Book Review: Following Jesus — Biblical reflections on discipleship
I’ve mentioned before that I have a renewed interest in discipleship. While waiting for a stack of books to arrive on the slow boat from Amazon, I picked up a short book by N.T. Wright from my bookshelf that I have not yet read. It seemed appropriate, as it is called Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship.
I enjoyed the book, but it isn’t about discipleship in any particular way that I can tell. That is to say, the book is not so much how to encourage others to grow spiritually. Instead, it is Wright’s guide to help the reader better understand Jesus and become more like Him. In that context, I have no problem with the book and rather enjoyed the format.
The book is essentially a collection of Eucharist sermons. The first six are each focused on a book of the Bible. The second six are on more random topics: temptation, heaven, the God who raises the dead. I particularly enjoyed the themes of the first half. I’ve been on a bit of a Biblical Theology kick after a lifetime of not really getting the “big picture” of the Bible. I really enjoyed how Wright sets out themes of Jesus and his character in the full books of Hebrews, Colossians, Matthew, Mark, John and Revelation. For instance, here is the summary of the book of Hebrews:
So the book of Hebrews offers us, quite simply, Jesus. It offers us the Jesus who is there to help because he’s one of us, and has trodden the path before us. It offers us the Jesus who has inaugurated the new covenant, bringing to its fulfilment the age-old plan of God. And it offers us, above all, Jesus the final sacrifice; the one who has done for us what we could not do for ourselves, who has lived our life and died our death, and now ever lives to make intercession for us.
The second half is still Wright, and I like his writing. I like his example of how Naaman struggled to fully “become Christian,” but he was trying and that received Elijah’s blessing. I like Wright’s explanation of heaven as not some “place” that exists above the stars, but the alternate reality that is beside us. And there’s an excellent exploration of the power of Jesus as opposed to the power of the world.
So, if you are looking for a bit of help with the themes of these six books of the Bible, or are just looking for a series of short essays by Wright that focus on Jesus, this is an excellent book.
I made pesto for the first time tonight. Let me just outline for you how clueless this made me feel.
Can I use a blender?
There’s no way I’m pulling out that food processor I’ve used three times since we got it as a wedding present. I’m using YouTube to see if others do it with a blender. Seems okay. Even kids manage.
What goes into pesto besides basil?
Head to allrecipes.com. Wow. Who knew there were different ways to mix oil and basil? Pick the one that has a hundred comments and 4.5 out of five stars. Wait. Pine nuts AND brazil nuts? Really? Go to the grocery store. Pine nuts are four bucks for a little bag? So much for those tiny things? No… I don’t want to pick them out of pine cones myself. Sigh. Skipping brazil nuts though.
Three cups of basil
Is that three cups of fluffy leaves? Three cups of chopped up leaves? Three cups if I push down? Why don’t recipes have the information I need?
One cup of oil
Really??? I don’t think I’ve ever poured a cup of oil into anything. Okay, here I go. Basil leaves in blender (that’s how they did it on YouTube). Then SOME oil. Let’s not get carried away. Push “blend.” Aaaaaand nothing happens. The leaves mock me. I add more oil. I shove with spatula. Ah. It does take 1/2 cup of oil to make stuff work. I figure out how to work the blender so it pulses. Very cool.
Add pine nuts, parmesan, bit of chili powder. Hey – it was rated 4.5 stars. Blend some more. Peeking inside – wow! It looks like pesto. Adding some more oil so I can get it out.
Add to hot pasta
Do I add it to the whole pound of rotelli? What if there isn’t enough pesto? Better keep some pasta out. Then if the pesto is awful the kid can add red sauce to that and not starve to death. Because, of course, that’s likely.
Spoon into bowls. Take picture for proof. Kid finds it… okay. I don’t think she likes pesto as much as she thought she did. I also think the last kind of pesto she had was creamy pesto… which of course everyone likes. Husband says thumbs up.
So if I can do it, you can do it. Lesson learned? A little angst (and YouTube) never hurt anyone.
And you don’t really need a whole cup of oil.
Abraham Piper’s post is titled: “22 things God did not create.” The list includes
- Love
- Beauty
- Truth
- Strength
Do you get it?
I didn’t.
