Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris

I don't know if you had noticed or not but I do have a little section on the right hand side of the blog that has what book I am reading other than the book of the month. You may also have noticed that since I added this feature the book has not changed for quite some time. Sorry! I have been reading Amazing Grace, A vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris since February. It must be a record for the longest it has ever taken me to finish a book! And part of that is because I have been so busy. Thankfully this book is not a story, it is a non-fiction where each chapter is different. It's great that it is one that you can pick up and read a couple chapters and come back and not have to try to catch back up on a story. Since I added that portion to the blog I decided that when I finish that extra book I will also give you a brief review of it and what's on the back of the book cover in case you may want to read it too. Plus I will let you know if a book will or will not be a candidate for a future selection. So without further adieu here is what the back of the book cover says:



Struggling with her return to the Christan church after many years away, Kathleen Norris found it was the language of Christianity that most distanced her from faith. Words like "judgment," "faith", "dogma," "salvation," "sinner" - even "Christ" - formed what she called her "scary vocabulary," words that had become so codified or abstract that their meanings were all but impenetrable. She found she had to wrestle with them and make them her own before they could confer their blessings and their grace. Blending history, theology, story-telling, etymology, and memoir, Norris uses these words as a starting point for reflection, and offers a moving account of her own gradual conversion. She evokes a rich spirituality rooted firmly in the chaos of everyday life - and offers believers and doubters alike an illuminating perspective on how we can embrace ancient traditions and find faith in the contemporary world.



I like the fact that she does go over this "scary vocabulary" that can turn off many people to the Christian Church. I think she writes in a way that is appealing to both the believer and non-believer because as the back of the book cover states she had to, "return to the Christian Church." She lets you know that she has been a skeptic too and still has to deal with those who don't understand why she has returned to the church. I think that those who are unsure or scared off by all the "lingo" that is used will relate to what she is writing about. Now when I say that it is a bit like reading the dictionary, but better, please don't take it the wrong way. Yes, who would want to read a dictionary but this is so much more. She gives you a word and then proceeds to tell you a story and give you some background on that word and her opinion on it. Odds are this isn't exactly what our book club is looking for so it will not be a future selection anytime soon. I was able to use some quotes out of her book for my blogging on The Shack so that was good. I think it would be a great resource to have but just not the type of book that I am looking to read right now. Let me know if you have any questions.




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May Extraordinary Women Night

May 1, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Our May Ewomen Night lesson will be “A Woman’s World: What’s for Sale in the Marketplace of Ideas” with Janet Parshall. A brief description of the DVD is as follows:

“Women have the power to impact the world and influence society. But many have no idea where to begin. Janet Parshall gives women a basic course in the social issues that will have a powerful impact on families and the church. She alerts us to what is happening in our world and how God may be calling us to be an active part of shaping our world.”

"In this lesson you will learn: The two conflicting world views predominant in our culture. How the family is under attack and what you can do about it. How Christians are being persecuted in the world of ideas. How to impact our culture for Christ."

We will be watching the DVD in the Historic Chapel followed by discussion with coffee and desserts in the fellowship hall. Please note Historic Chapel because the DVD system in the Sanctuary is being repaired at this time. I hope you can join us! Feel free to bring a friend.

P.S. Men's Griller's night will have their first get together this Friday night at the Melton/Barnwell Barn. It starts at 6:30 pm and Phil and Mark will be manning the grills. Men need to bring their own meat to be grilled and a side to share, and whatever they would like to drink.

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Da Judge

Disclaimer: Please have mercy and forgive me if I make an error on something for I have neither educational background nor the knowledge to enlighten you about some of the main themes of this book. I know there is much controversy surrounding this book. If I say something in error, remember that I am no expert and for this reason there are some parts in the book that are important that I will not touch on. Thank you.

I am intentionally skipping over discussion about the trinity and what it all does and doesn’t mean in this book. I’m sorry if you are not okay with me doing that but I know what I believe. It’s a fictional novel and not worth the argument it could produce, so I plan to avoid it all together. Maybe someone from church will want to do a post on it that is more knowledgeable. Anyone? Just let me know if you do!

