"Help, Thanks, Wow" by Anne Lammot - Book Review

Anne Lammot's quirky, self-effacing humor makes spirituality fun, feasible, and ordinary.  Her approach is so clear of religiosity and Christianese.  Her simple words on topics of depth and pain invite us to pray more honestly and more often.
In this book, Anne lays out the three basic human prayers: what we say when in need, in gratitude, and in wonder.  It's short, but that's a good thing for a book like this.  Anne reminds me that prayer is more a part of my life than I even recognize, and this in turn allows me to be more intentional about praying and recognizing my helps, thanks, and wows.
This is a great book for a friend for whom prayer has grown stale, or for whom church and the whole religious world seems intimidating, or who simply delights in a fresh take on spirituality.  Personally, I look forward to a book on what Anne calls the fourth great prayer, "Lord, help me not to be such an ass."  I find myself praying that a lot.

Georgia O'Keeffe - Review

Wandering through the library, I stumbled into the oversized section.  When I discovered Georgia O'Keeffe's self-authored description of her own work, I jumped.  In addition to holding gorgeous prints of her own work, this massive (14x10) work offers beautiful insights into the process of art.
A few comments stand out in my memory.

• After a decade of art training, O'Keeffe decided that she would have to completely breakaway from the art her teachers valued.  Their training had been valuable for the skills - fluency in the vocabulary and grammar of art (paints, brushes, strokes, chalks, etc).  However, to create the art she envisioned in her head, she would have to return to a blank slate and start anew because her teachers' art was encrusted within stale systems within which she didn't fit.
• She decided to paint huge portraits of single flowers so that people would slow down and actually look at the details of the flowers.  She realized that if she painted the flowers in life-size, a dozen in one frame, then people would simply glance past them just as they normally do.  However, if she magnified a single bud, then people would see the magnificent beauty hidden in plain sight within the details.  My only complaint is that the book had precious few of the these gorgeously magnified flowers.
• Sometimes, she would only paint one corner of a building, and she felt that by focusing our attention on that particular corner in great detail, she was able to give the viewer a truer sense of the building as a whole.  I see all kinds of parallels here in the world of narrative, in which I usually operate.

This would make a great coffee-table book, but even if one doesn't want to own a copy, it's well worth the trip to the local library.  Looking for a while through O'Keeffe's glasses will enhance your own lenses through which you see our world.

Captains Courageous and The Tender Bar

My brother-in-law and I started a book exchange tradition.  Every time we see each other in person, we will loan the person a book to read.  (We live across the country from each other, so we only get together a few times a year.)  We both chose coming of age books.
My first gift was Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous - a beautiful little tale about a poor little rich boy who gets lost at sea.  He is picked up by a fishing boat and is forced into manual labor.  Living by the sweat of his brow changes him and matures him and softens his heart in miraculous and beautiful ways.

Michaels' first book for me was The Tender Bar - a touching memoir by J. R. Moehringer.  Growing up with a single mom and without a significant male influence in his life, the neighborhood bar became his surrogate father.  Actually, it was both the people in the bar and the entity of the bar itself who fathered him.  They taught him how to play baseball, and they taught him how to drink.  But most essentially, they taught him how to be a man.
This particular neighborhood bar was an ironic mixture of a beautifully healthy community mixed with all of the unhealthiness of alcoholism and hedonism.  With that kind of surrogate parent, J. R. naturally had a mixed debt of gratitude and disfunction from the bar.
The most beautiful part of the memoir is J. R.'s coming of age process as a legitimate reporter.  He painfully learns that he must distance himself from the place and the people among whom he felt most at home.  But he does finally grow up and live into his full potential.  And he does come to a peace with his gratitude and separation from the bar, and that in itself is an essential element of his manhood.

Book Review - Building a Discipling Culture - Mike Breen

Best book I've ever read on how to do church.  Hands down.
The writing is not knock your socks off.  The cool factor is fairly low.  The editing is a little lacking.
But the concepts ...  WOW!

Here is a brief rundown.

