Christmas Stories 2: Malik's Tale

When I set out to do my Christmas Stories series I thought I would simply write one big story in three parts, but when I sat down to write part two of Pastor Joe's story it didn't really flow very well, and so I scrapped it and began anew.

This time it is much less a story about a sermon and is instead a story.

I present to you, Malik's Tale.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Malik’s Tale

It was a dark and stormy night, with absolutely no clouds in the sky, storms come in all forms, shapes and sizes, as you will see. My name is Malik and it is my duty to record what I have seen and what I know. I do this because it is my lot in afterlife so to speak. When I walked the land of the living I thought mostly, alright, only of myself and how each situation I faced could be used to further my fortune, my prestige, and my enjoyment. I should add that was true until I met an unusual man, some would call him a prophet, some a madman, some a carpenter, and some the Son of God, I fall into the latter category. I encountered him one day as I was walking, it would be my last walk, but I did not know this when I set out. 

I walked the road twice each day, one way to work, one way to home. It was, as all roads were, dangerous, but I was a man of means and power and had no fear of the dangers that walked the road with me, in other words I was short-sighted. Each day as I walked the road home I would replay the day, each transaction, each acquisition, each sale, and that day had been a good day so I was engrossed in my thoughts and my rising wealth, which caused me to completely miss the three men that walked toward me that evening. They were upon me in seconds, demanding my purse and taking it along with my pain and my blood. I lay there on the ground for minutes or hours, I do not know, time passed as it does in fits and bursts and then my eyes opened and I saw his face.

My child, how can I help?

I lay there on the ground, wounded, near death, and he asked me that? I was speechless at first, but then the words came to me as if from somewhere else.

Save me! Please, save me!

For the moment or forever?

What kind of question was that? What kind of madman asks that question? Who would take a moment when you could have forever? Forever safe from harm, forever free from pain, forever. Of course in my pain I didn’t really understand what he meant, the meaning of his words so much deeper and greater then I could ever truly grasp.

Be healed my son.

My pain was gone, and so was I.

I have heard many people ask many others what death is like, and having experienced it I can barely explain it. It is similar to a short nap, you are in one place when you close your eyes, another when you open them, and the new far outstrips the old. I saw his face again on the other side and he explained the gift he had given to me, and begged a favor in return. While my business was in acquisitions and sales I was always able to turn a phrase and put words to paper and so he asked me to tell the beginning of his story.

You may wonder why? After all, there exists the so-called birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, but come on Matthew tells the story in but a few paragraphs, Luke in a few more, the story is so much more expansive and expressive than that. You may next ask how I could tell this story, I did not encounter the Godson until we were both men, I older than he, but here on the other side time is not exactly how you understand it. Here you can look into the world and see what is and has been and will be and could be as if through a prism or kaleidoscope, the past, present, future twirling together in a forever dance. And so…

It was a dark and stormy night, with absolutely no clouds in the sky, storms come in all forms shapes and sizes, as you will see. The first storm came to Mary in the form of an Angel that told her that her pregnancy would reshape the world. I cannot imagine what her internal thoughts must have been, but she responded in humility and grace. The second storm came to Joseph, an upright man who was willing to secretly divorce his love rather than risk her public ridicule and punishment. His storm also came in the form of an angel that gave him the opportunity to raise the almighty, a great responsibility. Again, I cannot imagine what his internal thoughts must have been, but he responded in obedience and strength. One parent, humility and grace, another obedience and strength, Jesus was God’s son but he also had earthly parents that filled him with the attributes he would need.

The third storm came in a dwelling of magnificence that many would call a palace to a man named Nathaniel. His story you do not know, so we will begin there.

Nathaniel was a lowly tax collector with one of the most important bright ideas of all time. The Roman empire was a growing empire and yet the money that was being brought in from the various outlaying regions was not as sufficient as it seemed they should be. There was a general belief that the tax collectors in these regions were being untruthful about how much money they were collecting in regards to how many people were living in their areas. Nathaniel’s superiors were unsure what to do about it when he raised his hand and gave his thought.

What if we officially count them?

Count who?

The people living in each region. We could conduct a census in each region, and then we would know exactly how many people there were, if we knew how many people we would know how much money the various local tax-collectors should be bringing to us.

But how would we be able to sort which people were from which area?

What if we sent out a decree that each family should return to their ancestral hometown, then we could find out how many there are, where they come from and where they currently reside.

Nathaniel’s supervisors were impressed with his thought and passed it on up the line until an official
decree went out from Caesar Augustus himself.

A tax-collector of little importance with a big idea that helped fulfill the prophecy of where the Messiah should be born, not in Nazareth where his family resided, but rather in the little town of Bethlehem where Joseph and his pregnant bride Mary would travel being as they were from the house of David, the king of old.

In another corner, on another side another storm was brewing. Titus was a minor angel, he wasn’t a herald, he wasn’t a warrior, he wasn’t a temple worker, he was what you might call an angel handyman, he stepped in where he was needed and when he wasn’t needed he was on star patrol. Star patrol is, as you may be able to guess, a group of angels that are in charge of the stars in the night sky. Titus, like Nathaniel was called upon by his superiors. Titus, unlike Nathaniel was told what to do, and while he didn’t understand it he knew what his duty was and he fulfilled it.

Titus glided across the night sky, just one more ‘shooting star’ to the eyes of anyone looking up. He arrived at sector 85 quadrant 34 star 579 put on his star-glasses and turned up the wattage as high as it could be set.

At the same exact moment three men who watched the sky at all times saw a star shine brighter than any other star in the night sky and spoke among themselves.

Caspar, a scholar from India, spoke first, “Do you see the star?”

Balthazar, a Babylonian scholar, “Of course, we are not blind.”

“What could it mean? It was definitely not that bright last night,” chimed in the Persian scholar Melchior.

“Last night, it wasn’t that bright five minutes ago Melchior.”

“There is no need for that tone Balthazar, I was merely remarking that it had changed.”

“And I was remarking upon its unusual change Melchior.”

“You two always have to argue about insignificant words, but your question does bear some thinking Melchior.”

“Wait, do you two remember that scroll I was telling you about, the Jewish one?”

“Yes Balthazar, I particularly remember you going on and on and on about it.”

“Well then Melchior, you probably remember me talking about how it said that a star would accompany the arrival of a new Jewish King that would unite his people once more for all time.”

“Do you think this could be that star?”

“It is possible Caspar, but we should do more research before we decide that to be the case.”

“To the archives, my friends, to the archives.”

The star gazers would indeed study the sky and the scrolls and come to the final conclusion that the star heralded the coming King, and after a while they would seek this newborn king out, bringing gifts for his family, gifts that would have eternal significance and practical significance as well.

Then there was John, the youngest of the shepherds that lay watching their flock by night. John and the rest of the shepherds had been working all day, watching the sheep as them rambled across the land. At times the shepherds led the sheep and at times it felt like the sheep were in charge. It has not been a hard day, but it has been a long one and John and his friends were tired. He watched the sun start to dip below the horizon and felt a distinct chill in the air and along with the chill came the fear. Night was when the distance between yourself and danger shortened. Thieves lurk behind boulders and wolves are on the hunt for the sheep under John’s care. Some of the sheep are being tended for their wool, others for their meat, and other for their purity to be used in the sacrifices in the temple and so while the day was calm during the night John and the other shepherds are on high alert, waiting, watching, preparing for danger.

The night began like every other night.

The sheep sure didn’t want to go anywhere today, did they?

No, not at all, they may be useful but boy they are dumb.

Shh, did you hear that?

Hear what?

Over there, beyond the fire, did you hear anything?

No, it was just your imagination.

John?

Yes?

You’re on first watch tonight.

Ok.

Several hours passed as John sat on the large flat rock and his friends slept among the edges of the herd. And then, from out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time came a brilliant light, and a being so magnificently different that it scared John to his bones and woke the other shepherds from their slumber.

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
And like that, the angel was gone and darkness and silence once again descended across the desert.

What should we do?

What do you mean John?

We have to go, we have to go to the city of David.

Bethlehem?

Yes, Bethlehem, its only about a four hour walk from here, if we get started now we will get there about first light.

John, we can’t go to Bethlehem, we have to guard the sheep.

The sheep, the sheep! Don’t you understand what just happened, what we just experienced, what we were just told?

No, as a matter of fact I don’t.

That was an angel and it told us that the Messiah was born this night.

Messiah’s aren’t born in Bethlehem. Messiah’s probably aren’t born at all, they probably come fully formed I would think.

Well I believed it, I’m going, who else is coming.

Two of John’s friends decided to join him, more to keep him safe on the journey then to see some newborn Messiah, and so they set off for Bethlehem. For four hours they walked in the darkness, John going on and on about what they would soon see, his friends randomly saying, “Yeah” but thinking that it would probably be a waste of an 8 hour round trip.

When they arrived in Bethlehem they searched stable after stable until they came to Jesus’ manger and they stood before him for but a moment when they fell to their knees and thanked God for allowing them access to this miracle.

Oh, I almost forgot about Michael. Nathaniel’s big idea affected Joseph, Mary and their Godson, but it affected other lives as well, well obviously in big and little ways it affected all lives, but I am not talking about the grand scheme, I am talking about local lives in the moment, like Michael.

