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So Beautiful book review

What if there were a single design that explained the meaning of life — the universe — everything? What if it pulled together the nature of God with the mission of humanity? What if it were so simple that, when sliced and labeled, many will brush it off saying, "That's obvious. So what?" That was my initial reaction when I saw that the front cover of Leonard Sweet's new book So Beautiful has the words, "Missional — Relational — Incarnational: Divine Design for Life and the Church." Because those concepts are already important to me, I was inclined to respond, "That's cool," shrug, and dismiss it as something I already "get."

Friends, do not dismiss this book.

I pressed beyond my initial dismissal because the author, Leonard Sweet, had already impacted my life before. When I made the transition out of modernistic Christianity, it was a very scary and painful time; I was afraid I was losing my faith. Three things saved me:

• SoulTsunami by Leonard Sweet helped me understand my new context.
• A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren helped me find faith again.
• The Soliton Sessions showed me I was not alone, and created a space for me to encounter Jesus all over again.

So Len Sweet helped me get reoriented when I needed it. His latest book again catches me at just the right time. When I read SoulTsunami, I characterized Len as a Christian futurist. But in So Beautiful, I see that he is a preacher, a wordsmith.

From Eternity to Here — Q&A with author Frank Viola

Frank Viola has a new book out, From Eternity to Here, that looks like it's designed to raise our sights and capture us with a larger vision of what God has been up to all along. I haven't read the book yet, but I got the chance to ask a couple of questions in a virtual interview:

Me: You talk about how we cannot do anything for God, but that it is actually Christ living in us. How can I get more of this, and get out of his way? (Or is that the $6,000,000 question?)

Frank Viola: All of the exhortations in the NT to live by Christ are set in a corporate context. Most all the epistles are written to believing communities that had a shared life in Christ. They were not written to individuals. So the first thing is to be part of your native habitat … a local, living, breathing community of believers who are learning how to live by Christ. Some practical help from someone who has gained some experience in communal living in Christ is of great help as well. Paul, Peter, Timothy, etc. were people who served in this capacity in the first century.

Me: If it's all about rediscovering an eternal perspective of God's purposes, do church forms and models matter?

Frank Viola: Yes, very much so. The eternal purpose of God is expressed corporately. Thus those church forms and models that best express God’s eternal purpose should be encouraged and approved. Those that violate the eternal purpose or take away from it should not. I address this very question in detail in my book Reimagining Church.

A number of other bloggers are participating in the interview — kind of like a press conference spread across different blogs — and some have posted book reviews. I want to highlight two I met through Twitter and hope to meet in real life: Chad "Captain" Estes (@Chad_Estes) writes Captain's Blog, and Joel Black (@JoelBLK) writes Irreligious Canuck. If you like me, odds are good you'll like them.

Time Travel Romance: Confessions of a romantic geek

I'm a geek. Almost by definition, this makes me interested in any story involving time travel. We just watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure last night with the kids, a perfect movie for the end of the school year.

But I have a confession to make: I'm also an incurable romantic. Combine the two — time travel and romance — and you have a killer combination.

What's on Your Nightstand?

Via Lisa notes: On the fourth Tuesday of each month, Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books asks, "What's on your nightstand?" Here's my stack:

Wicked by Gregory Maguire, because we loved the show. While the show was great for the family, the book is definitely adult fare. I am enjoying it. This is my "fun" reading.

Getting Things Done by David Allen. I'm not actively reading this but have it close by for reference as I try to apply the GTD principles to my life more seriously. The goal: Get things out of my head, so that I can have a "mind like water" that can choose the right action at any given time.

Exiles by Michael Frost, subtitled Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture. This book offers several important keys for the contextualization of the gospel in our culture. But I bet a lot of people reach for the book looking for evangelistic tricks, and put it down wondering, "Why is he talking about unfair tax breaks for corporations?" If you understand that the culture has changed and requires missionary methods, then you will understand the need for contextualization and how that will help you identify ways God is already at work in our culture.