• If you set out to make disciples, you will inevitably build the Church.  If you set out to build the Church, there is no guarantee that you will make disciples.  This is by far the most simple, most profound and most radical concept in the book.
• Everyone needs to be discipled by someone and actively discipling someone (or at least moving toward it).  This in itself is not radical or new.  People have been talking about this for centuries.  What is unique for our era is an actual plan for how to do this and the expectation that it can, must, and will be done.  We are actually asking people to model after us - so we better get our lives in line with what we see in Jesus!
• Discipleship takes a great deal of time, intentionality, relationship, and personal investment.  If we are genuinely going to disciple someone, we have to invite them deeply into our lives.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #100 - KNU International English Church

I saved the best for last.  The only problem is that it's impossible for me to list all the reasons I love KNU International English Church.
Of course, the people are awesome and loving.
The community is multicultural in almost every way possible.
God is doing good things among us and through us.  People are being transformed by God's grace.
We are reaching out to our local community and to the global community through Bangladesh.
We are creative, innovative, resilient, and faithful.
I could go on and on and on.  Instead, I'll just share the my historical reflection from Sunday.  (I love you guys.  Thank you for letting us be part of your church, your lives, and your hearts!)

Transition in Context

Today, I want to do a quick review of the history of our church.  I guess 90% of us here today have only known this church with me as the lead pastor, but our history extends far beyond me.  

Everyone, please stand up.  I want to thank you for being here today to worship and to celebrate God’s grace in the midst of this transition.  God needs all of you.  Whether you are a new attender or an old member, I hope you will engage what God is doing here with your whole heart.  Volunteer, serve, show hospitality to each other and to new people.  God is changing the world through this loving community here.  Many people through the years have said this is the best church they have ever experienced, and they are right.  You guys are awesome!  Give God your heart here, and you and our world will never be the same.

---

OK, now, if you have started attending our church within the past three years, please sit down.  For those of you standing, you have seen some amazing things happen in our church over the past few years.  

• We’ve had baptisms of new and recommitting Christians once or twice a year.  In 2011 we had our first baptism service outside on the KNU campus, with 9 people from 4 different countries.
• After a season of spiritual dryness, we started doing 24/7 Prayer in 2010, and God has used that to pump spiritual life into our church every semester.
• In 2009, we established our partnership with the Village of Hope in Bangladesh, and since 2010, we’ve sent a total of six teams to care for our widows and orphans there.  Last year we began sponsoring the kids, and this has become an integral part of the life and mission of our church.  God is using our church here to draw KNU and other Korean churches into partnership with Bangladesh.

Magician's Nephew Review

Emma and I started the Chronicles of Narnia series.  We decided to read chronologically - probably easier for a kid.  We're both loving it.  (It's the second time around for me.) Two parts of the story really stand out to me.
1) Alsan creates Narnia by singing.  We often think of God's voice as a dry booming voice.  Lewis's singing Alsan brings out the powerful beauty of God.  I love that Lewis can do something that changes how we think about God.
2) The people who are attuned with God love Aslan and Narnia, but the people who are greedy and out of sync with God find Aslan and Narnia to be torturous.  Goodness is offensive to them.  Somehow that rings true and makes sense on a primal level.  Also - it could explain much about the coexistence of heaven and hell.  They could be the same "thing" experienced in different ways.

The Josh rating is a strong 4 Js: JJJJ.

Grace (Eventually) - Review

I love Anne Lamott.  I wish she would spend long hours relaxing on the back porch or drinking coffee at the kitchen table with our family.  She would add laughter and depth and love to every situation - and yes, by her own beautiful admission, maybe a little drama too.  But the fact that she freely admits that is part of why I love her and wish we could hang out.
Grace (Eventually) is Donnie-Miller-esque, except that Lamott wraps each chapter into a beautiful little package and - at the same time - ends chapters in intriguing little wandering phrases.  Lamott compiles a range of stories in which she has failed, succeeded, worried, shouted, cried, laughed, trusted, doubted, and loved.  The beauty of her writing is that she draws us into her life and shows us the mysterious action of God there.  In the process, she opens us to our own lives and the same mysterious action of God in us.
I've read a few books by Lamott, but this one is definitely the most "liberal."  She rails against Bush, like a wounded lover, watching her ex dance with the prom queen.  She offers positions on euthanasia and abortion, which I don't support.  However, the benefit in reading Lamott, with all of her frankness and obvious love for God and people, is not agreeing with what she says but understanding the innate humanity of her experience.  She opens my heart to people with whom I disagree, and that is worth the price of any book.  (Though this one was a gift from my friend Gina.  Thanks!)
As hinted by the title, the main point of the book is Lamott's wrestlings with her life struggles and how she finally finds grace - eventually.   Simply opening that struggle to the public is a great act of courage, and it encourages us to stay on the trail of grace even in our darkest times.  Lamott makes me want to write, and to write a lot.
While Grace (Eventually) is not as good as some of Lamott's other books, I still recommend it.  The Josh rating: JJJJ.

