So I was skeptical when AP decided to write books.  Novels are a much more dangerous endeavor than songs:  the words just sit there naked on the page with no brilliant music to clothe them.  For a year I shied away from reading AP’s first novel (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness).   I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining my love of APs music by associating it with what could be pages filled with overly suntanned, wrinkly, naked words!  Yikes!

You see my dilemma.

Earlier this summer I read that AP was releasing his second novel in this same series, North! Or Be Eaten, and I had an inkling of hope that his novel-writing skills were at least decent since he was able to publish a second book.  That bit of hope was all I needed to hop over to amazon and buy On the Edge… (since no bookseller in my entire town had it in stock!).  After what seemed like a ridiculous wait for my book to arrive (I knew I should have ordered from the Rabbit Room), I ripped open the box and sat down with my three new best friends for the week:  Janner, Tink, and Leeli.

W.  O.  W.

From the very first chapter I was immersed in a world filled with pirates, sock men, sea dragons, toothy cows, and the Fangs of Dang.  But what made me turn page after page was Janner, Tink, and Leeli’s great love for one another and the sense that they had a great purpose to fulfill – together!  Lots of unexpected twists and turns kept me glued all the way to the end of the story.

Thankfully, I already had North! Or Be Eaten in my possession or I might have tried to bribe a Ridgerunner with some juicy fruit to go and steal the manuscript from AP’s hands! (Don’t worry, you’ll get that once you read the book!)  This second installment of the Wingfeather Saga did not disappoint:  plenty of plot twists, new characters, and answers to questions posed in On the Edge…

I suppose I shouldn’t have doubted APs ability to use words – whether naked on a page or wrapped in music – to speak of the love of the ‘Maker’ to his increasingly delighted audience.  Well done AP!

I have a copy of North! Or Be Eaten to give away to one of you.  If you’d like it, please leave a comment below indicating as much.  I’m going to see AP in Green Bay this Saturday, so I can even ask him to autograph it for you!

It’s how I often feel after leading weekend worship for the 300-1000 people at either of our two church campuses.  I plop down in my car, peel off my nametag, and rehash all the mistakes that happened during the worship experience.  “What a mess that was today,” I think, wondering if anyone could have possibly encountered Christ in the midst of my failed cues, mispoken words, and flat jokes.  But as I turn on some Remedy Drive/David Crowder/Miles Davis to drown out my sorrows, I remember the person who came up to me after service and shared with me something that they were struggling with and how the music/Scripture/message/communion really encouraged them today.  In the midst of this ‘Perfect Mess’, our God – Father/Son/Holy Spirit – came to them and built them up.

That’s the way it is, isn’t it?  God comes to us in the midst of this perfect mess!

If you’re looking for a short read to help you reflect on God’s presence in our chaotic mess of a world, pick up Lisa Harper’s A Perfect Mess.  Lisa uses the greatest of Scriptural music, the Psalms, to remind the harried and time-starved among us that God is continually using all of our imperfect pieces in His perfect plan.  Picking out 12 of the greatest Psalms, Lisa weaves spiritual truth in between hilarious stores and Scriptural study.

I was a bit reticent in reading A Perfect Mess because of its soccer mom packaging, but Lisa’s stories and reflections on the Psalms are too funny to pass up.  As my wife and I read this book together, we often said to one another with a knowing smirk, “Did you get to the ____ story yet?”

Give A Perfect Mess a shot.  It’s short, light-hearted, and soundly Scriptural.  It’s a perfect summer read!

I would highly recommend this book to small groups looking for a fun, light read.  Inviting discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter (I’d recommend 3-4 chapters per session).

]]> http://www.faithemergence.com/2009/07/a-perfect-mess/feed/ 0 http://www.faithemergence.com/2009/06/friday-book-review-sisterchicks-in-wooden-shoes/ http://www.faithemergence.com/2009/06/friday-book-review-sisterchicks-in-wooden-shoes/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:48:53 +0000 John http://www.faithemergence.com/?p=759 Every once in a while I like to ask my wife, Erin, to provide a bit of the ‘female’ perspective here at Faith Emergence.  Once again, she’s been asked to review a new book that’s coming out, and this time it was a book that she’s been waiting for:  Sisterchicks In Wooden Shoes.

Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes

A Sisterchick by definition is: a friend who laughs with you till you cry and cries with you till you laugh; a gift from God.