You know about Michael, but you have never heard his name. You have probably looked at him as a minor player, perhaps even as a bad guy, but he was simply a man in charge with no room, save a stable.

In your current day and age when you are traveling somewhere you can call ahead or jump on your computer or phone to book a room, but this time was not your time. When you travel home you stay with family, but Joseph, who was quite a bit older than Mary had no family still living, at least not any with room to house them upon their arrival in Bethlehem, and so they traveled to the local inn.

Again in your current day and age anywhere you go you can find at least a handful of inns or as you usually call them motels and hotels, if one is full you go to the next, but more than likely they won’t ever be full, because there are a hundred rooms or more in each one, but again, this time was not your time. An inn in the time of Messiah was a house that people would rent out rooms to people when there were traditional celebrations, or in this case the odd census.

Michael, was the owner of one such house, and in his inn all his rooms were occupied. And while it was in his nature to want to help the couple, he had eyes and could see that Mary was very far along in her pregnancy, so he did what he could and offered them the use of his stable. They were appreciative of his gesture, after all the alternative was out under the stars on a blanket beside the donkey that Mary had been riding on for days, when that is your alternative a floor of hay with a thatch roof seems like a palace.

I leave you with one more tale, a tale closer to your time than to mine.

You’ve all seen a Christmas pageant, right.  Well, let me tell you a story about one such performance.

 Many years ago in a little country church a children’s pastor decided that for Christmas this year the kids in her program were going to put on a pageant, a retelling of the Christmas story, so she set about writing a simple play.  Her kids were in grade school so she knew that it had to be easy to memorize and easy to act out.

So she wrote her play and handed out the parts, To Thomas and Emily, the two oldest kids she gave the roles of Mary and Joseph, the youngest kids she made shepherds, because they all spoke in unison, To Brad, Mike, and Chris, three boys in the third grade she gave the parts of the wise men.
 To the thirds grade girls, she gave the parts of the angels.  When almost everyone had been given roles a small hand peeked around the crowd, “What about me?”

“Well Jimmy, you are going to be our innkeeper, it is a small role, but you will have a line, can you do that for us.”

 “Yeah, I think I can,” was the small boys reply.

Jimmy was small for his age, while he was in the second grade he still looked young enough to be in kindergarten, and the kids in school, and sadly enough, in church never forgot to remind him of such things.  Jimmy was often shy and quiet, and mostly forgotten.

Every Wednesday for the next month the kids would practice their play.  And Jimmy would get his line right every time, but there was something inside him that just didn’t feel right about it.  Of course he knew the Christmas story, every year in church he would be told it, and his mom would read him the story as well.  He knew what he had to say, and so he said it.

The night of the pageant came to the small country church, Max and Emma set out from the back of the church, walked down the aisle and stopped at the foot of the stairs, where a door was set up, they knocked on the door and Jimmy pulled it open.

“Please sir,” said Max/Joseph, “Is there any room; my wife is pregnant and about to give birth.”

Jimmy just stood there, silent.  The children’s pastor from the side of the platform quietly, called his name, “Jimmy, Jimmy, it’s your line.”  But still Jimmy just stood there, a tear forming in his eye.  “Jimmy, Jimmy, tell them no.”

Finally, Jimmy spoke, “No, there is no room, but you can have mine.”

Every eye widened and every mouth dropped, and you could have heard a pin drop in that sanctuary, and then the children’s pastor burst out in applause, and so did the whole congregation, for they knew that while this isn’t what really happened it is what was supposed to happen.  Jesus should have found room, as should we all.

Storms enter our lives and blow us off course, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Nathaniel’s storm steered Mary and Joseph from their home across the land of their ancestors to what would become the birth place of two kings. Michael’s action brought the family shelter in the midst of the storm of childbirth, gave the baby a place in this world, a lowly one, yes, but one that was safe from those on the outside who would do the small baby harm. Titus’s storm brightened the night sky and the minds of the star gazers, it brought gifts from afar to a new family that would soon be having their own Exodus, leaving the promised land and returning to the land of their people’s slavery. John let his storm allow him entrance into the greatest moment of all time, and brought all that he had, his worship, to the newborn baby king. And Jimmy, Jimmy changed the storm, allowing what was tossing him around to toss all those around him. To you my friends I say, let the storms come, those that come with strength and vigor and those that come quietly in a whisper, those that come from the mouths of angels, and those that come on a random Tuesday afternoon and when they come allow yourself to be used for that which is greater than you are. That is all that the Godson asks you to do.

Christmas Stories 1: Pastor Joe's Snowday

Hello. It's been awhile, how have you been? Well, I hope. It's been mostly good here, busy, but good. I'll go into the events of the past months at some point, perhaps, but in this moment I want to share something else with you.

For the first three weeks of Advent this year I decided to do sermons a little differently. In fact I decided not to do "sermons" at all, but to instead read a story each week. Now of course these stories would have larger meanings beyond the words on a page, but they wouldn't be a point by point [or rather point by point by point by point by point by...] sermon tied together loosely by illustrations. Well, as you are about to read this first one kind of is. You know what they say, write about what you know, so I did.

Without further adieu, I present to you Pastor Joe's Snowday.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Pastor Joe’s Snowday

Michael sat there, on the top step, as the snow fell down in the soft and gentle way it sometimes does. His coat, hat and gloves kept him warm, though if it was up to him he would be less dressed up under them and free to play in the snow. He sat there, 12 years old and stuck on the top step as he waited, waited to leave for church early enough to get there before anyone else. He sat there in his coat hat and gloves and dress pants and dress shoes and collared plaid shirt, that scratched his neck every time he was forced to wear it. He tried to tell his mom that he was old enough to pick out his own clothes, and that he hated that particular shirt, but neither argument every got him anywhere with her.
Joseph stood at the window looking out at Michael, he knew his son would rather be building a snowman or having a snow ball fight, and he knew that his wife would rather be making cookies for tomorrow, but it was Sunday morning and strangely enough most churches expect their Pastors to be in church on Sunday mornings.

Bzzzz. Bzzzz.

Joseph pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and saw that his Board President was calling.

“Hello.”

“Pastor Joe?”

“Hi Mark, what can I do for you.”

“Pastor, we are going to have to cancel church this morning, the parking lot is covered in ice and the board and I feel it might be too dangerous for some of our older folk.”

“This is getting to be a semi-regular thing for us, isn’t it?”

“That’s kind of how things usually shake out for us up here.”

“Okay Mark, if that’s what you all feel is best.”

“We do, hopefully this weather, or at least the parking lot will be better next Sunday.”

“Hopefully, thanks Mark.”

“Thanks Pastor, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good bye.”

He walked down the hall and informed his wife that she could stop getting ready.

“What?”

“No church today, frozen parking lot.”

“Of course, should’ve known, this weather is driving me crazy.”

“Welcome to the great white north.”

“How I miss Florida.”

“You’ve been saying that since college, no matter where we live.”

“And I will to my grave, or until we move back.”

“To the grave then,” Joseph said with a grin.

Carrie threw a dirty shirt his way and laughed.

“I’m going to go tell Michael, let him know he can take that shirt off now.”

He walked back down the hall, grabbed his jacket and opened the door.

“Michael, no church, you can come in and change. You can go play if you want.”

“Why aren’t we going?”

“The parking lot is frozen.”

“What was your sermon going to be about dad?”

“John the Baptist”

“John the Baptist? Isn’t this the first Sunday in Advent?”

“Yes, yes it is, it wasn’t going to be about him as much as his parents and his mom’s cousin.”

“John the Baptist’s parents are in the Bible?”

“Yep.”

“His mother’s cousin is in the Bible?”

“Yep.”

“And they have something to do with Advent?”

“Yep, would you like me to tell you about it?”

“Sure, this seems like a sermon that might actually be interesting.”

“Ouch.”

“Just joking. I still don’t understand what John the Baptist has to do with Advent.”

Joseph, zipped up his coat and sat down on the step next to Michael

“Well let me tell you…

The Gospel of Luke starts off, not with a birth announcement of Jesus, but rather one about John the Baptist. John’s soon to be dad was named Zacharias, and Zacharias was a priest. Zacharias was married to a woman named Elizabeth, whom had a cousin named Mary.

“Well that explains that part at least.”

Mary, as you know was a young girl, perhaps as young as 13, we don’t really know, but Elizabeth on the other hand was quite a bit older, so much older in fact that she was past the time of being able to have a baby. Zacharias was also an old man. But Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous people, in other words they followed the commands of God, Luke goes so far as to say that they were blameless before God.

“Impressive.”

“Yes, it is.”

Anyway, one day Zacharias was performing his priestly duties, burning incense in this particular case and he walked into the temple and an angel appeared to him. Zacharias was afraid at the presence of the angel, a running plot line in the Bible which leads me to believe that they don’t look like Michael Landon or Roma Downey. Luke says that as soon as Zacharias saw the angel he was troubled and fear fell upon him, this priest who is doing the work of the Lord, who is “blameless” before God gets scared out of his wits.