So, what's on your nightstand?

"Christian artist" vs. "Artist who happens to be Christian"

Our daughter Shelly is an avid reader. You have no idea. We have had to discipline her for reading too much. "If you don't put the book down, we will take it away!"

Satisfying this appetite is hard work; my wife Kay searches out new authors all the time, and we probably put a strain on our local public library system. The results are hit or miss:

Kay: "So these didn't work. I guess we can scratch Christian fantasy."
Shelly: "Is that what was wrong with it!"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Shelly: "They didn't blow stuff up or anything."
Kay: "The problem is these authors let their religion interfere with their storytelling."

"Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman" movie review

In 1977-1978, a small revival swept through the American School In Japan and a number of upperclassmen came to the Lord. There were rumors of a revival taking place among hippies in the United States, and how they were called "Jesus People." And at Lake Nojiri where long-haired American teens hung out during the summer and listened to music, a record appeared. It was called In Another Land and was by this guy called Larry Norman. He had long hair and sang rock songs about Jesus, and his music had come all the way over to Japan.

Decades later, I attended a life celebration of a fellow who expected to die. And who should show up to honor him, but Larry Norman! So I got to hear Larry tell crazy stories and sing old tunes, including "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" which I remember so well from those rapture-crazy days of the mid-70's to mid-80's. We sang it often in those days. Though Larry was physically frail, and I had abandoned the rapture teachings I learned from reading The Late Great Planet Earth, there was something magical about hearing him sing it. It brought back memories of high school and college, and the young faith I carried.

Last year, Larry died.

And last week, I saw the world premiere of Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman.
I was moved, troubled, and inspired:

Controversial Larry Norman documentary

Was Larry Norman a messenger of God, or was he a dick? This Sunday is the world premiere of Fallen Angel, a documentary about the controversial father of Christian rock, right here in San Jose at the Cinequest film festival. (Update: I posted my Fallen Angel movie review.)

Larry was the original Jesus rocker. Nowadays "contemporary Christian music" is a freakin' industry. Scanning the radio, it's pretty easy to recognize the Christian music stations because they have such a uniform "positive and clean!" sound, even the supposedly "alternative" station. Of course, "Positive and Encouraging!" is self-fulfilling, because such radio stations don't play the other kinds. You know, songs about the struggles of trying to live a life of faith in a crappy world, and maybe struggling with faith itself. If you don't like such songs, I advise you not to read the Psalms.

It's a Very Unfunny Muppet Christmas Movie

We thought It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie might be fun for the last Sunday before Christmas. I mean, it's muppets! How can you lose?

Muppets… with sexual innuendos, talking about topless bars?

Worst of all, nobody was laughing.

After half an hour, the family voted unanimously to stop the movie. We turned instead to higher fare, The Simpsons Movie, where we got to see Bart's penis. And we all laughed.

Roman Holiday

I am a sentimentalist, a romantic at heart. How is it, then, that I had never seen Roman Holiday before this evening?

This movie has so much going for it, especially the exquisite use of silence. And as opposed to some movies where the actors are used to doing things big so that it will be visible on stage, this movie features things done small. How can Audrey Hepburn, with so little motion, convey the sequence of thoughts going through her character's head?

The kids enjoyed it as well, judging from the laughter that ran throughout the movie. But for an incurable romantic like me, it was utterly amazing. You can quote me: "Jon says it's even better than Donnie Darko!"

CALL+RESPONSE

CALL+RESPONSE opens tomorrow, for just one week in theaters. In San Jose, it will be showing at the Camera 3 downtown (showtimes) -- just a short walk from my work, so if you go with me, you can have free parking!

The movie was apparently put together with no studio, no distributor, no corporate backing -- just "open source activism" to fight modern-day slavery, featuring interviews with people like Madeleine Albright and performances by musicians like Imogen Heap.

Fight the power.

Update: CNN reports on the film.