Rainy Day

It has been raining here for two days straight. Most unusual for Oklahoma in August! It's great, because we really needed the rain. The only downside (for me) is that DS still has not put the new repaired wheel on his car, so his brand new car is sitting in the driveway! I'm starting to get a little cranky about that, but done is done so all we can do now is wait for the rain to stop.

If you check my reading list, you will probably notice that I have finally (at least six months after the rest of the know world) have read The Shack. So, alonge with every other blogger in the world, here's my response. Very interesting book. Yes, I know the the writing is not Pulitzer Prize winning quality, so what. A lot of the fiction most of us read isn't. I won't claim that I think that William Young has suddenly divulged all the answers to the questions of eternity. In fact, if you look at the theology critically, I'm sure it gets a little wonky in places. (Not yet being officially trained in systematic theology I can't really say that definitively.) But, I do feel that it contains a great deal of truth and that it certainly points in the right direction.

For those trying to get a handle on the emergent church movement, I think that is some ways it encapsulates a lot of the core thinking that is giving life to the emergent church. It's so easy to see something new happening in the church and try and copy it without understanding what's at the root of it. Emergent church as I understand it isn't about new (or reviving old) worship styles, finding ways to reach out to younger constituents, or learning new music. It is about a new way of thinking about what it means to be a Christian. Dogma, doctrines, believing the right things (or the same things I do), organizations and institutions, even worship styles are just details. It's all about relationship--our relationship with God, and flowing from that our relationship with every other individual we come in contact with and on out through the rest of the world. I think The Shack wraps this up and and presents in in a very accessible package.

I also think that this book could be an immesurably wonderful gift to someone in pain and needing healing.

So, that's what I think. I also think it's worth your time to read it. It only took me a day(ish) so it's well worth the time. Let me know what you think.