The angel tells him to not be afraid and that the Lord had heard his prayer. He says that Elizabeth would give birth to a son that would upend the world. He would lead many children of Israel back to God, that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit, that he would prepare people for the Lord and that he wouldn’t drink alcohol.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I agree, it’s rather a strange add on, the angel puts its earlier, but I feel it makes a bit more impact when listed last.”

If you were paying attention just about 30 seconds ago you will remember that the angel says that Zacharias had been praying for a child. A few seconds before that that we will remember that Zacharias was very very fearful when he saw the angel, and now he doesn’t believe him. He’s been praying for a child and yet he thinks he and his wife are too old to have one.

“Remind you of anyone?”

“Not really.”

How about Abraham and Sarah? If you read carefully and with an open mind you will see that a lot of the miracles that happen in the New Testament are remixes of those that happened in the Old Testament. In Genesis Abraham and Sarah are an old couple and God tells them they will have a child and Sarah hears this and laughs, this time Zacharias is told that Elizabeth will have a baby and he scoffs. Because of his unbelief the Angel strikes him mute for the entirety of the pregnancy. Zacharias leaves the temple and he can only beckon to the people because he has no voice.
He goes home and soon Elizabeth becomes pregnant. Now, Elizabeth may have been blameless before the Lord but unfortunately people often look upon others in ways less pleasing, in other words people looked down on Elizabeth because she had no child. Many things have changed in the 2000 years between then and now, yet there are still people who look down on women because they have no children or because they don’t have as many as another one does, or because they only have boys or only have girls, we have advanced in so many ways, and yet we still can be as vindictive and demeaning as we have always been.

“That’s not right.”

“No, it’s not.”

When Elizabeth had been pregnant about six months Gabriel, the angel that had appeared to Zacharias, appeared to her cousin Mary. Now Mary, who as I mentioned was quite a bit younger than Elizabeth was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a man that I am named after. Joseph was descended from the great King David.

“The one the slept with a lady and then had her husband killed.”

Yep, same great King David. The one overarching concept in the Bible is that God uses regular people, they might be shepherds or kings they might be adulterers or politicians, but God can use them anyway. David messed up about as bad as you can and yet God still used him to accomplish great things, the same can be said of us, no matter how bad we may have messed up, God can still use us if we are willing. David did those things and more and yet the Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart.

When David died, he was followed by his son Solomon, who was also a great king, but after him the throne kind of went downhill, each succeeding king was a little worse, until they sinned so badly and led the people so far astray that they were exiled from their land and their throne was destroyed. But even in the midst of such great turmoil God spoke through the prophets, particularly Isaiah, about a day when the people would have a new king that would sit upon David’s throne and he would be their savior.

Which brings us back to Joseph and his fiancé Mary and the angel Gabriel.

Luke says that “having come in” Gabriel begins to talk. This says to me that Gabriel actually walked into the house where Mary was, doesn’t magically appear out of nowhere but takes the time to walk inside a place. Gabriel tells Mary that she should rejoice because she is a favored woman, that God is with her and that she is blessed higher than all women. Mary, seeing Gabriel, is troubled at what he has said to her and wonders what kind of a greeting is this. This tells me that Mary is a glass half empty kind of girl, because here we have an angel who comes into her house or room and tells her that God is with her and that she is blessed over all other women and she is wondering, what’s the catch. If you knew Mary today she would be the one who is always telling you to go check Snopes whenever an email comes along telling you that you won a cruise or got a 50% off coupon from Target, and she is definitely not giving any Nigerian Princes all of her money.

“Ugh.”

“What?”

“Why do pastors think they’re funny?”

“Fair point.”

Anyway, Gabriel tells Mary she’s highly favored and Mary is confused. Gabriel throws out the “Do not be afraid” and then goes on to tell her that she has found favor in God and because of that she is going to become pregnant. [See, Mary was right, a virgin getting pregnant is a catch] Not only that, but her baby boy would be named Jesus and would be called the Son of the Most High, and he will be given the throne of David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob [i.e. Israel] forever and that his kingdom would have no end.

Mary’s come back with a question, much like her son will do again and again and again throughout the gospels, pointing out that she’s a virgin and virgins don’t get pregnant.

Gabriel tells her that she will become pregnant by the very Spirit of God, so that Jesus would not only be called the Son of the Most High but also the Son of God. Gabriel then tells her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy and points out that if God can make an old woman pregnant a virgin ain’t no big thing. At this news Mary is finely convinced and says that she is the servant of the Lord and that she is willing to do what the Lord wants of her. After She says that, Gabriel departs.

Sometime later Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Upon entering Zacharias and Elizabeth’s house Mary greeted her cousin and Elizabeth’s unborn baby, John, lept. The Holy Spirit came over Elizabeth and she told Mary that she was blessed above all women and that her baby was also blessed. Then she asks why she is so lucky that the mother of the savior would come visit her. Notice that Mary didn’t tell Elizabeth that she was pregnant, she didn’t tell her about Gabriel, she didn’t tell her what Gabriel said to her and yet Elizabeth knew.

“Because of the Holy Spirit?”

Exactly, one of the things that the Spirit does for us is grant us discernment and understanding that is beyond our own limited understanding and comprehension. The Spirit lets us in on the bigger picture, just a little bit mind you, because there is really only so much that we can comprehend in the here and now.

“What do you mean?”

Well, it’s kind of like when God appeared to Moses in Exodus 33, God had to come near and then cover Moses with his hand so that he wouldn’t get the full blast of God. A lot of commentators read it in such a way that Moses never really sees God, but only sees where he just was. In that way Moses is a lot like us, we can only ever truly be sure of what God is doing in our lives after he has already done it. Hindsight really is 20/20.

“I’m still not exactly sure what you mean.”

What I mean is that neither Elizabeth nor Mary understand the full picture of who Jesus will be or what he will do or what he will endure, that was too much for them, they could wrap their minds around a virgin giving birth to the Son of God but wouldn’t have been able to wrap their minds around the idea that the same Son of God would be betrayed and murdered by those he came to save until much later.

“Ok, I think I get it now, I can understand stuff on my own, I can understand more with the Holy
Spirit, but I still can’t understand everything.”

How does it take me three paragraphs to explain what you said in one sentence, you’re too smart for my own good.

“Haha”

So, anyway, Elizabeth asks how can she be so lucky that the mother of the Son of God can visit her and Mary responds with a song.

“She starts singing?”

Well, not exactly, or maybe, we don’t really know, all we do know is that the people who put the Bible together categorized it as such, maybe she literally sung, maybe she just spoke a praise to the Lord, either way it is beautiful.

“My soul glorifies the Lord
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

Mary is chosen to carry Jesus and she praises God for it, she may have questioned and sought clarity, but she didn’t laugh like Sarah and she didn’t scoff like Zacharias, she praised.

“So the Christmas story, the story of Advent begins with two birth announcements?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

I think it’s because at base Advent is literally a time of waiting, waiting on the arrival of Jesus, for the Jews, they waited hundreds of years, and we still need to remember that there was a time without a savior. Along with that pregnancy is a thing that almost all of us can relate to, either because you are a parent or a sibling or have been close to someone who was pregnant, and we understand everything that it entails. Especially for a first child there is a multitude of change and preparation that has to happen between the announcement of a baby and the arrival of that baby. There is a ton of things that need to be purchased or gifted, a crib a high chair a stroller, clothes, sheets, blankets, bath supplies, diapers, not to mention formula or stuff for nursing and then there is the matter of the baby’s nursery, there is a lot that goes into the arrival of a new person. Not only do you have to prepare stuff for the baby but you also have to prepare yourself for a new life.

It's the same way with Advent, we prepare the house and the church with decorations and trees we purchase presents we bake cookies, but we also need to be aware that we need to prepare ourselves for the arrival of Jesus, working on the things that we need to be better at, working to forgive others and to forgive ourselves, working to believe and accept the love of God.

“So Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus?”

“Yep.”

“Even all these years later?”

“Especially all these years later, because we all too often get caught up in everything else around us and forget the coming of and need of Jesus. Well, I think that is enough preaching for one Sunday, we should go back inside, I’m freezing.”

“It might be because you don’t have a hat and gloves, you’re always telling me to put on a hat and gloves when I go outside.”

“Yes, but I was only coming out here to tell you that you could change, wasn’t planning on preaching.”

“I thought you were always planning on preaching.”

“Now who thinks they’re funny?”

“Come on pal, let’s go get warm, maybe your mom will make us some hot chocolate.”

“Sounds like a plan dad.”

Stagnation and It's End

I have been silent.

I have been away.

I have been lazy.

I have been stagnant.

I think in this last statement that all of the rest, and a host of others, can adequately be summed up. I have been stagnant, I have been unmoving, I have been here and only here, even when I was somewhere else.

"The feet of the wanderer are like the flower, his soul growing and reaping the fruit; 

and all his sins are destroyed by his fatigues in wandering. Therefore wander."

Aitareya Brahmana

I came across that most true and beautiful quote in the book The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster. If you followed any of my posts from On the Way to the Way you should recognize that book, because it is a book on the spiritual discipline of Pilgrimage. And I have been anything but pilgriming recently. I haven't been traveling, even when I haven't been home. I haven't been entering into new worlds, even when I watched movies or glanced at books. I have been stagnant.

Stagnation is tiring.

Stagnation is debilitating.