Luckily, I didn’t read the post until after Abraham clarified in a comment. God didn’t create these things, because he IS these things, and he has always existed. The commenters go on to list more.
Sin. I buy it. Sin is not a thing, it’s the absence of a right, obedient relationship with God. I guess we humans can take credit for that creation.
Mystery. Power. Holiness. Although perhaps, as was pointed out, holiness is only defined as a comparative characteristic. So maybe it wasn’t created. But it didn’t exist until after the Fall.
Awesome that so much of what we value in creation is present as an overflow of God’s basic nature. Not because God thought “beauty” would be cool.
Reading blog posts can be painful, because so many people seem to have opposing viewpoints and there is no listening, no encouraging, no building each other up. Even reading Facebook gives me blunt bursts of what people believe to be true, but doesn’t show me any honoring of the opposing view. “If you believe X post this status.” “5 ways the President is ruining the world.” “Why Sarah Palin is a horrible person.” “Health care obviously requires Y.” “No, health care will be destroyed by Y.”
I want my public words to articulate my love for God and my love for others. Then my words can articulate how I believe that works itself out in a particular situation. But I also want my words to help others feel that, even if we don’t agree on whether the President should give a speech to schoolchildren, that God loves them and I love them.
A word of gratitude for my husband. He has encouraged me back into a more focused daily reading of Scripture. And today’s reading (Proverbs 1 and 2, 1 Cor 16) includes words that are particularly fitting given the climate of fear and defensiveness that seems so pervasive this week.
“but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm." Prov. 1:33”
I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves. ~E.M. Forster
Ah, books. Sometimes escape, sometimes challenge. Mostly challenge, lately. I’ve been pondering whether those in the college ministry community I am entering are going to be interested in reading a book with me during the year as a way to guide their growth. And as I ponder that, it leads to thinking… well, what should a college student in our community read? And I decide… either something about Jesus, or something about the missional and community nature of church, or about the Holy Spirit (recently re-invited to our church at large). And so I end up at Amazon, and spend the last of my birthday gift card:
- Your Jesus is Too Safe by Jared Wilson
- Total Church by Tim Chester
- Forgotten God by Francis Chan
I haven’t received any of them yet as I am too cheap to pay for shipping. But I look forward to being challenged by these, even if I have to read them on my own.
This thinking about discipleship and college ministry led me to Ben Hines’ work and blog, and to ask his advice on good books for discipleship. And his encouraging email back introduced me to Byron Borger, of Hearts & Minds Bookstore. Wow. This is even more dangerous. Borger blogs about the books he sells (the online bookstore itself does not have linkable books), and he makes me want to read everything he talks about. I must have read 20 book reviews today. And in addition to a wonderful emphasis on college ministry, he has a great annotated bibliography on vocation, or finding Christ in all areas of work and life. And now I’ve got three more books ordered, although these I’m getting for a quarter each because I’m borrowing them through the county library system. This is the only Christian bookstore that has ever made me feel guilty for buying books at Amazon.
- Finding our way again : the return of the ancient practices by Brian McLaren
- Take this bread : a radical conversion by Sara Miles
- Shop class as soulcraft : an inquiry into the value of work by Matthew Crawford
Byron, I’m sorry I’m just handing out link love right now. I will do my best to buy from you in the future, because your writing about books is an amazing ministry.
I read in N.T. Wright’s Following Jesus tonight:
Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order, is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and apostles? What do you think – ‘Be good’? ‘Be holy, for I am holy’? Or, negatively, ‘Don’t sin’? ‘Don’t be immoral’?
No. The most frequent command in the Bible is: ‘Don’t be afraid.’
‘Don’t be afraid. Fear not.
Don’t be afraid.’
Whether it’s a response to financial meltdown, media overload, loss of civil religion, or a new health care plan – whatever change is on the horizon, we respond in fear. Why? Do we really think God has the power to save us from hell, but not from life?
I have kind of a philosophical attitude towards people. I find the realities of them to be difficult, and often feel different than those around me. But the idea of people is fascinating. Take this story I heard tonight on NPR. An organization called Puppies Behind Bars places puppies with inmates in prisons in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. The inmates live full-time with the puppies and train them for a year to be either explosive-sniffing dogs or service dogs for wounded veterans.
