"It is part of the misguided and whimsical condition of humankind that we so devoutly believe in the power of effort-at-the-moment-of-action alone to accomplish what we want and completely ignore the need for character change in our lives as a whole. The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it a reality."
— Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines
"The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church."
— Emil Bruner, The Word and the World (1931)
"To neglect our missional sending as the church is not just to be weak on mission while possibly still being strong on word and sacrament. To neglect our missional sending is to betray the inherent dynamic of word and sacrament."
— John F. Hoffmeyer, “The Missional Trinity”
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola have teamed up to write Jesus Manifesto. Thanks to the good folks at Thomas Nelson for sending me a free copy to review.
Sweet and Viola have connected over their common concern to see people gain a fresh vision of the glory and majesty of Jesus. They desire to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Jesus Christ, beginning with the body of Christ. From the introduction:
In the following pages, we hope to bring your vision and understanding of Jesus Christ into sharper focus. We hope to present our Lord to you in such a way that you cannot help but love Him, that you cannot help but fall at His feet and give Him your undying devotion—not out of guilt, duty, obligation, or fear, but because your heart has been captured by a glimpse of the greatest person this world has ever known, Jesus the Christ. Out of such love flows everything else.
I resonate with the authors’ objective. O that all who follow Christ would be captivated with a fresh vision of Jesus!
I am several days late in posting my review of this book because I have struggled with exactly what to say about it. There is much that I find beautiful, helpful, and necessary in this book. Yet I am also concerned by a recurring motif that keeps me from fully recommending this book. Sweet and Viola are greatly concerned about people who are focused on the blessings of Christ, cause of Christ, or being like Christ apart from living in the reality of Christ himself. And they should be concerned about this! None of these concerns amount to anything apart from the empowering presence of the risen Christ. Yet rather than healing this divide and allowing these concerns to flow out of our present experience with Christ, Sweet and Viola often use language that maintains this divide. They just emphasize the other side.
A passage representative of this occurs in the introduction. After presenting “Who do you say that I am?” as a (the?) crucial question posed by Jesus, the authors continue:
Unfortunately, “Who do you say that I am?” is no longer the only question. “What are you doing to bring in the kingdom of God?” is now an equally asked question, as is “What are you doing for justice?” and “In which cause are you engaged?” Or “What are you doing to evangelize the world?” and “To whom are you accountable?” and “What’s your gift?” And especially, “What kind of leader are you?”
Do Sweet and Viola really think that these are all unfortunate questions? Yes, apart from the presence of the person of Christ these questions fall short. They may even be destructive. But connected to the reality of the empowering presence of Jesus these questions become important, even essential. Jesus both invites us into radical intimacy with the triune God and sends us into His mission in the world (see John 17). We must live out both the relationship and the mission. To miss either one is to miss the whole thing.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” -Genesis 28:16
We are a people of snap decisions. We don’t want to waste our time investing in something that isn’t going to be worth it in the end, so we are quick to decide if something is worth our time or not. If not, we move on—quickly.
Do you judge a book by its cover?
How many pages do you read before you give up on an author?
How many minutes of a movie do you watch before you decide if you will finish it?
Do we carry this mindset into our spiritual disciplines? Do we come to bible reading, prayer, worship, sermons expecting God to reveal Himself to us in the first 3 minutes? If not, do we move on?
If so, we will miss out on the greatest God encounters of our lives. Jacob wakes from a dream and cries out, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Later Jacob wrestles with a strange man all night long. In the morning he realizes he was wrestling with God. Two disciples on the way to Emmaus walk with Jesus all afternoon, but only at the end of their journey realize they had been with the Lord.
We don’t always know when God is among us. Sometimes we only realize we have been in the presence of God after a divine encounter. Perhaps we should not be quick to decide we will not hear from God in this day, in this hour, in this moment.
"There’s a tendency, even among those who are trying to buy less stuff, to call everyone “consumers”. The company needs to please its consumers … we consumers need to vote with our dollars … we need watchdogs to protect consumers … consumers are buying less during the recession.
Let’s stop that. We are not consumers.
We’re people."
— Leo Babauta, mnmlist: we are not consumers
"God is so amazing that even if you planned Him a surprise party it wouldn’t work."
— Ashlyn, Age 5
Reading about writing is not writing.
Reading about all the reasons people do not write is not writing.
Feeling bad about not writing is not writing.
Planning time to write is not writing.
Watching LOST is not writing.
Shopping for writing tools is not writing.
Talking to people about your writing project is not writing.
Looking for the perfect place to write is not writing.
Redesigning your website is not writing.
Whining about not having time to write is not writing.
Searching for the perfect writing software is not writing.
Organizing your pens is not writing.
Listening to Grammar Girl is not writing.
Grading papers is not writing.
Teaching class is not writing.
Browsing The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks is not writing.
Googling “developing a writing habit” is not writing.
Going to Starbucks with your writer friends is not writing.
Talking with your therapist is not writing.
Shopping at levenger.com is not writing.
Training for a marathon is not writing.
Ironic: This has been sitting in my drafts folder since December 19.
What about you? What do you do when you are “not writing”?
"Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of hope alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us. In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us when we are together that allows us to live in this world without surrendering to the powerful forces constantly seducing us toward despair. That is how we dare to say that God is a God of love even when we see hatred all around us. That is why we can claim that God is a God of life even when we see death and destruction and agony all around us. We say it together. We affirm it in each other. Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment—that is the meaning of marriage, friendship, community, and the Christian life."
— Henri Nouwen, The Path of Waiting