Stagnation turns things of wonder into things of disgust.

Stagnation turns life giving water into foul smelling waste.

Stagnation robs you of opportunities and deep thoughts and dreams.

Stagnation has had its time, and its time is now up.

Here I draw my line in the sand. Here I plant my flag. Here I say this far and no farther. Here I make a turn. Here I start a trip, of the mind, of the soul, of the feet.

So, here I am, and I am back.

I'll be seeing you soon.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 13

These reviews keep coming hot and heavy because I finished three books over the course of two days. One only took two days, one took a month, and one took almost 4 months. [The last one purposely took that long so I could digest it a few pages at a time, this will make more sense when the Book 14 review is up]

This one, All the Place to Go: How will you know? by John Ortberg took a month, As it was published this year I have decided to use it as V. A book published this year, I know I can get really creative sometimes. This was not my first brush with Mr. Ortberg's writing, nor will it be the last, I currently own another of his books that I am very much looking forward to reading at some point in the future, but I have to say that this one was at times a real slug fest. There were times when I breezed through sections, loving what I was reading. There were times when I was scratching my head about some of his conclusions.  There were times that I was shaking my head at the ridiculousness of some of his pastor jokes. And, for the sake of honesty, there were times when I merely skimmed sections of the last two chapters because I just wanted to be done with the book.

I am not an official book reviewer, so my negative comments about a book isn't really going to change how many people read a book, To that end I will not dwell on them much, other than to say that at times Mr. Ortberg believes that God only has a general care about the choices we make while at other times God is the one who closes each door or forces us to go through one door or another. It seemed like he wanted it both ways, freedom of choice and a God in complete control, it is my contention that you can have either one or the other, but if you can believe both and not go crazy, be my guest. In addition Ortberg uses Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go! as a jumping off point for this book, peppering in a few rhymes from time to time, and while it is an interesting device, I don't believe it was the best idea. If I had to guess I would say that the book may have started off as a sermon series, and the rhymes may have worked a lot better orally than they do on paper.

As far as the good there are two thoughts that I want to focus on for the rest of our time together. First was Ortberg's rather brilliant point about the church that Jesus gives the "great" commission to, Ortberg points out that it is a group of 11, not 12. 12 being a direct reference to the 12 tribes of Israel, a sort of new Israel that Jesus has formed, a number of completeness, of wholeness, of readiness. 11 on the other hand is less than, it is not ready, it is not whole, it is not complete. The church that Jesus sends out to change the world is a church that is unequal to the task, which ultimately means they must rely on each other and rely on God in order to begin to accomplish the task.

The second thing I loved about this book was a 3 page section on God using us in circumstance that we care about. In other words God equips us to deal with things that we already have a heart for. You hate modern day slavery? Perhaps God is calling you to work to end it. You have many issues with unequal pay? Perhaps God is asking you to speak up. Ortberg titles the section "What's your problem?" and at base if we understand the things that make our blood boil we may already know where God is wanting us to affect change. I have read whole books about this one topic, Bill Hybels The Power of a Whisper comes to mind, that have taken a lot more space to explain what Ortberg does in three pages, and I give him kudos for that.

As I said, there were good things and bad things about this book. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure. If it sounds good to you maybe just get it from the library, like I did.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 12

We went to the public library the other day. We did this partly to officially log Henry's time reading with the Children's department, and by Henry's time I mean the time that Mary and I have read to Henry, which adds up pretty quickly if you count each time we read the same book again and again and again. We also went to check out the monthly book sale that the Friends of the Library runs on the third floor of the library. I left Henry with Mary and went to look for books that would interest me, I found a couple and then Mary gave me Henry so she could look and showed me a book about Everest that she thought I might want. 

Why would she suggest a Book on Everest?

This might be as good a place as any to explain why I would possibly want a book about Everest. Well, I suppose that story start 6 years ago with the purchase of the newest novel [at the time] written by Jeffrey Archer. I am not sure if Archer's name will show up again on this particular quest, but he is arguably my favorite author, right up there with Stephen King and Rob Bell [the fact that those three names are at the top of my list is a prime example of my wide variety of tastes]. The book was Paths of Glory and it was a novelization of possibly the first people to ever reach the top of Everest, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine nearly 30 years before Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay. I was instantly taken in by the story Archer wove.

From Paths of Glory I began a ride on the Everest train, watching documentaries, tv shows on Discovery and reading books. For a fleeting moment in time I dreamed of actually attempting to climb Everest, a particularly foolhardy thought considering I have absolutely no experience climbing mountains and my most intense physical fitness is chasing my son down when he doesn't want a diaper change. With the help of rational thought I gave up the idea of climbing Everest, but it is still a fascination of mine, there are currently two movies in production about Everest, one about Mallory and Irvine and I cannot wait to see them.

Anyway, back to the plot...

So Mary suggested the book and I looked it over and found that it was a modern day equivalent of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, so I obviously decided to get it. For those of you who were unable to grow up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books I am so very very sorry, I am, fortunately, not one of your number and loved them as a kid. The official title of my new book was The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure Everest, which is why from here on out I will address it simply as Everest. The book is written by Bill Doyle and David Borgenicht with David Morton, climbing consultant.

[For those keeping track I am using Everest as fulfilling X. A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit]

Being a book aimed at preteens and being in the vein as a Choose Your Own Adventure it was a pretty simple and quick read.The book is officially 203 pages long, with 17 pages of general information about Everest which they suggest reading before you attempt the rest of the book. Being interested in Everest and interested in successfully climbing the mountain [there ate 26 total endings, but only one that leads to ultimate success] I read the 17 pages. And then I successfully made my way through Everest on the first attempt. The information was pretty invaluable to making the trip up safely. All told the successful read took about 70 of the 185 pages of actual story.

This was the first time I can remember actually reaching the official end of a book where the choices are mine, it was very gratifying. Of course I was curious as to what would happen if I made other choices so I reread it several times, choosing the opposite choice and getting injured again and again and dying again and again and surviving to climb another day again and again. My favorite end would have made the story approximately 15 pages when you decide to eat an apple pie, get cramps, and fall and break both wrists.

It was a quick read. It was a fun read. It was most definitely worth the $0.25 that we paid for it.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 11

Upon writing my last post two things happened. First, my friend Scott, upon reading my post, commented that there was a book similar to The Silence of our Friends titled March. Second, my wife and I had a discussion about The Silence of our Friends, race, and particularly about something that I had written in my previous post, "I read this book and think very highly of all of the white people who stood side by side with those who were fighting for the same rights as the majority." No, we didn't discuss its uneven flow of a sentence, there is probably a word or two missing that should be there for grammatical sense, what we talked about was how it often seems that it is the majority that tells the story of the minority and we are not only missing out on the actual story but also lifting up those who fight alongside as opposed to those who are actually a part of the struggle.

Part of me looks up to those who choose to stand alongside those who are fighting for their rights because of the courage they have to do so, especially in light of the cowardice that I so often show by not standing with those who are in the same struggle. But I do understand that those who stand beside have less to lose, they already have what other people are attempting to get. If Civil Rights had failed the whites would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, still been accepted in polite society, still went to better schools, sat in the front of buses, and generally not questioned about why they should be allowed to do the things they wanted to do. If Civil Rights had failed African Americans would have went back to their neighborhoods with the same rights they had at the beginning of the battle, accepted only in the company of like skinned individuals, been forced to sit where they were told and when they were told, been forced to go to crumbling schools with little supplies, and generally be questioned anytime they wanted anything from anyone that didn't look like them.

That is a wide gulf, and I am fully aware of it, but it is not my story. I read The Silence of our Friends because I found it on the library shelf and it caught my attention, it told the story of one moment of the battle for Civil Rights mostly from the perspective of a white family and it was informative, but it did not tell the whole story, nor the most important part of the story, hence I went looking for more. Which led me back to Scott's comment about another story.

For my 11th book of the year I read March Book One and March Book Two [Book Three is currently being written and when it arrives on shelves I will also read that] written by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. That last name should sound familiar to those of you who read my previous post as Nate Powell was also the illustrator for The Silence of Our Friends. To those of you versed in politics or the Civil Rights movement the name John Lewis should also be familiar with you having been a key member of the movement, including speaking during the 1963 March on Washington, the same March that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

[to those of you keeping track I am using March Book One and Book Two to cover "XVI. A book you learned about because of this challenge" on my book list]

The books are told from the perspective of Congressman Lewis retelling his story, from his beginnings on a farm in Alabama through his first brushes with Civil Rights to his rise in the movement, to a family who has come for the inauguration of President Obama.

March Book One spans Congressman Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his introduction to the nonviolence movement, his first meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation beginning with occupying lunch counters, building to a climax on the steps of City Hall. We are shown the love of education that pushed the Congressman to follow his heart as opposed to his father's wishes. We see his eyes being opened to how his people are being treated through the experience of a northern visit with his uncle. We see into his first experiences with the way of Ghandi and Jesus overcoming violence with nonviolence.