MAUS - Review

I didn't know they gave out Pulitzer Prizes for comic books.  Apparently, neither did the Pulitzer people.  In 1992, they awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Award to Art Spiegelman for MAUS, a graphic novel (AKA grown-ups comic book).
With poignancy, simplicity, and gravitas, Spiegelman depicts his father's journey through the Polish ghettos, Auschwitz, and immigration to the USA.  The first person narratives are brutal and painful, but the pain is equally present in Spiegelman's panning back and forth between history and the actual interview process with his father. 
Their father-son relationship is deeply strained, and this honest retelling brings knowing smiles and nods from all grown-up children who still struggle with their parents.  Spiegleman pulls the curtain a little further as he sketches his own depression, ambivalence toward his success, and writer's block.  He even includes a scene where he is getting help from his therapist. 
On one hand, MAUS is so extremely simple that I wonder why it should deserve such high honors.  On the other hand, its real value is its  simplicity and authenticity in dealing with such difficult subjects.
This is my first exposure to the graphic novel genre, and it seems that I've started at the top.  (Thanks for the loan, B.)  The Josh rating: JJJJJ.

In the Heat of the Night - #75 Greatest American Movie

Sidney Poitier soars again in In the Heat of the Night.  A murder of a prominent businessman in the deep south leads the police to round up anyone who looks suspicious.  Their first victim is a northern black man at the train station.  He is assumed guilty and arrested without being allowed to speak a word.  When the police chief interrogates him, he discovers that the accused "negro" is not only innocent but is also a hot-shot homicide detective from Philadelphia. 
Poitier stays on to help solve the case, somewhat unwillingly at first, and then stubbornly and defiantly later.  His presence and obvious investigative superiority are unsettling for this small racist town.  He is continually called "boy" even as he proves his intelligence and acumen again and again.  Finally, of course, he solves the case and wins the reluctant respect of the chief.
This film was both political commentary (exposing the foolish and derogatory attitudes of racism) and motivational piece (encouraging equality and merit based work and social environments).  As such, it was extremely effective.
The Josh rating is easy on this one.  It was good through and through: JJJJJ.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Review

This was a groundbreaking, extremely controversial movie.  When it came out in 1967, interracial marriage was still illegal in 13 states of the USA.
Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy put forth stellar performances as a family wrestles with the implications of a quickly impending interracial marriage.  The story line is a bit cramped - with the parents having to make a decision of support for or against in a single night.  However, the overall story, acting, and writing are simply outstanding.  The two best parts of the movie are the internal struggles of Spencer Tracy and the father-son struggle of Sidney Poitier and his on-screen dad.
Spencer Tracy is a renowned liberal newspaper publisher - a bleeding heart, white liberal, who has supported racial reconciliation with abandon.  However, when his own daughter wants to marry a black man, he faces the secret depths of his own heart.  He discovers that deep prejudice can hide in the best of us.
Sidney Poitier's parents - who also conveniently arrive for dinner - also struggle with the shock of their son's love for a white woman.  However, one of the best lines in the movie comes in the father-son argument.  Finally, Sidney Poitier shouts one of the best movie lines in history: "You think of yourself as a colored man.  I think of myself as a man."
As someone who lives in Korea and sees many Korean families struggle with the potential marriages of their children to non-Koreans, this film still rings true.   This movie is also a wonderful demonstration of the power of art to contribute to positive change.
This is a must see.  One of the best movies I have seen in a very, very long time.  It's a shame that it fell from grace on the AFI top 100 list.  It was in their 1997 list, but not the 2007 one.  The Josh rating: hands down - JJJJJ.

The Trail to Seven Pines - Review

So, I'm an addict.  I started reading this book on Thursday, and I'm finished already (Tuesday).  If it's a good story - especially with a lot of action - I get sucked in, and I try to read in every spare minute.
In The Trail to Seven Pines, Louis L'Amour doesn't do anything spectacular.  The plot is basically predictable.  The good guys beat the bad guys.  However, the twists in the details and the nearly poetic landscape descriptions keep it interesting.  Once again, I couldn't put it down.
This book was less reflective than The Ferguson Rifle, but it was still a good, fun read.  Again, he reminds me of John Grisham, only writing about a different time and place.  You pretty much know where you're going to end up, but the journey is still worth the ride.  (Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!)
The Josh rating: JJJ.

