Blue Like Jazz

Last week I had the opportunity to watch a sneak preview of Blue Like Jazz the movie with some fellow co-workers (If you were running around Christian circles about 8 or so years ago, the book was all the rage).

It was odd seeing a movie in it's rough cut and strange to be able to offer the director feedback on the movie.

Overall, I liked it. It's not your typical Christian movie and that was super refreshing. It was raw (it will probably be rated PG13 and reminded me more of The Social Network in terms of how college is portrayed), it was honest (it showcases Christian hypocrisy and the world that many 20 year olds face when they head to college), and it had a sense of being unresolved while still being resolved (the struggle with God is resolved but how that plays out in the main character's life is not).

Maybe it's because I'm a little bit more on the post-modern side, but I was drawn into the oddities of the movie, the internal spiritual conflicts, and found the last scene of the movie quite powerful. The last scene focuses on humility and the power of an apology.

And it left me wanting to see it again.

It also left me wanting to read the book again. I think I last read it 6 or 7 years ago and actually didn't remember much of the book. What I did remember was that the book was more like a compilation of a bunch of thoughts/short stories. So I was impressed they were able to weave that together into a narrative.

Oh and they did manage to pay homage to the Sexy Carrot...if any of you read the book, you'll know what I'm referring too.

Thou Shalt Not Vs. Thou Shall

The girls from the youth group at our church are currently reading through "When God Writes Your Love Story". In general, the girls are getting together once a month to talk about the book and encourage each other in dating relationships to stay pure.

At one point during our first meeting we were talking about ways we can remain strong in dating relationships. After a few people mentioned the common, "don't go to far sexually", "keep reading the bible" and things like that, one of the girls blurted out in frustration at one point, "I just don't understand! I hear all these things we're not supposed to do...Thou Shall Not blah, blah, blah. I don't get what we supposed to do."

It's interesting how we spend so much time teaching our kids what we are not supposed to do but we fail to teach them what is the right thing to do. I think with relationships it's even harder to talk about the right thing to do when there are so few examples of good and Godly relationships/there are so few examples of what we are supposed to do.

I also wonder if there is a bigger disconnect for kids today as well. The typical answer to "What are we supposed to do" is often, you are supposed to pursue God, you are supposed to read your bible and pray, you are supposed to do what God tells you to do. However, when many Christians are asleep in the pews and are not living out an active/vibrant faith, the "Thou Shalls" really don't seem all that appealing.

I'm just rambling now, but I left that night wondering about my own faith and if my faith exhibits more of a "thou shalt not" or a "thou shall" mentality.

Book Plug

Over the past month I have read two books that I would recommend in a heart beat: "The Dangerous Act of Worship" by Mark Labberton and "The Living Church" by John Stott.

John Stott's book in particular has been very helpful to me in thinking about by own thoughts towards today's church. In many ways, I sometimes feel I could honestly walk away from the church as an institution (not God mind you) and join more of the underground church movement going on in America. But Stott's book brings me a lot of hope that the American church can change and provides a vision for what the church should be. But more importantly one of the articles in the appendix's clarified for me for the first time the dangers of both leaving the church or choosing to stay in the church. Paradoxical huh? You'll just have to read it to understand. It's made me realize that while staying may not be my favorite option, it may be the more worthwhile one as long as I can guard myself from mentally checking out.

Overall, "The Living Church" is a challenging word and much wisdom from a man who has survived his whole life serving the "church".

Summer reading reviews

I have to admit that I have not read as much as I thought I might this summer, but the following books are worth recommending:

Judaism Before Jesus, by Anthony J. Tomasino: This has been one of the more challenging and informative reads that I've read in a while. The book in short is a condensed history of the events leading up to Christ as well as how theologically Judaism developed over time. It's so easy to forget the other events that coincided with biblical events and accounts.




Africa Bible Commentary, edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo: This may be one of the first if not few non-western commentaries on the bible ever published! While I haven't really read a whole lot out of this commentary, the few pages I have are incredibly rich with insight and challenging. I don't think I would ever just sit down and read a commentary, but I've been finding myself doing just that with this one.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling: All I can say is that a huge chapter in my life is over! (Sigh). While I don't think the book was better than any of the other Harry Potter books, it's nice to finally have some resolution in my life! Thank you JK for finally putting an end to this series so my life can now move on!

April 21, 2007

Today just flew by:

• spent an hour watching Matt help coach a second grade soccer practice
• bought a bike for $20!
• went to Farmer's Market
• ate lunch with friends
• read a little from "Learning to Pray through the Psalms"
• found out Dave Matthews will be in town in August (now if only I can convince Matt to go)
• found out one of my best friends from CA will be in Chicago in August

No complaints here! And the weekend isn't even over yet!!! All I can say is spring is here and both the flowers and people are popping out into the world from no where!

Reading list

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend the book "Dear Church: letters from a disillusioned twenty something." It's an interesting commentary on the church today from the eyes of someone who has been hurt by the church and what she has chosen to do with that disillusionment. It's cool cause I think no matter if you are a twenty something or some other age, my guess is that most of us have encountered disillusionment with the church at some point or another. I think it's an unavoidable reaction to belonging to a community made up of humans. Anyways, it a good, quick, easy, challenging read.