March Book Two takes us from the victory in Nashville forward into new battlefields. Congressman Lewis joins the Freedom Riders on a journey into the deep south by bus. We see the Freedom Riders faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment and murder, yet continue the ride with courage. We see Congressman Lewis in prison. We witness George Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech. We see the behind the scenes workings of the beginning of the "Big Six" [Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer (founder of CORE), A. Phillip Randolph (organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), Roy Wilkins (executive director of the NAACP), Whitney Young (National Urban League), and John Lewis (president of SNCC)]. Book Two culminates with Congressman Lewis's speech at the 1963 march.

March Book One and Book Two are very much worth your time if you are at all interested in the Civil Rights movement. They are written by a man who was very much a part of the struggle, a man who was beaten and put down, a man who overcame the violence through force of will, a man who rose up not with fists and guns but with words and a conviction that what was promised in our founding documents was an ideal to fight for.

As Soren Kirkegaard said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." Is this ever more true than in a story told from the moment an African American man becomes president of a nation that once enslaved his race? The struggle of John Lewis and millions like him moved our country forward, step by step, into a bright today, but today is not the end point, it is not the goal, the struggle continues and we must live it forwards.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

p.s. If you are in Anderson and would like to read these books our public library does contain a physical copy of March Book Two, but March Book One is only available as a digital resource through Indiana Digital Media.

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 10

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies

but the silence of our friends."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It is from this quote that Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, and Nate Powell get the title of their graphic novel The Silence of Our Friends, which I chose for my tenth book of the year.

When I first scanned the list of book suggestions for this particular quest and saw XXII. A Book With Pictures I immediately knew that I was going to be reading a graphic novel of some variety. While I grew up watching Batman, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, and X-Men I didn't really get into comics until I was in my early teens, but when I did, I fell hard, devouring almost anything I could get my hands on, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Valiant, Image is mattered not. I fell in love with the art, good art meant I would buy it, if one of my favorite artists (Jim Lee, Mark Bagley, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larson, etc.) jumped to a new book, I'd buy it even if I didn't know anything about the character, even if I didn't like the character.

My love of comics followed me through the rest of high school and on into college and grad school. As time progressed I would have seasons when I would follow various storylines closer than others, seasons when I would push comics to the side and others that I would dive headfirst into a comic shopping spree. A couple years ago I finally decided to stop purchasing comics cold turkey, partly I am able to do this because our public library has a wonderful selection of graphic novels.

I say all of that to say that when I saw XXII I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would simply pick up the newest TPB [trade paper back] that the library had of Batman or the Avengers or X-Men or Spiderman or ... at least until I went to the library to pick up the book. Once I entered the library and made my way to the graphic novel section I perused the superhero section, but then I made my way down the aisle to the non superhero section. There the library contains things like Sin City, From Hell, Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Mouseguard and other random graphic novels. As I scanned the shelves I came to this black spine that read The Silence of Our Friends in yellow, I had never heard of it and grabbed it to take a look. Given the events of the past few months I decided to bring it home and give it a try.

Given the quote and the author of the quote and my reference to current events you probably have an educated guess as to what The Silence of Our Friends is about. The Silence of Our Friends is an account of true events that occurred roughly 48 years ago in Houston Texas. The story revolves around two men, two families, two races. Jack Long, one of the authors's father, is a reporter recently moved into the area in order to cover race related news stories. Jack is a white man who believes in equality in a time and location where race relations are boiling over. The story follows Jack and his family and their interaction with Larry Thomas an editor of The Voice of Hope and an activist working with students on the campus of Texas Southern University [TSU]. The men meet and begin to become allays and then friends.

The tension is Houston, particularly an area surrounding Wheeler Avenue begins to boil over. The date is May 17 1967, the location is Wheeler Avenue, a peaceful sit-in protest turns violent due to police overreaction and then it turns deadly when a police officer is killed. Almost 500 people are arrested, with all but 5 being released the next day, the five remainings were charged with murder and became known as the TSU Five. They are eventually found innocent due to evidence being brought that the officer was struck down accidentally by another officer.

With all true stories that are turned into any form of entertainment names and details are changed, Mark Long explains it this way, "Creating a book like this one requires finding a balance between factual accuracy and emotional authenticity. What we have striven to create is a story that offers access to a particular moment in time, both for those who lived it and those who are just discovering it." [pg. 198-199] I for one believe they accomplished their task.

The beauty of reading a story like The Silence of Our Friends is having the benefit of reading about it 48 years later, after we have taken huge strides forward. This, of course, is not to say that we don't still have huge strides to make going forward, because we do. I for one hope that in some time less than 48 years from now we can look back on the events of this time and see the huge strides we have taken forward again, so that no more unarmed minority faces need dot the evening news.

I read this book and think very highly of all of the white people who stood side by side with those who were fighting for the same rights as the majority. I read the quote that started this whole post and remind myself that there is still work that needs to be done, and I need to keep my mouth open, speaking up for those whose voice is not heard, here is hoping that if my voice is remembered past my time it will be remembered for speaking up.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 9

The beautiful thing about having a book done before you write the previous books blog is that there is a smaller window between posts, which usually pumps up the views on your next post, hence more people will most likely read this post as opposed to the previous one. To some degree I like that because while I liked Undiluted, I devoured Book 9. For my ninth book of the year I decided to read Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young. On my reading list I decided to use it to fulfill I. A book you own but haven't read. I assume that the person who came up with this list had in mind that a person would use this one to read a book that they have owned for sometime but haven't gotten around to reading yet, this is not exactly true for me, because I owned Cross Roads for less than a month before I decided to read it, but as I've said before and am sure I will say again before this year is over but it's my list now and I will fudge with the books if I want to.

Some of you may recognize the author of Cross Roads, Wm. Paul Young from the ridiculous selling novel The Shack. If you have read The Shack but haven't heard of Cross Roads you would not be alone, Cross Roads came out in 2012 and I just learned about it 3 months ago when it randomly came across my recommended feed on Amazon. I find it odd that this is the case based on how many copies The Shack were sold, but it is what it is. If there is anyone out there that hasn't read The Shack I would highly suggest you go buy a copy and let it remind you, or let you know in the first place, of the love of God and God's ability to bring hope and healing in any situation. For those of you who have read The Shack and enjoyed it, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of Cross Roads.

Much like The Shack, Cross Roads centers on a man going through pain. Some of this pain is caused by external events and some, if not more, is because of the choices and defenses that the main character, Tony, made in response to those external events. It would not be much of a spoiler to tell you that Tony is a successful and wealthy man who has everything and nothing at the same time. He was shaped by the pain of his childhood and then further damaged by the pain of his adulthood and revisited that pain on all those close to him.

I also don't think it would be much of spoiler to let you know that Tony suffers a collapse and then encounters the divine. This encounter begins to radically reorient Tony's thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes, as all such encounters should do. Much like in The Shack, Mr. Young portrays the Trinity as separate, yet in relationship, characters delving into the work of each in our lives. And Jesus and the Holy Spirit send Tony on a journey that will impact his soul and the lives of those he encounters in surprising and profound ways.

I would love to go a lot more in depth in this review, but at the same time I do not wish to give too much of the story away, this book, much like the real life journey of faith is one best experienced along the way. To that end I will leave this review here, letting you know that I highly recommend this book, read it for its entertainment value, but don't be awfully surprised if it opens your eyes to internal battles you need to fight, actions you need to change, and a God that is intrinsically interested in your life and the lives around you.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 8

Have I been reading? It seems that maybe I haven't been, which is slightly strange since I am on this year long quest to read. It's even stranger that I had started late, beginning by being behind schedule, then I finally caught up and then fell behind. It's not that I haven't been reading, the book I am about to discuss I finished almost a month ago, and in the ensuing time I have started three books, have finished one, and have continued reading a fourth that I had started even before book 8. I finished book 8, otherwise known as VI. A book by an author you've never read before, aka Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus by Benjamin L. Corey on April 26. I originally was waiting to write the associated blog until I knew what my next book was going to be, so that I could include it in a lovely little p.s.. But then...

[by this time you should know the drill, you want my bare bones opinion, scroll down]

I downloaded what I thought was going to be the next book, The Lamb by Christopher Moore, through the wonders of the current age, in other words I borrowed a digital copy through my local public library. I had attempted to read this book once before, but alas I didn't even get as far into it this time as I did that time. I struggled through the first 30 pages over the course of a week and realized, somewhat to my dismay, that I would not be able to get through the next 400 in the next week before the download would magically disappear from my kindle, so I decided that it would not be my next book.

I purchased what I thought would be my next attempt at my next book A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch from Half Price Books. I then proceeded to read the first chapter, a whopping 5 pages, over the course of the next week. I was a little quicker on the uptake this time around and decided to sit it aside, at least for the time being, at least unless I find another book with a color in its title that I want to read instead.

I purchased the third book that I thought would be my next book through another wonder of the new age, a wonderful little service called Book Bub which alerts me to various digital deals. I finished attempt number 3 in 3 days, so that little post will be coming just around the bend, but that is not the point of this post is it?

All of that is to say that I have been reading, sometimes at a glacial pace and sometimes at a much quicker one, if only to make up some time. Which [finally] leads me back to book 8, Undiluted by Benjamin L. Corey.