Annie Hall - #35 Greatest American Movie of All Time

Thanks to Itunes and loaners from friends, Sarah and I are slowly working our way through the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movies of All Time.  This week we watched Annie Hall, a 1977 movie, co-everything (writing, directing, staring) Woody Allen.
It's a semi-biographical, romantic comedy, telling the story of Alvi (Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) and their on-again, off-again relationship.  It has lots of flashbacks, in which the lead characters are present on the sidelines of the flashback - much like the Ghost of Christmas Past or It's a Wonderful Life.  Except that here, to great comedic effect, the present day characters are able to interact with or even interpose themselves into the flashback characters.  The whole movie has this playful disconnect with reality that allows the characters to move in and out of each others' stories and even to step toward the camera to address the audience directly.
Overall, I found it an interesting mixture of funny and sad, but not overwhelmingly good.  I was particularly disappointed that Allen's character didn't seem to make any progress in dealing with his own issues.  The Josh rating: JJJ.

The Maltese Falcon - #31 Greatest American Movie

Sarah and I chipped away at our goal of seeing all of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.  It's not exactly comprehensive because they have to be American movies, but it's a good place to start to find some great movies.  This weekend, we hit another Bogart classic, The Maltese Falcon.
This is a pretty simple movie with a classic mystery plot.  A tangled web of characters are trying to lay claim to a mysterious missing treasure - the Maltese Falcon - a gem, encrusted gold bird from ancient Malta.  Humphrey Bogart is a private detective who gets wrangled into the search for the bird by a beautiful woman.  There is the expected romantic drama between the two as each tries to use the other and considers the possibility that despite their better judgement they might be falling for each other. 
[Spoiler Alert] Revealing the point of the movie, at the very end, after the bird is discovered and revealed to be a fake, after most of the characters are either captured or have escaped, Bogart lovingly cradles the falcon as he walks out the door.  A cop asks, "What is that thing anyway?"  In Bogart's deep, wry voice, he answers, "The stuff dreams are made of."  Leaving the audience to wonder if all our dreams are farces or if only our quixotic, get-rich-quick dreams suffer Bogart's judgment.  Either way, it pushes us toward a critical evaluation of our own dreams - something that's always healthy.
Although there is an element of mystery and suspense, in the end, I felt like the plot was basically predictable.  You just kind of get the feeling that it will work out this way.  Still a good movie.
The Josh rating: JJJ.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - #38 Greatest American Movie of All Time

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the best Humphrey Bogart film I've seen.  His character is a down-and-out American in a Mexican city.  After getting some cash, he takes up gold prospecting - together with a friend and an experienced prospector.
The story itself has lots of twists and turns.  It leaves you guessing right up to the very end. 
However, the essence of the story is his transformation after they find gold.  He moves from a trusting, stand-up guy to ... well I won't ruin the story.  Gold changes people - a maxim often repeated by the old prospector (who seems to be the type-model for the old man prospector in Toy Story).  They old guy himself claims to have made and lost many a fortune hunting for gold.  Once you strike it rich, you just can't stop, he says.
In the end, this movie is a story about the foolishness of chasing wealth.  A side plot basically reveals the point of the movie.  Another gold prospector tries to force his way into their prospecting team.  He is killed during an attack by bandits, and they discover that this guy has a wife and kids, who are longing for him to come home and to give up his pursuit of gold.  Family, home, and loving relationships are the real treasure - not gold.
The Josh rating: JJJJ.