I am a sisterchicks fan to begin with, so when I was asked to review the new Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes by Robin Jones Gunn, I was excited.  Robin does such a good job of taking you to different places around the world, which is nice because I don’t get to go there myself.  In this book in the series, the best friends happen to be pen pals and Summer from the U.S. flys away to meet her never-before-seen pen pal Noelle in the Netherlands.  Robin also does a good job of mixing silly girlie adventure with an appreciation for God and what He does in our lives.  While Summer is busy making faux pas after faux pas and learning Dutch culture, she also slows down enough to enjoy the “sacredness of the everyday” and to give up some of her controlling nature and recognize God’s hand in her life.

A good, easy summer read and it even has discussion questions at the end of you are in a book club!

Check out Erin’s other reviews:

Mama’s Got a Fake I.D.

**Today’s post is by Erin Scott – John’s wife.  She had the chance to write a review for Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira’s new book, Mama’s Got a Fake I.D.: How to Reveal the Real You Behind all That Mom
**

A great mom’s day gift…to say, “I get that your role is tough and you’re doing great!”

So I’ve been reading a book by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira called Mama’s Got a Fake I.D. It’s perfect timing for me…just as Caryn took the time to write her book between naps and sitting on the toilet during bath time, I found the same time to read her book.  As a mother of two in the preschool stage, I completely understand this notion of feeling like no one sees me as more than a mother in this stage of my life.  I could completely identify with her story that was an impetus for her book in the first place.  She was at a hotel, extremely pregnant with her third and some strange man kept calling her mama.  Why do people insist on calling me mama when I’m pregnant?  Clearly I am not the only one this happens to, and it makes me just as mad as it did Caryn.  My line has become, “I’m not your mama!”

She got me really pumped about this whole notion of “losing my ID” in the first couple chapters, to the point of asking my husband his views on the matter.  He could not understand why I’m not content just being mom.  I was furious!  Of course I’m more than a mom.  It may be what I do all day every day, but gosh darn it, I am not just a mom!  After being so pumped about the topic, I felt like saying, “Amen sister!  No one gets who I am in the midst of this crazy life I call mommy hood.”

In the next couple chapters, I started wondering if maybe Caryn was just having a bad day when she wrote the book because it seemed she was just ranting about the unjustness of the world around us, putting labels on us moms and not seeing us for who we are.  And I started wondering if my husband was right…maybe I am just a mom and I can just suck it up and be content with that.

But I kept reading, and I feel like Caryn gave some real insight into the emotional roller coaster we moms call life.  I enjoyed her practical advice and personal insights that made me feel like I’m not crazy.  Other people do feel this way and it won’t always be this way.  In my head I know that, but it is so nice to be reminded of the fact every once in a while.

One thing I love is her christian perspective.  As a christian mom who is also in MOPS, I can identify with her quest to find herself.

And Caryn doesn’t hold any punches, she says the church is one major factor in us feeling like we don’t have our own identity.  This is where I started questioning her motive…whining or really solving a problem.  But to tell the truth, when’s the last time someone at church just asked about me and not my kids?  Wait, now I remember, but there are just a handful of  people that take the time to get to know me.  Caryn does put some of the responsibility back on us moms.  We have to let others know who we are, we can’t just blame others for not taking the initiative.  And we need to realize God has hemmed us in to this role right now for a purpose.  That’s hard to take on the days when I’ve had enough timeouts that I feel like we aren’t getting anywhere.

But the point is you ARE more than just mom, you are mom and ______.  Just fill in the blank, Caryn says.  It’s that simple.  And let people know who you are, because you are God’s creation and you are worth knowing!

**you can purchase the book at randomhouse.com**

At Faith Church, we perform a lot of weddings.   2 per Saturday is not uncommon in May and June.  That means that we also do a lot of marriage counseling.

In fact, as I write this, I’m waiting for a couple to finish their big, scary ‘TEST’ that determines whether or not they can get married!  Just kidding – the test is just for helping them discover what they’re good at and what they need to improve upon

Before the actual wedding ceremony I always ask the couple to read Gary Chapman’s book called The Five Love Languages. It’s an easy way for couple to begin understanding how they can love one another selflessly.  It’s also so simple to understand that the guys usually enjoy it as well!

I received a new book by Gary Chapman in the mail a couple of weeks ago:  The Love As A Way Of Life Devotional Journey. It’s a nice devotional book that allows you to take 2 minutes out of your crazy, busy schedule and focus on your spouse & the love you share.  Each day’s devotion is light and fresh with stories that will warm your heart.   It would make a useful gift for your loved one, to be paired nicely with the extravagant chocolates, of course!)

Two other books that I received are also worth recommending for Valentine’s Day.

The first is For Couples Only by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn.  These 2 books, one for men only and the other for women only, provide insight into the male and female minds.  They’ve sold over 1 million copies of thier books mainly because they lay out what men and women really desire.  Taken from extensive personal interviews, For Couples Only may yeild that one nugget of insight that you need in order to take your relationship to that next level of intimacy.