I first encountered Mr. Corey by way of twitter [follow me @pastork19] when out of the blue I was followed by him. I had never heard of him, so I googled a little and found out he was a Christian and an author so I asked my wife. She did not know him either, but suggested that he may have been following people in order to get the word out on a book he wrote. I can only assume this is the truth, as I have not spoken to Mr. Corey himself about it. I am not sure how well this marketing ploy worked in general, but for me it seems to have done the trick.

Undiluted sounded interesting when I read the small synopsis that Amazon had, but for an author I don't know and a theological/biographical book I am not sure of the price was a bit of a hinderance. I will pay what I think is ridiculous for an author I love, but for one I did not I decided that I would add it to my wish list and wish it was a little cheaper. Several months later in stepped on of the wonders of the age, Book Bub which informed me that the book could be purchased for $1.99. I don't know about you, but I am willing to give almost any book that sounds interesting in the least a go for $1.99.

I purchased the book and downloaded it and then moved on to other books by other authors until I looked at my list and decided that Undiluted was worthy of being used for book 8/book VI. I read the 158 pages over the course of a week in one/two chapter increments. I could have read it much faster, but I tried to give myself some time to wrestle with some of the items that Mr. Corey brings up. Sitting here, now, I can tell you that I have already incorporated two concepts into sermons, the first one I used was one of my favorites which was story about a bad pot of rice.

Undiluted is the story of Mr. Corey's journey through seminary and the changes that took place in his theology/faith/life, at least to some degree. I say to some degree because while the backstory states that the book will dwell on his time in seminary it often only skirts his actual seminary experience. This is not necessarily a knock on the book, by incorporating experiences that happened outside the walls/country of seminary he lets us into how his theology began to shape his life in new and radical ways.

Each chapter of the book relays how his personal concepts changed from the conservativeness/rule based of the church community he grew up in to the more progressive/Jesus based he discovered by delving deeper into the questions of faith as well as in the Jesus teachings found in the gospels. One could argue that what Mr. Corey really found in seminary was Jesus, in all of his truth and honesty and love, not just the Jesus of the manger and the cross, but also the Jesus of the dirt and the journey and the teachings. When we encounter the whole Jesus we are changed and that is what happened to Mr. Corey, his journey is one that has been repeated time and time again down through the centuries, and prayfully will continue to be repeated.

At base how I feel about this book:
I enjoyed walking Mr. Corey's journey with him, while it didn't drastically change any of my theological views [I mostly found myself in agreement with where his end up] I did occasionally find my views tweaked, or perhaps more so, found a new way to talk about what I already believed. It is a short book, an easy read, and if you are somewhere on the spectrum between what you were given as a child [fundamentalism] in church and what you are finding later in life [something different] this book may be of some help for you. We all need that book that resonates within us and lets us in on the secret that we are not the only ones thinking what we're thinking.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

p.s. Book 9, Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young was finished earlier today, so be on the look out for that post in the next few days.

My Big Problem with Noah and Exodus:Gods and Kings

I just finished watching Exodus: Gods and Kings and I must say that I am left feeling roughly the same way I felt after Noah, which I'll get to in a moment.

on Accuracy or the lack there of:
Many people of Jewish or Christian faith take issue with the movies because they are not 100% faithful to the Biblical telling, I do not have this problem. In Noah's case if the writers stayed true to the Bible the movie would have been a lot shorter with a lot less dialogue. In Exodus's case it may well have been longer.

In regards to Noah, I do not mind that the Nephilim in Noah were rock monsters who became angels through their sacrifice, theologically speaking no one really knows what the Nephilim were, so rock monsters are as good an explanation as any. I don't mind Noah's crisis of faith, in fact I applaud it, if the deluge was actually earth covering and humanity destroying I hope that Noah had a crisis of faith, I have a crisis of faith every time I even think of Noah's Ark and the cute little cartoon Noah and animals that adorn too many children's bedrooms. I don't mind Noah getting drunk, it's Biblical whether you like it or not. I don't mind that the children aren't as married as they should be. I don't mind because in my opinion none of that really matters nor does it change the story.

In regards to Exodus, I do not mind that Moses is tighter with Ramses and Seti. I do not mind that Moses gets banished as opposed to running away. I do not mind that there is a little boy who is either God or a messenger of God or that Moses is stuck in mud when he encounter this boy/messenger/God. I do not mind that Moses seems a little more in the dark about God's plan. I do not mind about the marital issues that Moses's revelation causes. I do not mind the crisis of faith that Moses has during the plagues. I frankly applaud Moses telling the boy/messenger/God that the death of the firstborns is wrong.

on the Problem:
All of that is not to say that I didn't have problems with the movies, because I did. some small, some big but none as big as what I am left with at this moment, much like the last moment. When did Moses, and Noah before him, become a warrior? Seriously, when did that happen? Why did that happen? Noah built an ark and then planted a vineyard and got drunk and cast out his son because he saw him naked and did nothing about it. Moses was not a prince of Egypt nor a general, he didn't want to set his people free because he had a speech impediment. He didn't threaten Ramses. He didn't teach the Hebrews war. He didn't stand down Ramses in the middle of the Red Sea as the waters crashed over them.

THIS. IS. NOT. THE. WAY. IT. WAS.

on Biblical Beauty:
The beauty of the Biblical story is that God does not choose the hero, God does not choose the strongman, God does not choose the born leader, God chooses the one with the disability, God chooses the shepherd boy, God chooses the youngest, God chooses the least, God chooses the harlot, God chooses the normal one, the one who can't accomplish it on their own, because they are too small, they are too weak, but God chooses them anyway. Moses does not need to threaten Ramses with a sword to his throat because he has a staff [not a sword] that he can turn into a snake, or that he can use to touch the water and make it as blood [without supercrocs], or touch the waters of the Red Sea and have them part miraculously. He triumphs over Ramses not because he has been schooled in the ways of war or because he is really good with a sword [assassins? seriously assassins?] but because God does every single thing that needs to be done, God chooses Moses, give him Aaron to speak for him, and leads him every step of the way.

If we need the Biblical heroes to be warriors then perhaps we've simply missed the whole point of the Bible in the first place.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 7

When I first began my quest to read I perused all 26 of the explanations for the books I was to read. I made several notations then about books that I might want to read that would fit the requirements. I came to "#12 A book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe" and simply assumed that it would be some kind of novel, either a fantasy or a science fiction and I skipped it at that time, figuring I would decide on what novel it would be at some point later.

A few weeks in I decided to do a more detailed look at the list to try to really map out where I was going in my reading and I decided to look at my wife's bookcase to see if there were any books that she had that would fit my list. It was from that perusing of the bookshelf that I landed on Confederates in the Attic, which I have already read and reviewed, and Notes From a Small Island which will be showing up somewhere down the line, and book 7, The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot is not a novel at all, rather it is a collection of loosely connected essays. In addition it doesn't expressly contain a lion, a witch. or a wardrobe, but there is one essay in the book where Ms. Vowell focuses on the Salem Witch Trials, which while not actually about witchcraft at all is close enough for my needs, while the book list is something I came across it has most assuredly become my reading list and I will choose to bend the rules when I so choose. The end of the last sentence is what takes this from a potential task to a personal adventure.

As I stated a few sentences above The Partly Cloudy Patriot is a collection of essays on various topics, such as Tom Cruise's performance in Magnolia, an underground cafeteria at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, German Cinema, George W. Bush's first inauguration, being a twin, the Gettysburg Address, and the first Thanksgiving that Ms. Vowell had at her home in New York with her parents and sister and nephew. When I say that they are loosely connected I am using that is a very loose sense, they are all stories stemming from Ms. Vowell's experiences in America and her attachment to said country, its origins, its story, its entertainment, and its future.

My wife highly recommended this book to me, and if I am honest it took me a while to get into it, I prefer my books to be a lot less loosely connected, but when I did get into it I enjoyed the experiences that Ms. Vowell had. If I had to guess I would say that she writes like she talks, which I like a lot, mainly because I tend to think that I do the same thing. Ultimately I suppose the real question about any book that you read by an author that is new to you is would you read more books by him or her, and I would read more of Ms. Vowell's books.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 6

In today's entry we learn that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but maybe occasionally you should pick a book because of its cover. For my 6th [of 26] book I decided to search out #3 A book you pick solely because of the cover. I had been on the lookout for a cool looking cover almost since the beginning of this quest and hadn't been sucked in by any until I was at work one night and came across a book with a picture of a giant red thumbtack sticking into a map on someone's desk one night while I was doing my nightly cleaning of offices. I didn't recognize the title or the author yet I couldn't get my mind off the big red thumbtack, it was like it kept telling me the same thing over and over, first in just a gentle whisper but later in a full throated I'm about to go hoarse way "You are here!!!!"

I finally decided to relent and purchased a digital copy of Paper Towns by John Green for $4.99. Before I downloaded I did read the synopsis and it sounded interesting, I also learned that John Green was the author of a little book titled The Fault in Our Stars which you may of heard of, upon learning this it did give me pause, after all that book is a YA [young adult] tearjerker, which I didn't have any intention of reading, that had recently been turned into a rather popular movie, which I didn't have any intention of seeing. I also learned that Paper Towns had also been adapted into a movie soon to hit theatres. This one, I think I will see, at some point, maybe not in the theatre, but definitely on dvd or blu ray or digitally.