There’s a blurb online about the show, but not the transcript. You really need to take the 20 minutes and listen. You meet Gloria who started the program, and the emotion in her voice when she describes the healing that the love from these dogs provides. You meet Nora who was incarcerated as an angry 17-year-old for armed robbery and now works for the program, crediting it with allowing her to bring redemption to her life. You meet the soldier Paul, who was pulled out of his isolated PTSD and into the world by Samba, his black lab.
Not every story in this world is outwardly about God. But I think it’s beautiful when I see the echoes of the world he created be redeemed from the mess we have made of it. Especially when these echoes can be seen in lives that shows creation, fall, and redemption all.
Jason Gray is a singer and songwriter. He has a new album out today, called “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue.” I wasn’t expecting anything in particular when I set it to play on Lala.com. But the lyrics of the first song pulled me in, and a google search later I came across this great post by Gray about his journey in writing the title song. Because, it turns out, he ended up writing it five different times.
The title is a quote is from The Lord of the Rings, spoken by Samwise Gamgee after he wakes up from his ordeal with Frodo. Gandalf speaks to Sam, who has thought Gandalf dead.
"Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?"
But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?"
"A great shadow has departed," said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known.
Frankly, anything that uses The Lord of the Rings as its inspiration is going to be good. But Gray is thoughtful about what this might mean, “everything sad coming untrue.” It doesn’t mean that sad things don’t happen. Or that, in the age to come, we won’t care that they happened. It means that sad things DO happen in this broken world, but that, in God’s time and in his power, the evil that happens here is run backwards, and what was broken will be made right. This happens to some extent in the partial kingdom now, and will happen fully at Jesus’ return.
I like the idea that this one small phrase was so complex that it took Gray five songs to work it all out. Only two made it onto the regular album – you need to buy the special edition to get the other three versions. But you can read about the making of the songs, and listen to Part 1 and 2 on his post here.
From Everything Sad is Coming Untrue, Part 2:
Broken hearts are being unbroken
Bitter words are being unspoken
The curse undone, the veil is parted
The garden gate will be left unguardedCould it be everything sad is coming untrue?
Oh I believe everything sad is coming untrue
In the hands of the One who makes all things new
This fall, I am volunteering to help with the college ministry at our church, a group based on small groups. I am more interested than usual than the idea of community, and of church, and what it is that we as adults are trying to teach and model to college-age students.
Scot McKnight published this small quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. It resonated with me as a good vision of “church as a community of believers.”
Those who want more than what Christ has established between us do not want Christian community. They are looking for some extraordinary experiences of community… Such people are bringing confused and tainted desires into the Christian community. Precisely at this point Christian community is most often threatened from the very outset by the greatest danger … the danger of confusing Christian community with some wishful image of pious community, the danger of blending the devout heart’s natural desire for community with the spiritual reality of Christian community.
This idea is that the Christian community is messy, is difficult. We want a place where we are fully accepted and loved, and can do great work together. But then we struggle to build each other up and are chained down by our fears and weaknesses. Perhaps the sign of a Christian community isn’t so much the great deeds we accomplish (either evangelism or justice) but that we are determined to bear with each other and forgive each other and accept each other’s weaknesses (and Christ’s strength) on the journey.
I was encouraged not only by this quote, but by the thoughtful comments about it on Scot’s site. Have a look.
I listened to an interesting little essay on NPR yesterday called “Economists don’t believe in Soulmates” by Dr. Betsey Stevenson. Her philosophy is that people don’t marry because of romance, they marry because they have found someone that is worth investing in:
Searching for a spouse is very similar to searching for a job. There is not one perfect job for each of us, but there are clearly better and worse jobs. So we hunt, for a spouse and a job. When do we stop? When the offer in the hand is better than the likely offer in the bush.
I found this interesting – not because I think picking a husband is like picking a job. But because I do think marriage is a decision based on commitments and investment, not romance and my foot popping up into the air when we kiss.
I am lucky enough to have a husband whom I love and who is good looking. But I picked him because of his commitment to Christ and his determination to work on our marriage, not because I think he is my soulmate.
I’m apparently much more aligned with the economists than Hollywood.
