Book Review - Theologizin' Bigger, Trey Ferguson Lake Drive Books

 

We are all familiar with the axiom, "walk a mile in their shoes". When we observe the cultural battles and conflicts, it seems that it is a principle that is well-known but practiced less and less. As far back as I can remember, God has put opportunities in my path that caused me to get out of my comfort zone. I believe my life is richer for it. 

As it relates to this book, I can remember hosting a prospective seminary student for a visit when I worked at my alma mater in the early 2010s. He was a former professional athlete, a fairly young African-American man who lived just close enough to consider studying at our school. When the topic of who and what our program studied, I remember him listing off a number of pastors and scholars he looked up to. And honestly I didn't recognize any of them. I had visited Black churches and was aware of the general diversity of the American Church. But it was then I realized there was a part of American Christian theology I was wholly unfamiliar with. And my life was poorer for it.

That awareness of my own gap in my theological foundation is part of what drew me to this book. I came across this author on Twitter last year after friends I follow retweeted some of his posts. I have found Trey's humor interesting and theological arguments compelling. 

I'm not always convinced to go as far as he does but I highly value the different perspective he gives. And he pulls no punches and avoids no sacred cows. Read this book or even just his social media posts and you will be challenged to look differently at faith, the Bible, and the world around us.

For me, the penultimate example of this is his chapter "The Church Gotta Pick One" in which he questions whether his readers are striving more after the American Dream or the Kingdom of God.

Two other big ideas resonate with me from this work. I'll summarize them in my own words and hopefully do them justice. 

1. One consistent theme he draws from is the opportunity we have to live in the freedom God provides in Christ. The ways he defines how we might actually "live" in that freedom will stretch us. We'll be uncomfortable and compelled to embrace a counter-cultural path that will force us to face just how ingrained our 'culture' is. 
2. Second, he encourages us to embrace our imaginations to live redemptively in the world we live in. If we do have the Spirit of God in us, our lives won't be cookie-cutter or formulaic. They can be spiritually creative and imaginative. It will also lead us to transforming practical action in our lives.

Those are a couple of my big takeaways but overall I found the book to be engagingly written, with intriguing illustrations that support his points (unsurprisingly, he is a pastor of course). His statement on pg. 157 may encapsulate the book while also serving as a goal to aspire to develop more and more in my own life:

"I am a Christian because the story of Jesus contains truths that have transformed the way I view the world."

Amen. 

Tuesday Thoughts

It's been a rough summer for my blog. Given this is only the second post since May, I think it's beginning to feel neglected. 

So I thought to myself, what should I write about? 

• Reflections on my current sermon series? I mean I did manage to preach through 1 Peter 2:11-17 and the commands to submit to our governing authorities, no matter who's in charge. All done without infuriating my more politically-passionate congregants. Yay for small victories!
• Reactions to the latest evangelical leader "falling from grace"? I have some ideas, but not in the mood to share them to be honest. 
• Share news of the latest storm that hit us and try to make a spiritual metaphor out of trampolines hitting electrical poles? Nah, it's crazy and interesting, but not that amazing.
• Promote the publication of my commentary on 1-2 Kings? It's exciting and those books have surprising relevancy for today - but maybe another time.
• An update on the lessons I'm learning helping 5 churches through their pastoral transitions this summer/fall? Maybe sometime soon. 

Am I just creating a list on this page to come back to at a future date when I'm short of ideas? Yes probably. All of those things might be worth further elaboration. But today, I think I'll just give some shoutouts and praise to some fellow pastor friends.

If I wanted to mention all the pastors I know and have great respect for, the list would be super long. But these three stand out because they are like the kind of life-long friends with whom, though separated for a long time, you can still pick up where you left off before like there's been no absence at all. 

My guys Mike, Tim, and Cory fit that description. I don't have the same kind of relationship with each of them as the others but they do share some things in common. 

• They are all my age, probably all seen as "younger" pastors. 
• They are all like-minded people. I don't share the same theological convictions on every point with every one of them, but they are all teachable and willing to dialogue and learn. I try to be that myself and I appreciate that in them. 

To close, I'll just mention an example of why I'm thankful for each of them.

Mike - He pastors the church I grew up in and has shepherded it into a flourishing "mid-sized" church that has a renewed vision for how to impact its community, even as it is located a bit outside the city. We are good friends and accountability partners as well. 

Tim - I just ran into him a couple hours ago and we had a lovely conversation about serious (see second bullet point at the beginning of this post) and silly things (Henry Holsinger t-shirts).  We think alike and I try to emulate his posture towards people and ministry. I could hang out with him every day and be a much better pastor.

