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.