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March, 2008:

Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (2) – I AM THE PROBLEM

Mar 22nd, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

I have to tell you that Don comes off as a bit of a political and religious lefty, so we disagree on a few things, but that’s not what this is about.  A number of times he diffused my frustration by stopping just short of rhetoric while relaying stories like the following about a protest he attended:

“More than my questions about the efficacy of social action were my questions about my own motives.  Do I want social justice for the oppressed, or do I just want to be known as a socially active person?  I spend 95 percent of my time thinking about myself anyway.  I don’t have to watch the evening news to see that the world is bad; I only have to look at myself.  I am not browbeating myself here; I am only saying that true change, true life-giving, God-honoring change would have to start with the individual.  I was the very problem I had been protesting.  I wanted to make a sign that read ‘I AM THE PROBLEM!’”

That was on page 20 of the book and I think that was when I decided that I was going to carry on reading the remaining 222 pages.  Whether you are on the left or the right politically or religiously, if you are far enough either way, you think that everyone else is the problem.  We are always telling ourselves that if only everyone else was like us, all would be well.  What if we all drilled “I AM THE PROBLEM” into our own heads?  Would there even be a left and a right anymore?

So I thought it was incredibly insightful of Don to say “I AM THE PROBLEM” and I think I’m going to have some T-shirts made up emblazoned with that statement.  That should make for some interesting conversations.

If I forget everything else I read in this book and remember the page that says, “I AM THE PROBLEM” I would still consider it a worthy read.  It is one of those statements that works itself into every day, changing your outlook and your responses. (Another recent one for me is John Naisbitt’s “The seeds of the future are embedded in the present”.)

I know how frustrated Don feels when he sees all the self-glorifying theology in the books and programs of TV ministers.  Feel-good-ism is the dominant Christian subculture theology and has been for a good quarter century at least.  While criticizing a fell-good theology Miller is certainly not saying we should never feel good about things, only that life will not always be the proverbial bed of roses that some of these television evangelists make it out be.

It’s important to reiterate that Don says “I am not browbeating myself here.”  It’s easy to confuse the honest self-examination with browbeating to be sure but Miller does a better job of it than most.  Go too far and you have guilt-based religion; neglect it altogether and you end up with man-glorifying pep-talk theology.

“I know now, from experience, that the path to joy winds through this dark valley.  I think every well-adjusted human being has dealt squarely with his or her own depravity.  I realize this sounds very Christian, very fundamentalist and browbeating, but I want to tell you this part of what the Christians are saying is true.  I think Jesus feels strongly about communicating the idea of our brokenness, and I think it is worth reflection.  Nothing is going to change in the Congo until you and I figure out what is wrong with the person in the mirror.”

Go to Part 3 

Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (1)

Mar 9th, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
1 comment

Wikipedia gives us a good start:

Blue Like Jazz is the second book by Donald Miller. This semi-autobiographical work, subtitled “Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality,” is a collection of essays and personal reflections chronicling the author’s growing understanding of the nature of God and Jesus, and the need and responsibility for an authentic personal response to that understanding. Much of the work centers on Miller’s experiences with friends and fellow students while attending Reed College, a liberal university in Portland, Oregon.The book’s popularity is due to its personable style and seemingly relevant content which most appeals to twentysomething and thirtysomething, post-modern Christians in the emerging church movement. His writings have often been compared to fellow Christian memoirist, Anne Lamott.

His writing style is also reminiscent Madeleine L’engle, who died recently. He writes in a way that makes life sound important but weaves a lot of humor in as well. Basically, he writes autobiography and through his writing tries to map the joys and challenges of being a Christian. From these life stories you know he leads an interesting life and proves the adage that life really can be stranger than fiction sometimes.

Blue Like Jazz is not the type of book I would have found in the Christian bookstores my parents so often took me to as a child. Don would have been too “edgy” for the Christian book market of 20 years ago, a little too honest about his failings, but that is exactly the kind of stuff the Christian book market could have used 20 years ago. But then – as now – success and prosperity sell more books than failure and confession.

And I wish I’d read this book sooner because it had a profound effect on me. My used copy obviously lived its first life as a gift to a graduate, and the shallowness of the yearbook-style best wishes hand-written on the inside cover (I’ll list those later) are not indicative of the depth of the content of the book. There is much inside for those of us over 30 as well.

The subtitle reads “Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality”, which of course stirs the interest of a great number of readers I’m sure. “What kinds of thoughts, other than religious ones, can one have about Christian spirituality?” some might ask. Miller answers. This is not really a book about theology, but then again it is. The topics Miller writes about are not cloaked in academic language but he does tackle big ideas. I’ll let a few passages speak for the book.

The first notable sentence I came to was this:

“And so from the beginning, the chasm that separated me from God was as deep as wealth and as wide as fashion.” And I’ll just leave that sentence hanging there for you to read and ponder because even though it is a summary of the first page of the book I think it stands on its own as a kind of poetry. I’ll answer the question the way a poet and artist would by redirecting: well, what does it mean to you?

Don knows a lot about me. I know this because he says things like “I grew up going to church, so I got used to hearing about God. He was like Uncle Harry or Aunt Sally except we didn’t have pictures.” That was me – God was ever-present but not in the way a close friend is.

 

Go to Part 2 

 

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Flee Idolatry

Mar 2nd, 2008
by Michael Krahn.
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1 Corinthians 10:1-22

It may sound odd to talk about idolatry in the present since none of us bow to worship physical idols like the Israelites did, for example, to the golden calf that Aaron made for them. At least I hope none of us do! In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul writes to the church in Corinth and warns them to “flee idolatry,” but Paul is not just saying “don’t worship physical idols,” he is counseling them to avoid putting anything in a place of honor or devotion above God.

Martin Luther surmised that if we could keep from breaking the first two commandments – “Have no other gods before me” and “Do not make for yourself any carved image” – we wouldn’t have a problem breaking the other eight since each one is an end result of putting something or someone is a position of importance above God. Idolatry is not simply another sin, it is the underlying root cause of all sin. This is why Paul doesn’t simply write a letter to the people of Corinth with a list of sins to avoid. He shows them the principle, the key to avoiding sin – he goes for the root, and that root is idolatry.

We practice idolatry whenever we put something or someone in the place of God as the source of our contentment. So when Paul tells us to “flee idolatry” he is both telling us what our way of escape is and offering us a course of prevention – flee idolatry…. don’t get started… don’t let roots form… Of course fleeing idolatry does not mean we avoid everything. We can enjoy all the good things God has created as long as we don’t allow them to become replacements for God.

It’s easy to see everyone else’s idols, but what are the idols in your life? Is it a car or a sports team or a band? Is it a person or a possession? Is it being thought highly of? Is it your own ego?

It’s a question worth answering.