In chapter 9 Mack goes out to the garden with Sarayu and comments several times on what a mess it all is, but at the same time beautiful. They have a long talk about what it means to decide if something is good or evil. Sarayu lets Mack know the garden mess is him and that it isn’t made right except by the relationship between God and Him. In chapter 10 Mack spends some time walking on the water with Jesus. They have a discussion about free will, relationships and submission and what they mean in the world vs. how God intended it to be originally.

But then we come to chapter 11 which since the first time I read it and thus far through the second time is the chapter that stands out the most to me. I’m not sure who this person is that is helping Mack learn about judging, but it did teach me something. I don’t consider myself to be a judgmental person. But just because I may not judge people on some things doesn’t mean I don’t judge them on other little things. And when it comes down to it does it really make a difference if it’s something big all the time or just lots of little quick snap judgments?

How often do we judge someone because of what they are wearing, how they look, how they might have been rude in the checkout line, how they made an error on a food order, how they were rude on the phone for no reason, how they cut us off in traffic, how come they didn’t volunteer for this at church, how they didn’t offer to help with this, how they did something terrible you hear about on the news? You and I both know that this list could go on and on forever.

We all have things that we make snap judgments about everyday or…. At least I know I do. It’s so easy to fall into judge or gossip about someone but then if we stop and think about reversing that it doesn’t feel so great. This is something that I have learned a lot about in the past couple years as I have grown in my faith. I have learned to recognize it and work on restraining my self from doing it. I once heard a sermon by a former pastor of Swift that I constantly refer back to in dealing with this struggle. He was talking about how easy it is for us when we hear about something on the television in the news to do a snap judgment and say, “They should just send them all to jail… or they just need to kill them all.” Well he said we need to take a look at ourselves and just because we haven’t done what they did and we aren’t on the news it doesn’t make us any better. It is only by the grace of God that we are not those people. (Now please don’t get this wrong, in no way are we saying lets free all the criminals or be on one side or the other of the death penalty… not going there.) The point is snap judgment and how easy it is for us to fall into its trap. If it was something hard to do the devil wouldn’t use it so often.

Mack questions, why this had to happen to Missy and why God didn’t stop it from happening. The person in the cave with Mack says, “He doesn’t stop a lot of things that cause him pain. Your world is severely broken. You demanded your independence, and now you are angry with the one who loved you enough to give it to you. Nothing is as it should be, as Papa desires it to be, and as it will be one day. Right now your world is lost in darkness and chaos, and horrible things happen to those that he is especially fond of.” Mack, just like many others wonders why God doesn’t do something about all the pain and chaos in the world and learns that God did do something about it through what Jesus did on the cross. I hope that coming away from this chapter we can remember that we don’t want to play the role of the Judge and that God wants us all to come to have a relationship with Jesus so that none of His children are lost.

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Mystery, Wonder and Awe

Disclaimer: Please have mercy and forgive me if I make an error on something for I have neither educational background nor the knowledge to enlighten you about some of the main themes of this book. I know there is much controversy surrounding this book. If I say something in error, remember that I am no expert and for this reason there are some parts in the book that are important that I will not touch on. Thank you.

I hope you have forgiven me for my extremely long post yesterday. It is hard when there is just so much to discuss. In chapters 7 & 8 we get to see Mack and our characters interact in the kitchen around the table. I think a part of the book that is kinda funny is when Mack doesn’t know what to do about saying grace when he is face to face with God. I imagine it would be different because you would be able to talk to Him face to face and actually see His face in response to your thankfulness.

When Jesus and Mack go down to the dock together and look at the stars and they have that peaceful time together, it reminds me that I need to make that time. I need to make the time more often to spend with just me alone with Jesus. Not only to have the quiet time but also to spend it just admiring His creation. When was the last time you laid out to marvel at the stars or just the clouds passing by? I know I haven’t done it in a long time. I used to love to lie in soft grass and just watch the sky and the clouds go by. It can be very relaxing. As they finish their time out on the dock Jesus reminds Mack that even though he feels lost sometimes it doesn’t mean he is. It is something that all of us need to remember when we are sad and feel lost inside that we are not lost because Jesus is not lost. When we allow Him to abide in us we are not lost no matter how much we feel like we might be.