The second book is for couples who are going through a rough time in their relationship.  I Do Again by Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs tells the story of their broken relationship, divorce, reconciliation, and – amazingly – remarriage.  If you’re experiencing a low point in your marriage, this book can show you that their really is hope for love to flourish again!

Check them out & let me know what you think!

Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims is a book I read & reread every couple of years just to refresh my knowledge of his EPIC paradigm, and to evaluate how I’ve been implementing this in my life & my ministry.

E-P(articipatory)-I-C

Participation

Keyboards are sooooo 1980s.  My son expects that he can touch the icons on my computer desktop and move them around with a swipe of his finger just like on his daddy’s iPhone.

Disney movies are sooooo 1990s.  No kid wants to sit mindlessly and veg out to Bambi for an hour when they can watch Dora as she asks them “Can you say feliz navidad?” or SuperWhy who invites my son on a regular basis to join the SuperTeam “Say your name…put your hand in too!”.

Participation, not Representation, is the new currency in our culture.  Representation, as in TV stations broadcasting what they ‘think’ we want, is giving way to Participation, online movie/tv services (like my favorite hulu.com) allowing us to choose what we watch.  What about encyclopedias?  They don’t exist anymore because of participatory successes like Wikipedia.

When it comes to the church, Sweet says:

There are no more ‘professional’ clergy and ‘pew-sitting’ laity.  There are only ministers who look to leaders to mobilize and release ministry through them.  All ‘participants’ are full partners.

One of the beautiful things about worshiping this Triune God of ours is that our forefathers in the faith devised methods for everyone to participate in corporate worship.  For the church, this is a great intersection with postmodern culture – the priesthood of all believers taking active, participatory roles in all areas of the church – especially in worship!

How does your church encourage everyone to participate?

Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims is a book I read & reread every couple of years just to refresh my knowledge of his EPIC paradigm, and to evaluate how I’ve been implementing this in my life & my ministry.

E (Experiential) – P-I-C

Experiential Worship

Something is missing.

We’ve lost something in the grand scheme of corporate worship.  Symptoms include:  young church widows, disproportionate presence of older generations, sleeping teenagers, lack of non-Christian attenders.  Worship is supposed to be a time to gather with other people to encounter our Triune God in the mystery of his sacramental presence, in the retelling of Jesus’ story complete with his gracious promises to us, and in the encouragement and love of the community.  Is this what everyone experiences?  Or are people content with just showing up and ‘going through the motions’?

As I reflected on the church I pastor and on my past church experiences, I realized that the two times I have felt most uncomfortable in church were when worship was too touchy-feely and when

worship was too dry.  That’s why I resonate with Sweet’s comment:

Worship must make people furiously feel and think!

One or the other isn’t good enough.  Simply repeating the Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, the kyrie, et. al. aren’t enough for this generation.  Do people know about the communal nature of these things throughout history?  Do they feel a connection with the people sitting in the pews next to them as they speak together?

And it’s not just about the experience of the liturgy – what about the total experience of attending worship?  Sweet also reminds us,

The encounter, the experience is the message!

Have you ever been to a church service where you don’t remember what the pastor said in the sermon, but you sure remember how some people were really unfriendly (or friendly) to you when you walked in the building?  More than the propositional truths explained in worship, our total experience of ‘church’ is what we remember.

If our message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how are we making sure that the experience of worship for visitors & members alike matches the boundless servant love of our message?

Leonard Sweet’s Post-Modern Pilgrims is a book I read & reread every couple of years just to refresh my knowledge of his EPIC paradigm, and to evaluate how I’ve been implementing this in my life & my ministry.

E (Experiential) – P-I-C

Experience

When you need to buy a mocha or a washing machine or even a car, where do you go?  To the cafe where they served you a lukewarm grande with no whip cream and charged you to remake it?  The store who promised delivery and then showed up 3 days late?  The dealership whose salesmen were so greasy & shifty that you felt ripped off before you even bought anything?  No, you go to the place that gave you the most satisfying experience – to the cafe where the baristas know your name & what you like to drink, to the home store that not only guarantee free delivery, but will take away your old washer, to the dealership where the salesman is so secure about his product that he lays everything out on the table and encourages you to go home and think about it.

It’s all about the experience!