Cory - He has a young family that is going through the same adventures as we are. He also offers gracious pushback in discussions and recently offered needed insights on Biden's loan forgiveness orders (of all things). 

Shoutout to those guys and the encouragement they give me directly and also indirectly through their lives.

Thursday Thoughts

(The following is a slight elaboration on a Twitter thread I posted earlier this week, so if you follow me on there, you're getting the same but slightly fuller story here)

I grew up in a conservative Christian home. My dad passed away when I was 11 and my mom persevered to be a rock-star parent. She did her best to nurture and guide us four kids, of whom I was the oldest. 

In elementary school, when our classes had Halloween parties, we were excused from school and went home early for the afternoon (though candy and treats did await us). Mom felt conviction that we shouldn't celebrate that holiday. Later on, I wasn't allowed to go to school dances which kind of stunk socially. But personally I was full of angst and social awkwardness that I'm not totally sure how much fun I would have had.

I share all that to give context to one particular story that I was reminded of this week. 

In seventh grade, our honors English teacher organized a class trip to go see Schindler's List, the Steven Spielberg epic about the Holocaust and Oscar Schindler's heroic quest to save Jews from Nazi Concentration Camps. It was an optional trip, meant to supplement our study of The Diary of Anne Frank if memory serves correct.* Proper explanation was sent home to parents and I remember having a serious adult conversation with my mom. It was widely known the film had nudity and violence but in a historically accurate way meant to educate its audience about the awful abuses and offenses done by the Hitler regime. 

About 6 years later, my college basketball coach took several of us on the team on a basketball ministry trip to Europe. One of the tourist stops we took was at the Dachau Concentration Camp. I have a file of pictures I took there including one of a sculpture near the exit that reads "Never Again".

It was clear from our experience in Germany that the country is sensitive, remorseful, and mindful of the atrocities their people were guilty of 70 years ago. There is no avoiding it, only honest admission.

With all that in mind, I found this news item pretty troubling when I read about it:

TN county school board votes to remove use of graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus from school curriculum. Complains about vulgarity and naked pictures. https://t.co/fUynX6Mu7g pic.twitter.com/v1fkaCMt2N

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) January 26, 2022

I'm appreciative of the fact that my mom allowed me to be exposed to the horrors of evil depicted in that movie. I'm glad she made the assessment that I could handle it. 

I'm disappointed that these school board members are claiming they need to ban this Pulitzer Prize-winning resource because it has some obscenities that may offend middle schoolers. 

I question a couple things. 

1. Have they met an 8th grader before? These kids know swear words and have probably seen racier things than (checks notes) sketches of sort-of-nude anthorpomorphic mice. Even if they haven't, I doubt it will shatter some kid's "innocence", especially if a parent helps them process it.
2. Have they read the novel? Even a cursory Google search will reveal most of their objections have not actual basis. 

I admit I have not read this graphic novel. I admit there are plenty of other resources that help teach about this dark part of history. Why are we banning this universally-lauded resource that speaks to actual lived experience in a format uniquely appealing to youth?

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*Honestly, I'm not sure at all about why our English class took a trip to see that movie, this is my best guess.

Christian Movies, Christians and the Movies, and Christians going to the Movies

Hollywood is finding religion.

Between God's Not Dead, The Son of God, Noah, and the future Ten Commandments remake, movie studios are turning to the Bible as source material almost as much as they have turned to comic books in recent years.

Personally,  I'm interested in seeing these 'Christian movies', but unfortunately not in a financial position to take my wife on dates to the theater to see each and every one. I'll wait for them to come out on DVD - Redbox is received much better by our bank account right now.

I will probably see them, but it's been the Church's responses to these films that have really grabbed my attention.

Nationally and locally, I've observed a variety of responses from Christians - everything from adamant rejection to wholesale endorsement. Skepticism and ambivalence can also be seen from church-going folk as well.

Hopefully enough of us evangelicals can take a look in the mirror and resist an uninformed knee-jerk response and interact with this cultural trend in a wiser way.

I found this particular discussion to strike the right notes. The bulk of the first half specifically discusses the Noah movie. It was fair and balanced. At around the 27:00 mark however, the focus turns to how we as Christ-followers ought to engage with 'biblical' movies and movies in general. It's this last part of the video I found the most beneficial.

Props to Dr. Darrell Bock, Naima Lett, and Dallas Theological Seminary for providing an excellent thought-provoking presentation.