In chapter 8 Mack questions Papa with something many people wonder, How can He say He is a loving God? Many people get hung up on the notion that God is an angry God waiting to punish us the minute we step out of line. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Papa says something to Mack concerning this question, “I’m not asking you to believe anything, but I will tell you that your going to find this day a lot easier if you simply accept what is, instead of trying to fit it into your preconceived notions.” Isn’t this something so many of us struggle with? We try to apply logic, science and rules to God so that we can understand Him. But really if we would just let it be instead of trying to make Him fit into our ideas, our lives would be a lot easier. I have had people ask me hard questions before about God and when I can’t answer them, because I don’t know the answer to something beyond our reasoning I’m okay. I’m okay with not knowing because I know I can always ask Him later. I am secure in knowing that I don’t have to have all the answers now, nor do I deserve them, nor would I be able to comprehend them. Some things are better left in mystery, wonder and awe. Papa says something else to Mack that I think many need to hear, “I am good, and I desire only what is best for you. You cannot find that through guilt or condemnation or coercion, only through a relationship of love. And I do love you.” God loves us and He wants a personal relationship with us. Not because we feel like we have to but because we want to. Our first healing steps toward God are forming our relationship with His son, Jesus.

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Too many pieces of pie

Disclaimer: Please have mercy and forgive me if I make an error on something for I have neither educational background nor the knowledge to enlighten you about some of the main themes of this book. I know there is much controversy surrounding this book. If I say something in error, remember that I am no expert and for this reason there are some parts in the book that are important that I will not touch on. Thank you.

In chapter 6 we have a lot going on and a lot said in the conversation between Mack and God. The title to the chapter is a piece of pie but for me to write a post I feel like there are just too many pieces of pie. Let me apologize ahead of time that this post may feel like it is all over the place but that’s kinda how I feel about chapter 6. Mack is adjusting to this and trying to get a grip on it all. He is trying to wrap his mind around God coming to him in the body of a large black woman and our Jesus in the book makes a good point, “Even though you might not think it, her timing is always perfect.” This is something that I think is right on. Even though we may not think so, God’s timing is always perfect even if we don’t understand it. One part I think is rather silly is when we hear Mack’s inner struggle and he says, “If she knew…” Of course she knows, does he really think that God doesn’t know what’s going on inside of his heart and head? But I guess he probably could be in shock still from everything because I probably would be too.

Mack lets Papa know his surprise over the way God is being revealed to him. Papa knows of course that Mack would act like this so that is why this was the way chosen to be revealed. This is to break down Mack’s barriers so that he understands that God is so much more than limited to a male or female. Because of Mack’s past he struggles with the idea of having the personal relationship with God as Father. In the book the aim is to try to heal him so that the personal relationship is reachable. God wants us all to know that He will be the entire father we need if we would just let Him. So many of us have had issues or absent fathers that it can be a big problem in our walk with God. God wants us to know that He is here for us.

In the other book I am reading right now, Amazing Grace: A vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris, I came across a chapter on a similar subject. I pulled a quote from the book that I thought goes well with the point of breaking down stereotypical views of God, “One so often hears people say, “I just can’t handle it,” when they reject a biblical image of God as Father, as Mother, as Lord or Judge; God as lover, as angry or jealous, God on a cross. I find this choice of words revealing however real the pain they reflect: if we seek a God we can “handle”, that will be exactly what we will get. A God we can manipulate, suspiciously like ourselves, the wideness of whose mercy we’ve cut down to size.”

I think the book is trying to break down some stereotypes so that we will not try to “handle” God like Kathleen Norris states can happen. One question I found online from several sources is, “How is Young's description of God different from your concept of God? What parts of his description did you like and what parts didn't you like?" I did not get hung up on the depiction of God in the novel. It was shocking yes but I’m okay with reading it because I know in my heart that God is more than I could possibly imagine and I’m okay with not understanding exactly how God makes everything work.

Papa and Mack also have a conversation about freedom and what it means for us to have freedom in our lives. Mack is questioning if he had the freedom to come to the shack in the first place or the freedom to leave and Papa’s response is, “Just because I know you’re too curious to go, does that reduce your freedom to leave?” I have heard several debates between people about freewill and if God knows everything before we do it then how is it free. And I like Papa’s response to that debate.