A Time to Kill - Book Review

A Time to Kill is John Grisham's first novel.  It was rejected by 28 publishers before a small pub-house agreed to print a meager 5,000 copies.  (Grisham's second book, The Firm, was the best selling book of 1991, and was on the best seller's list for 47 weeks.) 
Grisham is a Southern boy, and most of his books are based in the deep South - especially Mississippi.  A Time to Kill began this odyssey into rural, southern USA.  It is replete with racial tension and insider looks at traditional stereotypes.  Grisham writes as one who loves the South - and at the same time, as one who sees through its facade of overdrawn strengths and weaknesses, to the soul of the people.
A Time to Kill is built around a simple, heart-wrenching story.  A young black girl is brutally raped by two white "rednecks."  (Grisham freely uses inflammatory stereotyped words - which are also freely used by most folks in the South.)  The girl's father guns down the two offenders as they are leaving their preliminary hearing at the courthouse.  The rest of the book is about two points: (1) Was the father justified? (2) What are the racial implications and ramifications of this trial? 
I wonder if Grisham's stereotypes are exaggerated, and I surely hope some of them are.  But as a Southern boy myself, I know that many of his driving insights (into both the white and the black communities) are uncomfortably close to home.
This is my tenth Grisham book.  He's one of my favorite fiction authors, hands down.  Although the conclusion was a bit disappointing, I would say that A Time to Kill is one of Grisham's best.  The Josh rating: JJJJ.

Samson and the Pirate Monks - Review

This is one of the most important books I've read in a long time.  I read it in two days, which is extremely rare.  I highly recommend it for all men who want to live faithfully, but struggle.
The first half of the book tells the story of the author, Nate Larkin's, downward spiral with sexual addiction.  He starts out as a pastor's kid, with a dark secret, pornography.  Despite countless prayers and promises, his attachment to pornography deepens all the way through college, seminary, and his first few years of marriage.  After seminary (before he began pastoring), he was exposed to strip clubs, and that poured gasoline on his sex addiction.
He stumbled into a role as a lead pastor and stayed clean under the weight of this new authority ... for a few months.  Then, it was back to the old problems again.  Eventually, he picked up a prostitute, and that brought him into a decade or more of that.  After a few years, he quit pastoring.
But the addiction continued ... even though they continued going to church ... even though he prayed for deliverance many times ... even though he went to Promise Keepers ... even though he got an accountability partner ... even though it cost him lots and lots of money ... even though his job suffered ... even though he even received prayers to have the "demons of sexual temptation" removed ... even though he tried hard to maintain daily disciplines of prayer and Bible study ... even though he went to counseling ... even though he cried and prayed and tried really hard and tried to really, really believe this time ... even though he did everything that most people in the church say you're supposed to do ... his addiction continued.
Finally, he bottomed out and went to a 12-step group called Sex Addicts Anonymous.  Slowly, slowly, slowly, he got help and started to recover.  There were two missing pieces in his life that SAA provided for him.
First was the awareness that he was powerless to overcome his addiction.  He had to let God do it.  Up until this time, despite all the religious lingo, he was really trying to just screw up his courage and determination and beat this thing.  SAA helped him to rely on God everyday - sometimes every minute of every day, instead of just trying harder - which wasn't working anyway.
Second, SAA provided him with a community of support.  He said that he learned how to trust Christ by trusting the body of Christ.  The deep, honest community of a 12 step group was a means of grace for him that was not available in any other way.  And it was just the grace that he needed.
Well on the road of recovery, Nate and some men at his church, who had also been in and around various 12-step groups, decided to bring that kind of deep community into the church setting.  They formed the Samson Society, based on the Biblical character of Samson whose amazing strength was defeated by his isolation and sexual addiction.  The Samson Society is a brotherhood of mutual aid.  They meet once a week, and it is open to anyone who wants brotherhood and support - not just people with obvious addictions.  They have some of the same kind of steps and rituals as 12 step groups.  The basic premise is that we really, really, really need each other if we are going to live faithfully in God's grace.  The weekly meeting and the relationships formed out of it provide us a means of accessing that grace deep within our hearts.
This is one of the best books for Christian men that I've seen in many years.  Our world desperately needs Samson Societies.  One of my friends is starting one here in Cheonan, currently scheduled to meet on Saturday mornings near Yawoori.  Contact me if you're interested.

So obviously, the Josh rating on this book is the max: JJJJJ.  Read it.  Give it to people.  Start a brotherhood of mutual aid.