[This review won't be as long as some of my previous ones, but as always if you wish to only know my barebones opinion, scroll down.]

I feel some amount of responsibility to not spoil this book for those who haven't read it yet are interested in watching the movie, like for instance the meaning behind the title. What I will tell you is that it is about an Orlando, Florida High School senior named Quentin, which everyone just calls Q and it is about Q's neighbor, and one time close friend, Margo. They get into a small adventure which becomes a mystery which leads to a bigger adventure which leads Q and his friends Ben and Radar to the other side of the country. Along the way there are prom dates to find, questions to be solved, but more than anything there are people to be understood.

When it comes right down to it, Paper Towns is about answering the question, 'are the people we know really the people we know?' The book doesn't quite phrase it that way, but that is where it all boils down to. Each person in the book is who they are, but they are also all so much more and at times less. Paper Towns is about the people we create in our minds and how much that creation actually aligns with the way people really are. This is, of course, true when it comes to our memories of people but Paper Towns also posits that it is how most of our current relationships work also.

I read the first 30 pages of Paper Towns on day 1, didn't read any on day 2, and then ended up reading 275 pages on day 3. I devoured this book, section 1 was just plain fun, section 2 was the uncovering of the mystery, section 3 raced toward the final destination and race section 3 did, until the final chapter when it came to a screeching halt in quite a bit of exposition. The book's ending, left me wanting, wanting to know what was next, wanting more resolution. It also left me with a bit of confusion. The book begins with Q narrating in such a way as to suggest that everything that is going to happen has already happened to Q, but then the book ends in a moment, I'm not sure if the whole story was told from his perspective right before the end or what, I was expecting an end to the story and then an epilogue to finish what began in the prologue, instead it was just an end.

At base how I feel about this book:
I greatly enjoyed Paper Towns, evident by the speed at which I read the book. It had quite a bit of humor throughout. It does have some language and mature elements, much like you would find in a PG-13 movie aimed at teens. While the ending left me both wanting and with some confusion I would still highly recommend this book. When all is said and done I am glad that one of the books I was to read in this challenge was one I chose only because of the cover, that big red thumbtack took me on a pretty cool ride.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 5

Told you it was coming soon.

When I was deciding on #24 A book you loved...read it again I was originally going to read the first Harry Potter book, but I have read that book about 8 times so I decided maybe I should go another direction. I ended up staying in "children's literature" but decided to move back another decade plus to find the book I wanted to reread.

One of the wonders of my childhood was the Scholastic Book Fair and the catalog of books that would arrive monthly at my grade school. Each year and most months my mom would give me some money so I could get/order a book. Most months it was Hardy Boys and Choose Your Own Adventures but this one time at the Book Fair I picked up a book that showcased a couple of children on sleds on the cover. The book, I learned from the back cover was a fictionalized true story of children whom had helped smuggle gold bullion out of Norway under the noses of the invading German army during World War II. I picked up the book for a couple dollars and took it home and read it over the course of a day.

A day used to be the usual amount of time that I would take to read most books. Obviously when I was younger most of the books were shorter than most of the books I read now. Obviously when I was younger the subject matter of most books was a lot less dense than the normal subject matter of the books I read now. Obviously when I was younger I got lost in the characters and plot lines a lot better than I do now, free of the interruptions that take place nowadays. Obviously I am getting older. The last book that I was able to read over the course of a 24 hour period was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. That is until I once again picked up Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.

In the course of the story a boy and his friends daily hide gold on their sleds as they pass Nazi sentries on the way to a snow covered bank next to a fjord. Snow Treasure is a story of adventure and courage in the face of overwhelming odds, it is a showcase that courage does not always mean fighting the enemy but is often about being smarter than the enemy.

I bought Snow Treasure as a child but as happened to almost all my childhood books it was lost to time, a yard sale during childhood, or Half Price Books in seminary, I don't really remember when it passed on from my ownership. But I always remembered it fondly and then I happened upon it several years ago at Epcot of all places. One of the nations in Epcot's World Showcase is Norway and in their gift shop that you came to following the Maelstrom ride I found Snow Treasure sitting among other books about Norwegian history. I pointed it out to Mary and said that at some point I wanted to by the book again, she told me I might as well get it now or else I might regret it, I listened to my wife and purchased my second copy of Snow Treasure.

[Incidentally Maelstrom is currently being replaced by a Frozen ride, which should have better effects and music but will certainly be missing the history and gods of Norse mythology]

It sat on a book shelf for the past several years, for a time in my office, then in Henry's room and finally back to my office until I picked it up yesterday and read it from cover to cover. The story still struck a cord these 27 years later and I would recommend it to all children and adults who want a quick fun true adventure of good triumphing over the evil that is prevalent in this world. Edmund Burke once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," Snow Treasure is proof that the opposite is true as well, the only thing necessary for the destruction of evil is for good men, women, children to do something.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 4

I have now read four books this year and each one has been relatively heavy. I started off with Selling Water by the River thinking about the Church and Jesus and where the former gets in the way of the latter. I moved to a novel, American Gods, which dealt with belief in a wide array of ways. Third was It's God's Church, a book that dealt with the life and legacy of D.S. Warner, one of the founding voices of my particular stream of Christian belief. And then I searched for what my next book would be, I found one on my wife's bookcase that fit a certain criteria and thought that it would be a relatively fun read that I could just react to without much deep thinking. HAHA! That one didn't turn out the way I planned.

For my fourth entry [of 26] I choose to knock off #19 A book you were supposed to read in school, but didn't. Little known fact, I have always loved to read, unless I had to, and then I hated it. The truth if the matter is that y education would have been a much deeper one if I would have read all of the books that I was assigned, unfortunately that was not the case. For this particular book I reached back into undergrad, to an American History class taught by Dr. Brian Dirck. My fourth book was Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz.

Confederates in the Attic, is part travelogue, part history, and part sociological examination, mixed with a little humor, a little nostalgia, and a lot of racial issues.

[as always if you are merely interested in my barebones comment on the book, scroll down]

I finished the final 3 chapters late last night and waited until now to write this post, in truth I could have waited longer for what is found in this book will affect me for years to come. This year will be the 160th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and 50 years from Selma, and yet what Mr. Horwitz uncovered 17+ years ago rings as true today as it did then, whichever then you would like to point to.

As a student of history I would not argue that the Civil War was fought because of the institution of slavery anymore than I would that WWII was fought because of the treatment of Jews under the Nazis, and I write that with a large amount of sadness on both fronts. The Civil War was about a clash of economies, a clash of ideologies, a clash of temperaments and the end of slavery was at least as much about the needs of the North as it was about the morality of the issue. Abraham Lincoln himself stated that if the Union could be saved by freeing no slaves he would do that, if it meant freeing every slave, he would do that. Even the Emancipation Proclamation, which we hold in such high esteem, stated only that the slaves in the states that were in rebellion were to be free, not in the border states where slavery was still legal. It wasn't until over two years later when the 13th Amendment was ratified that slavery was finally declared illegal throughout the nation.

As a half caucasian half hispanic man I wish I could say that we have come all the way in the past 160, 50 or even 17 years, but we have not. The events of the past year alone tells us the truth on that matter. Are we better off than we were back then? That depends on how you define the term 'we' in that sentence. As Mr. Horwitz finds in his book there are still a number of Americans that would more than likely answer, no, and not all of those people would be white. We have gone from slavery to Jim Crow to legal segregation to equality to volunteered segregation, which makes me wonder if we ever actually reached equality in the first place.

[I realize that while I am a good little way into this post I have mainly not talked about the nuts and bolts of Confederates in the Attic but rather talked about my thoughts based on what I read. This leads me to believe that this is less a book review and more a review of how the book worked on me, but let me try to at least give you a little bit about the book as well.]

At base Confederates in the Attic is about Mr. Horwitz's travels in 9 Southern/Border states and how the people who live there view the Civil War. He encounters men who live to reenact the battles as realistically as possible, women who carry the memory of near forgotten ancestors, bigots, racists, heroes, and everyday people whose lives have encountered the remnants of the war. He talks with the last Confederate widow, whose husband was in reality a deserter. He interacts with a community reeling from a murder. He finds out the importance that Gone With the Wind has for the Japanese. Along the way there are many humorous moments, and moments that make your heart weep.

It has now been 24 hours since I finished the book and I am still struggling with certain aspects, which speaks to subtitle of the book, Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. 160 years later we are still fighting the war to some degree, but instead of muskets and cannon we use mainly our words, until the undercurrent of anger overflows into the daylight at the next loss of life, be it black or white or brown or red or blue or... This country still has issues with race and sex and creed, we still have a long way to go. MLK Jr.'s dream is still just a dream for a lot of people, and we must continue to break down the walls that exist, especially the ones of our own design.

At base how I feel about this book:
Confederates at times made me laugh, at times made me cringe, and usually made me stop and think about what I was reading, both the good and the bad. Mr. Horwitz knows how to paint a scene and how to paint a character, which is sometimes harder to do when the characters are real living breathing people. At base this was a good read, one that I wouldn't have truly digested as the person I was when I was a college student. It widened my view of the human condition in America, with its historical viewpoint and its look at current [though it was written in 1998] views on race.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

p.s. Book 5 is almost halfway finished already, so that post should be coming in the next couple days. And yes, 5 is a lot lighter.