The conversation keeps rolling and Papa and Mack get into a debate about if God was really there for Jesus on the cross, which is another issue many struggle with. Papa tells Mack, “You misunderstand the mystery there. Regardless of what he felt at that moment, I never left him.” And I think that is something that we all need to remember at times too. Just because we feel bad sometimes or bad things happen it doesn’t mean that God has left us. Then Papa asks a question of Mack for food for thought, “When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me?” Which again I think makes another good point for when we do become angry at God and when we are in so much pain. We let it consume us and we lose sight of Him and that He is there for us. We think He has left when really we just need to open our eyes and let Him comfort us. Papa makes a good analogy when she is talking about the little bird and how we can forget that we were created to be loved but it doesn't mean that we aren't anymore. We are the ones that have forgotten, not God.

We wrap up the chapter with a reminder from Jesus that He would have died on the cross even if it were for only one of us. But what a joy it is to know that He died for ALL of us. For you, for me, for everyone.

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Introductions

Posting on The Shack is harder than I thought it would be. I had thought, "wow there is so much to discuss in the book that this will be easy." But now I am having a hard time getting my thoughts together and wrapping my mind around some of this. There is so so so much to comment and talk on that I find myself not knowing where to begin. So as we dive deeper into this book I may have to have a simple disclaimer before my posts, “Disclaimer: Please have mercy and forgive me if I make an error on something for I have neither educational background nor the knowledge to enlighten you about some of the main themes of this book. I know there is much controversy surrounding this book. If I say something in error, remember that I am no expert and for this reason there are some parts in the book that are important that I will not touch on. Thank you.” I’m hoping some of you that are more educated than I will be able to do some guest posting.

At the end of chapter 5, Mack enters the shack and meets up with our three characters that will be with us for a while in the book. If I were Mack standing there when the whole world started changing to spring time and he meets the characters, I have no idea what I would do… I would probably think I was dreaming or hallucinating but I just don’t know. First we have God played by Elousia a large black woman, Jesus played by a man who looks as if he is from the Middle East and Sarayu who looks to Mack like some sort of Asian spirit. Now I know this is far off from what we might imagine the trinity to be like but it doesn’t really matter because with God the possibilities are endless and this is just one persons take on what if's. Even with the shock of the way this trinity is portrayed, if you can get around that, there are several truths that the characters speak of throughout the book that one can easily look over when only focusing on the big picture. Remember this is a fictional novel for fun, not biblical doctrine. And for this reason I am going to try to steer clear of some of the larger themes to avoid a big theological discussion which I am neither prepared nor educated to have. I will try to pull out some of the other details that may have been easy to skim over. And one last plea, PLEASE if you have something that you want to write a post about in the book e-mail it to me and I will see about posting it for you. It would take much longer than a month for me to post everything there is to talk about in this book so if you feel like I am leaving something out that you want to discuss, write a post!

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May Book Club Selection

Our May selection for the book club will be, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha world by Joanna Weaver. I have talked to many people that have read this book and they really enjoyed it. I feel like this is something that many of us (me included) probably need a lesson in with today's busy bee world and the book God is calling for us to read next month. Here is what is on the back of the book cover:

The life of a woman today isn’t really all that different from that of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. Like Mary, you long to sit at the Lord’s feet… but the daily demands of a busy world just won’t leave you alone. Like Martha, you love Jesus and really want to serve Him…yet you struggle with weariness, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy. Then comes Jesus, into the midst of your busy life, to extend the same invitation He issued long ago to the two sisters from Bethany. Tenderly, He invites you to choose “the better part” - a joyful life of intimacy with Him that flows naturally into loving service. With her fresh approach to the familiar Bible story, Joanna Weaver shows how all of us – Marys and Marthas alike – can draw closer to our Lord: deepening our devotion, strengthening our service, and doing both with less stress and greater joy.

The book includes a study guide in the back because many churches do bible studies on this book so you have that great resource to dig deeper. If you are interested in a Pre-order please contact Kathy. In the next couple of days she will be e-mailing you with the information for a possible Pre-order. And as always local libraries and bookstores have some copies available. We will no longer be raffling off the book at the meetings but we will still have door prizes. Remember our April meeting is May 2nd and our May meeting will be May 30th. Hope you all enjoy and can't wait to see you again!

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