Korea Tip 111: Take Off (국가대표) - Review

국가 대표 (Korean for "National Team") goes by the English name "Take Off."  Both are reasonable titles, since it is about Korea's first Ski Jump National Team.
The basic storyline is that Korea is making a bid to host the winter Olympics.  However, on their previous bid, one of the disqualifying factors was Koreans' lack of interest in winter sports.  This time around, they try to remedy that problem in part by building a national ski jump team.  However, the sport is so dangerous and so new that they can only gather various misfits and screw-ups.  The basic story of the movie is how this group of young men (and their over-the-hill coach) learn the art of ski jumping and - in the process - come into their manhood.
Although I'm not a big fan of the movie overall, I did appreciate a few parts.
First, hosting the winter Olympics is a longstanding unfulfilled dream for Korea.  PyoungChan still ramps up their Olympic hopes every few years, only to be dashed again and again.  This movie touches on how far Korea will go to host that major event.
Second, the father-son relationship of one of the team members gives a good look into the tension Korea has between traditional success and alternative personal expressions (like sports and arts).  For many parents there is only one path to success: academics and making money and business.  However, Koreans also have a deep national pride and a corresponding desire for international fame and recognition.  These two conflicting desires naturally lead to conflict at home for many would-be athletes or artists.
Third, despite all the cheesy-ness and downsides, the team basically succeeds.  They become successful ski jumpers, earn a place in the national pride, and get a second chance at manhood.

However, two glaring plot weaknesses basically ruined the movie for me.  Both of these are total spoilers, so be forewarned.
First, the lead character joined the national ski team to claim his moment of fame and find his birth mother (who gave him up for adoption at around age 6).  His plan is to earn enough money ski jumping to buy her an apartment.  The first part of his plan succeeds; he finds his mother.  However, shockingly, he walks away from her because he is not able to provide an apartment for her.  Maybe this is a cultural thing.  I know Koreans really like melodramatic story lines.  But this seemed completely pointless and gave me a sour taste for the whole movie.  (On the other hand, perhaps this is also a bit of cultural insight into Korean culture regarding the deep importance of providing for the material needs of the family.)
Second, the national team's substitute ski jumper is one team member's mentally challenged little brother.  They rationalize this ridiculous proposition by saying that he'll never have to jump.  However, when one team member (the older brother) is injured, they talk the little brother into jumping for the sake of national pride.  This gave me a sick feeling inside.  I want to give the movie a little grace as they created an unrealistic scenario to develop the plot, but this was blatant reckless endangerment, and I couldn't get past it.

So, unfortunately, we didn't really enjoy the movie.  On the other hand, I would say it could still be worth a watch for the cultural content.  The Josh rating: JJ.
(Sorry W.)

Ashes to Fire - Review

On Patrick's suggestion, we started up a new small group working through the Ashes to Fire devotional guide produced by Nazarene Publishing House.  The basic concept is that the whole church moves on a collective spiritual journey from Ash Wednesday (through Lent and Easter) all the way to Pentecost.  To compliment the devo guide, there are lots of other resources: a 14 week worship service guide, a DVD with lots of digital support tools, 16 original songs, and resources for children.
Our church got into Ashes to Fire a little late, so we just had one small group working through the curriculum.  But we're probably going to try to do the whole thing as a church next year.
Here are some of the things I liked most.

• Far and away, my favorite part was the daily devotional.  Each day there were morning and evening prayer and Bible guides.  When I was busy, I would just read the prayers and summary verses.  But when I had time, I would read through all the Bible selections.  I appreciated using a guide for the Bible reading, and I liked having it relate to the church season.
• Still related to the devotional, I enjoyed the prayers from John Wesley or the Book of Common Prayer.  I often felt like they put words to my actual desires for that day.
• Each devotional also included a quote - often from a church father (or mother).  It was great to live in historic community with those who have gone before us.
• I liked the small group discussions.  In fact, our group has already chosen another book and plans to continue meeting.  I'm hoping that next time around, we'll be able to use the momentum from Ashes to Fire to start several new small groups.
• I really liked some of the songs on the CD - especially the ones for the Lenten season.

However, the book/system could stand some improvements for next time.

• Once a week there is a 2-3 page devotional on the gospel text.  Some of these were good.  Others were pretty weak.  For our somewhat skeptical book, the cheese-factor here lessened their resolve to participate in the daily prayer guides as well.
• The daily quotes from church history could stand some improvement, (a) More women, (b) include the approximate date of the quote  (Most people have no clue when Gregory the Great lived.), (c) Make the quotes more connected with the readings (Sometimes, they seemed kind of random.), (d) Stay with the ancient writers for these quotes.  (It adds to the flavor.)
• Provide the lyrics for the CD.  I couldn't even find out who wrote or performed the various songs.  (Also, sheet music would be very important for incorporating some of these into our worship services.)
• Improve the promo videos.  We'll need something better to help us promote this within our church.