Our postmodern world is defined no longer exclusively by the rational truths presented, but also by the felt experience that they provide.  Not one or the other:  but both.  It may be that Consumer Reports objectively rates the Honda/Ford CRV/Edge as the best car available for you and your family, but will you buy it if you don’t think that it matches who you are?   I can’t bring myself to buy a minivan for that very reason

In our culture, what is ‘right’ and ‘true’ changes daily.  The ‘best’ products are replaced by ‘better’ products 3-4 times a year.  The ‘7 Ways to be Successful/Happy/Smart/Productive’ change with each new book published.  That’s why this quote from Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO of Carlson Companies is so appropriate:

In a world where things move at hyperspeed, what was relevant yesterday may not be relevant tomorrow.  But one thing that endures is a dynamic relationship that is grounded in an experience that you’ve provided.

Sound like a prophet/priest/king you know?  Jesus, maybe?

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  – Mark 13:31

What Jesus promises here is what Ms. Carlson Neslon observes:  that what endures through changing times are relationships grounded in experiences.  Jesus’ words are not just letters on a page in your Bible:  they are transformative promises and guides through which you experience a dynamic relationship with the Triune God! Because Jesus provides the enduring relationship for these changing times, we’ve got to ask ourselves this question:

Will I live the time God has given me,  or will I live a time I would prefer to have?

Next Post:  Experiential Worship

Faith Emergence has the honor of being one of the blogs chosen to participate in Mark Batterson’s blog tour to promote his new book, Wild Goose Chase.  This is a follow up book to the Mark Batterson book we just finished reviewing, In a Pit with a Lion.  I just finished reading it yesterday, and if you liked his previous book, you’ll like this one.  Mark’s writing style is very conversational and filled with stories:  he’s not going to talk over your head.  I can tell you that after hearing him speak at the Echo conference, the Mark you discover through his writings is the same Mark that will hold a conversation with you in person.  I hope you’ll read this book (the publisher even sent me a book to give away to you – more about that later…) for its encouragement to get out of your comfort zone and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in holy adventures that you have never dreamed of!

6 Life Lessons from Wild Goose Chase:

1. Don’t let human/mundane responsibility keep you from pursuing the passions God has put in your heart.  Step out in faith!
2. Step out of the routine of following God like it’s a chore.  Create some margin for spiritual spontaneity.
3. Don’t put limits on what God can do through you.  Don’t assume that your best is God’s best.
4. Don’t let Satan make you feel guilty about past mistakes.  You are forgiven – now go and do kingdom work!
5. Don’t let failure break your spirit or give up on God’s dreams for you.  Sometimes it takes a shipwreck for God to get you where he wants you.
6. Don’t let fear rule your heart – God is on your side!  Don’t let uncertainty or the unknown rule your decisions.

It never hurts to be reminded of these things as the Holy Spirit (or Wild Goose in Celtic) leads us in the chase of a lifetime!  If you’d like to read the book in its entirety feel free to purchase it from Amazon, or I will be giving away a copy as part of next Monday’s Question of the Week.  Enjoy!

More information from the publisher:

Most of us have no idea where we’re going most of the time. Perfect.

Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.’ The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something….
Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC’s National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America’s most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.

For more information on Wild Goose Chase, please visit www.chasethegoose.com

The title of the next chapter in Mark Batterson’s book, In a pit with a Lion, says it all, “Playing it safe is risky.”

Football season has officially started, so let’s follow a metaphor Mark uses here: do you approach life like you’re playing a prevent defense or a 2 minute offense? In other words, are you just setting yourself up to minimize the damage from an impending attack, or are you constantly seeking ways that you can beat “The Man” at his own game?

Mark wants us to remember that faith in Jesus calls us to be John Elway sometimes – to take the ball into our own uncertain hands, quickly scan the obstacles the defense has set up, and throw the deep post to a double covered wide receiver who may or may not have been out with his posse until 4am last night. There’s all kinds of risk involved in throwing that pass, but there’s an amazing reward if it works!

At times, we get crippled by the fear of our own inadequacy, the strength of our opponents, or even the lack of trust in the people around us. We’d rather punt the ball, set up the prevent defense, and play for a tie. Believe it or not, there’s plenty of this type of thought in the church.

Just think of the last budget discussion you may have been a part of. Did anyone ask of there were new projects or programs that reflected a new need in your community that could use more dollars, or did the discussion revolve around trying to be under-budget or pushing projects off until next year?

Does your church play offense or defense with their dollars?

Do you play offense or defense with you dollars?

Ultimately, when we talk about dollars in the church, we’re talking about ministry to people. And when we’re talking about ministry to people, we’re talking about sharing our faith in the hope, love, and peace that only Jesus gives.

Would you rather hold that faith (and your dollars) close to your chest, or would you rather do something (with your faith & your dollars) that may look crazy so that someone who is far from Jesus might be brought to faith?

Which is riskier?