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 3

On to book 3 of 26.

After the behemoth that was American Gods, I decided that my next book would be a tad smaller, so I went from 500+ to 170 pages. My third book could once again meet the requirements of multiple book choices, but the one I have officially chosen for it is #25 A book that is more than 10 years old, seeing as it was written about 20 years ago, depending on its month of publication. If you were paying attention to my last blog entry you already know that book 3 is It's God's Church: the Life and Legacy of Daniel Sidney Warner by Barry L. Callen.

[Once again, if you only want my barebones comment on this book, scroll down]

There's probably a few things that you should know before I get into the meat of this entry. 1) I took several classes with Dr. Callen through both college as well as seminary. 2) Dr. Callen is a very smart man. 3) Dr. Callen put out a 27 page pamphlet last year titled The Top Ten: Why Daniel S. Warner is Still Relevant for You and Your Church which I greatly enjoyed and is the main reason that I had an interest in reading It's God's Church. 4) I wish I had stopped with The Top Ten.

As I mentioned two sentences ago, I really liked The Top Ten and was very interested in reading more about D.S. Warner, after reading It's God's Church I wished I knew less about D.S. Warner. For those of you who do not belong to the Church of God (Anderson, IN) D.S. is one of the founders of our particular stream of thought. Dr. Callen goes to some length to disregard D.S. as the founder, so I will merely say he is 'a founder' as opposed to 'the founder'. One of the main reasons that I wish I had not read It's God's Church is because after The Top Ten I admired Warner and after It's God's Church I came to the conclusion that I probably wouldn't have liked him. Warner often comes across as a man so full of his own belief that there is no room for anyone who thinks differently. Over the course of the book Dr. Callen details Warner's loss of friend after friend and even a wife over theological differences. Where Jesus says his followers will be known by their love it appears that D.S. and his fellow workers were better known by their anger at all that had come after the New Testament and before them.

Besides my problems with Warner the man I also had problems with Dr. Callen's book in general. He takes the first two chapters to talk about the world that Warner stepped into and existed in but often name drops with the assumption that his readers already know who is who and what they did. While I often, but not always, did know the names and situations that Dr. Callen skips across many do not and I felt a little more explanation was necessary. In addition Dr. Callen peppers his book with the statement "It's God's Church" over and over and over again, making it not a statement of sound theology but rather turning it into some corny catchphrase. When we finally do get to Warner's actual life there are often events that are mentioned but then quickly left behind because of an incomplete record of Warner's life, while this is not Dr. Callen's fault per se it made for a, at times, disjointed story.

As I mentioned I am in a church whose stream of thought dates back to D.S. Warner and I have to say that there are things that our movement [not a denomination because those are evil, said by myself tongue in cheek, said by Warner with all seriousness] engages in that Warner would have stood opposed to. In the end I imagine that it is for the best that we hold him in regard without holding him as the ideal, Dr. Callen says that it would not be something that he would want to be anyway.

At base how I feel about this book:
If you really want to know the nitty gritty about Daniel Sidney Warner, if you want to grapple with the man, his thoughts, and his meaning I would suggest you read this book. If, on the other hand, you would prefer just a quick overview of his more positive attributes and actions I would suggest The Top Ten. If you are a pastor in the Church of God, or a lay leader, or just an interested individual I would recommend that you at least read The Top Ten, and potentially read It's God's Church as well.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

p.s. I should probably thank my friend and partner in theological crime Ryan Carrel, pastor of the Southeast Project in Indianapolis, who kindly let me have/borrow It's God's Church. If you live on the Southeast side or really anywhere in Indianapolis at all and don't have a church, I suggest you check it out. You can have it back now if you want it back Ryan.

p.s.s. I am not sure at the moment what book 4 will be, but you should find the associated blog for it in roughly two weeks

A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 2

14 days ago I shared with you that I decided to start a year long reading challenge, today I am here to tell you about book 2 of 26.

My first book, Selling Water by the River by Shane Hipps, was a non-fiction book dealing with Jesus, religion, and the church. I liked it a lot. For awhile I was tempted to once again choose a non-fiction book, more than likely dealing with Jesus, religion, and the church, but instead I decided to do a 180 of sorts. I say of sorts because instead of non-fiction I decided to read a novel, and while it doesn't deal with Jesus, except in the after story extras, and doesn't speak to the church, at least not directly, it has a lot to do with religion and gods and how we believe and what we believe in and why it matters. 

So I chose a novel, but I did not pick a short one (it clocked in at around 500 pages) nor did I chose a light one (it is a novel with discussion questions for crying out loud). Below you will find the particulars of the challenge I have taken on and this book could have filled the requirements for 6,16,18,and 25, but I have decided to use it for #4 A book your friend loves [shout out to my former RCA buddy and current reading challenge buddy Jessy Rocco].

So, what did I read? American Gods by Neil Gaiman. 

[if you are merely interested in my basic review of the book skip down to the end,

 or continue for a little deeper look at my thoughts]

For lack of a better way of going about this particular look at American Gods I will be roughly using the discussion questions included in my copy [10th anniversary edition, bought digitally on the Amazon Kindle Fire].

1) American Gods is an epic novel dealing with many big themes, including sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, love and faith. Which theme affected you the most strongly, and why?

As a pastor my first thought would be faith, but each one made the ride more enjoyable as well as intellectual. One of the things I liked most about the book was that I could finish reading for the day and would still ponder various aspects of the story. Shadow, the main character, goes on a journey through life and death and back again encountering gods, both of myth and of reality. Through his journey we see the way our beliefs create that which we believe in, imbue them with power or steal it away. It reminds me of the story in Mark 6 where Jesus is unable to perform miracles in his hometown because of the lack of belief. In some way, what Gaiman writes about, is Biblical, in some way our belief, or lack there of is intrinsically tied to what God can accomplish in our midst.

2) Shadow begins the novel as a convict, and ends it a different man. How does the novel exploit the idea of America as a place where immigrants and exiles, both physical and emotional, can reinvent themselves? What makes Shadow himself so compelling and complex.?

I am going to skip the part about Shadow in particular partly because I don't want to ruin anything for those of you who have not read this book. What is of greater importance to me is the idea of reinvention. I believe that in some ways America is the ideal place for reinvention because America has reinvented itself time and again. When we began we were the wayward children of England, then we were the rebellious children of England, and then we were our own people. We were fractured and came back together in relative peace. We were people of promise and then people of fear. We welcomed the stranger and then kicked him out. We were all things to all people yet often lacked any sort of real identity. Gaiman was/is somewhat of an outsider, born and raised in the UK, yet to some degree understands America's potential and pitfalls better than most of us do.

I'm skipping question 3 because it focuses on an aspect of the book that is a lot more important to the book than you realize until much later.

4) The old gods expect sacrifice, violence, and worship. How have they adapted to the modern world? How and why have Americans transferred their devotion to the new technological and material gods for the old spiritual gods? What comment is being made about modern cultural values?

I don't feel that it is giving much away to say that the book's main thrust is the struggle that the old gods of the spiritual realm have with the new gods of technology and modernity. In reality it is all a popularity contest to some degree, who do we believe in the most. This is a very real struggle for the church today, convincing the people in the pews that it makes more sense to believe in Jesus than it does to believe in Apple, or more appropriately the newest generation of the iPhone, or the internet, or money. I had a conversation the other day with a friend about the ever growing use of the internet. My friend's hope was that with the growing access to information people will become more informed and less entrenched in their ideologies. I told him how I doubt that would be the case because while it is now much easier to access information in our world it is equally easier to access and disseminate misinformation. In the end it still comes down to a matter of what you want to, or don't want to believe in.

The book contains 6 questions in total but I am going to skip 5 and 6 partly because of the length of this post and partly because they don't interest me near as much as the ones I have already answered.

At base how I feel about the book:

American Gods was a complex novel, jumping between its "modern day" setting and various other times when people of various backgrounds first came to American shores, bringing their beliefs and gods with them. Ultimately it is a book about belief, incorporating fantastical elements, a little bit of sci-fi, a little bit of horror, a little bit detective story, a little bit travelogue, and its fair share of non-kid appropriate content. I enjoyed the journey and would recommend it to those who find such aspects interesting.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

p.s. Next Book Up: It's God's Church: the Life and Legacy of Daniel Sidney Warner by Barry L. Callen

p.s.s. the reading challenge list

1. a book you own but haven't read

2. a book that was made into a movie

3. a book you pick solely because of the cover

4. a book your friend loves

5. a book published this year

6. a book by an author you've never read

7. a book by an author you love

8. a book at the bottom of your 'to be read' pile

9. a book with a color in its title

10. a book set somewhere you've always anted to visit

11. a book you started but never finished

12. a book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe

13. a book with a female heroine

14. a book set in summer

15. a book of poems

16. a book you learned about because of this challenge

17. a book that will make you smarter

18. a book with a blue cover

19. a book you were supposed to read in school, but didn't

20. a book 'everyone' but you have read

21. a book with a great first line

22. a book with pictures

23. a book from the library

24. a book you loved...read it again

25. a book that is more than 10 years old

26. a book based on a true story