With that being said, overall, this was a good experience for us, and I think we'll be coming back to it next year with our whole church.  So the Josh rating here is: JJJJ.  (Missing one J because of some of the essays.)

12 Angry Men - Review (Greatest Movies of All Time #87)

Over the weekend, Sarah and I watched 12 Angry Men, #87 on the American Film Institute's list of Greatest Movies of All Time.  It did not disappoint.
12 Angry Men tells the story of a jury in a murder trial.  Except for the a total of 3 minutes (at beginning and end), the entire movie takes place in the jury's deliberation room (and the attached bathroom).
At the opening of the movie, the judge - with great boredom in his voice - gives the jury their instructions.  A. They must be unanimous.  B. If they render a guilty verdict, by state law, the defendant will be given the death penalty.
Within the first few minutes, the group takes an opening vote.  On the surface, it is an open-and-shut case, so the results are 11 for guilty and 1 for not guilty.  Only one person, for reasons he can't exactly name himself, believes that they should carefully weigh all the evidence before giving a guilty verdict.  His resistance to a quick decision leads the jury on an odyssey of discovery - both in terms of the evidence and in terms of their own group dynamics.
The rest of the movie is a case study in group process, consensus building, team dynamics, group synergy, and individual psychology.  The group wrestles with the meaning of the American judicial system, how to weigh conflicting or insufficient evidence, prejudice, inner psychological pains, and how to overcome divided opinions.
If I were teaching a class on church leadership, I would have my students watch this movie and write a paper about what it teaches us about church board meetings.  Some of the most beautiful lessons I saw are:
(a) Minority voices are extremely important, so we need to give dissenters the opportunity to speak and to be heard.  One of the most important supporting characters makes the valuable contribution of demanding that the minority voice be heard.
(b) Our collective intellect can be either disastrous (as when group think leads us toward a hasty and misguided decision) or helpful (as when we each bring our insights and experience to bear on the discussion and come up with a more helpful solution than any of us could have imagined on our own).
(c) Sometimes the most passionate defenders of a position hold that passion for reasons independent of the facts (prejudice or personal pain).

I highly recommend this movie.  It's a bit slow and heady, but it ekes into the full 5 Js.  The Josh rating: JJJJJ.


(Thanks for the loaner Michael.)

Bresee's Sermons from Matthew - Review

As part of an effort to reconnect with the founders of our tradition (in the Church of the Nazarene), I’ve started reading through some of the works of Phineas Bresee and John Wesley.  Phineas Bresee started the first church to bear the name “Church of the Nazarene” in the late 1800‘s, and he was a key mover in the mergers of 1906 and 1908 which pulled together the various “holiness” groups around North America into one unified body, which also took the name Church of the Nazarene.  (Actually the first name was “The Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene.”)
In the winter, we were preaching through the Sermon on the Mount, so I read Bresee’s Sermons from Matthew's Gospel, most of which is based in the Sermon on the Mount.  I mixed reading it as my devotions and reading it as sermon study, when the texts overlapped.  Here are a few things I learned by reading this book. 
About half of Bresee’s sermons were not expository, and might not pass the muster with some modern fundamentalists.  About half the time, he picked a small text (1-2 verses) and then went off on a topical tangent.  It was all good stuff - don’t get me wrong - but it wasn’t an exegesis of the text.
Bresee reminded me again that it is possible to blend social justice and the traditional evangelical emphasis of personal transformation through Christ.  I think I always knew this, but reading his sermons encouraged me to  keep making personal transformation an important part of my preaching.
Bresee might not be so popular in many churches today.  For someone who preached at the turn of the century, he was a surprising mixture of liberalism and conservatism.  On one hand, he was a prohibitionist.  On the other hand, he affirmed female preachers.  On one hand, he was firmly committed to the primacy of personal transformation, which empowers even the most unlearned with Spiritual Power.  On the other hand, he affirmed the need for the highest level of scholarship.  On one hand, he was firmly committed to the Church as an institution.  On the other hand, he was deeply critical of the common shape of the Church in his era and was deeply open to structural and stylistic changes.
Reading Bresee encouraged me to view sermon crafting as an art.  He employs beautiful images and well-shaped phrases.  He clearly invested great time and care into his sermons.

Although some of his words or points seem a bit out dated, I see much in Bresee that I want to emulate.  I hope to find more of his works to read.  The Josh rating, partly because of its own merit and partly because of its value to anyone in the Nazarene tradition: JJJJ.