written and kept my attention. I generally have a lot of stuff going on and there are some book that I really struggle to read over the course of a month. The Shack really got my attention and I found myself making time to read it. I enjoyed the interaction between Mack and the representations of the trinity. I don’t feel like I need to defend the theological aspects of the book becasue it is not a book on theology. It is a story. There is tremendous power in story and I think it is very possible for God to be able to use a story like to help people embrace a walk with Jesus.
I also felt the forgiveness parts of the story were really well done. One of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, used the power of story to teach on forgiveness. In his book, Prince Caspian, Lewis uses the power of story to present the impotance of forgiveness. Working the Mack character through forgiveness to help lift the great sadness was a wonderful use of story.
I am including a comment by Amanda on this post in case you didn’t read the comment section on week 2.
Comment by Amanda on 15 November 2008:
At first, I was surprised that Papa was a woman! Jesus was portrayed in a way that I had read before and I suppose that Sarayu is kinda how I’ve thought of the Holy Spirit, just not as a female. At first, I wondered why Young would portray Papa as a woman, however, as I read further, I realized that God and Jesus were showing up in the forms that Mac needed them to be. Had God initially been a huge gray headed guy who was all ruling, then Mac would have not been comforted in the least.
One of my favorite chapters is chapter 7 where Jesus and Mac spend time on the dock at night. What a picture of the true and awesome friendship that we can have with Jesus! I too understand that this is not theology, but I think we can pull some great theological concepts from the story.
The conversation that takes place in chapter 8 is heavy! It’s the conversation I can see all of us having, no matter our life experiences. How many times have we battled the question of the Holy Trinity and the chain of command. And how many times have we said “That’s not fair!” I was especially touched by the place that Mac tells Papa that he will never understand how Missy’s death will be justified. And Papa simply tells him it won’t but that it will be redeemed. Wow! What a concept!
I love that Mac expresses his anger toward Papa, Jesus and Sarayu. I think too often we feel as Christians we feel that we have to be thankful and righteous and proper all the time. God is our friend, and when we are upset, we tell our friends, we don’t hold back. We let them know how we feel. I really feel that this is the type of relationship that God wants from us, we are just hesitant to give it to Him.
I am going to leave the “Shack” comments open for a while as I would like to hear from all of you on your thoughts of the book.
I will also include a link here in case you need to order a copy of the book.