www.goodreads.com/book/show/50358133
I especially appreciated Akhtar’s clear explanation of how ‘Economy’ is our National god in the United States. All people, no matter their religion, bow down in deference to Economy before their gods.
Prophetic Poetry
Review of ‘Who was Jesus and What does it Matter’ by Dr. Nancy Bedford
www.goodreads.com/review/show/4236110185
This short book from Dr. Nancy Bedford packs a vital theological punch. It poses the question ‘Who was Jesus’ and ‘What does it mean to follow him’ in an attempt to redirect the Church back toward the centrality of Christ, the gospel message, and what it means to be the Body of Christ. Without the centralization of Christ and what it means to tangibly follow Christ, the Church has lost its way. This text is a clarion call for our times with tangible steps for redirecting ourselves and our communities toward Christ.
Dr. Bedford provides 6 entry points into the two posed questions:
1. Who is Jesus of Nazareth and what does it mean to follow him?
2. Who is Jesus ‘the Incarnate One’ and what does it mean to follow him?
3. Who is Jesus as Prophet, Teacher, and Healer? And how to follow him?
4. Who is Jesus ‘the executed one?’ How do we follow him?
5. Who is Jesus resurrected and exalted? How do we follow him?
6. Who is Jesus in the Spirit, and how do we follow them?
This book is written to be accessible to all people and has discussion questions for each chapter. As a result, it is perfect for small groups! I highly recommend.
I’ll end this review with a succinct quote that I believe speaks to the concise clarity, beauty, and conviction of this text:
“If we say we follow Jesus, whenever it seems that the fruit of our discipleship does not lead to justice and peacemaking, it is time to reexamine our lives and those of our communities of faith. We can do so with the help of the Spirit by examining more closely the way Jesus lived (Matthew 7:15-20) and asking ourselves whether we are truly walking in his footsteps” (Dr. Nancy Bedford, ‘Who was Jesus and What Does it Mean to Follow Him,’ 74).
Amen!
Review of ‘The NIV Beautiful Word Bible: Updated Version’
www.goodreads.com/book/show/45734929
First and foremost, I need to clear the air: this is NOT a gendered book. The only place where the editors hint at a particular presentation is when the editor’s note only mentions biblical figures Hannah and Esther. And to that, I say “come on editors, do better. Resist the idolatry of capitalism and gendered marketing, please. It harms all of us who cannot fit your false expectations of hyper masculinity and feminism.” We need to resist the consumer world that says a Bible designed to highlight the beauty of scripture does NOT mean that it should be primarily marketed to girls. Boys MUST learn to see the beauty of scripture, too. If you get this version for a girl, get it for a boy, too. The Bible is for all people, so let’s stop boxing ourselves in with gendered stereotypes. Thank you and I will now step off my soap box.
This Zondervan NIV 2011 updated translation, written in Zondervan NIV typeface, is a WONDERFUL version of the Bible that is highly engaging. First of all, it does what many versions cannot: it meets the needs of visual learners. The editors of this version worked with BibleGateway to find the most searched scriptures and balanced them with scriptures that are lesser known to present 600 scriptures in colorful artistic presentations through the entirety of the Bible! 9 different artists took charge of illuminating the 600 different scriptures. They also did a fantastic job of making the chosen scriptures memorizable so that folks can engage with their Scripture reading for memorization as well.
Each page of the Bible has a couple of inches on the edge with lines for note-taking. Every few pages has this space taken up with the artistic presentation of scripture. These illustrations are gorgeous and reflect the essence of each individual scripture.
The Bible also comes with sticker tabs for each book of the Bible, if you want to have the books of the Bible marked in this way. All this to say, this version of the Bible is meant to be engaged: written on, highlighted, and covered in stickers. Have at it! Mark it up and make it your own!
The Bible also comes with a sturdy box carrying case which is helpful for being mobile. It is also small enough to carry around with you! The cover itself is a gorgeous felt floral pattern with a woody brown felt binding. Visually appealing without being obnoxious.
The back of the Bible has a table for understanding biblical weights and measures in comparison with our modern weights and measures, an index of the 9 scripture artists and which scriptures illustrations they created, and 5 pages of lines for note-taking.
It has been a joy engaging with this visually stimulating and artistic version of the NIV translation Bible and I look forward to utilizing it and learning from it in the months/years to come!
Book Review of ‘The Plague’by Albert Camus
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/761931279
What sounds like a good book to read during the resurgence of a global pandemic? How about a book detailing the ravages of the plague in the 1940’s?
But in all seriousness, this was an incredible book with insights and wisdoms terribly relevant today:
“When a war breaks out, people say: ‘It’s too stupid; it can’t last long.’ But though a war may well be ‘too stupid,’ that doesn’t prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn’t a thing made to man’s measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanists first of all, because they haven’t taken their precautions. Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything still was possible for them; which presupposed that pestilences were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views. They fancied them selves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences” (Albert Camus 37).
Life is a Poem
Life is a poem. A
journey toward understanding
amidst senseless words.
The Bible is not a guidebook to manhood or womanhood. It is a guidebook to personhood in Christ: Love God and Love your Neighbor (all people & Creation) as yourself. Anyone trying to package the Bible as a guidebook for gender presentation is on a slippery slope to idolatry.
‘Prophet:’
to claim one’s self in
Christ: to imagine God’s King-
-dom into being.
Be Still…God is Our Refuge
God, you call me to
act for justice and mercy.
But teach me stillness.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I like to do. I see following God as action. Faith as a verb. That is true. But what does it also mean to also ‘be still’ in God’s presence? To find stillness in God as my refuge (Psalm 46)?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
God,
I am called to act,
to do:
to advocate
to collaborate
to demand justice
to show mercy
to love profusely.
But what does it mean to be still?
To know that you are my refuge?
To find refuge
and strength
in the stillness
of God’s presence and power:
God’s love.
Lord, hear my prayer.
Amen.
Sabbath Rest
God created and
it was good. Freedom from
perfection’s tyranny.
George Floyd
George Floyd.
Say his name.
Honor his memory.
Murdered
by Officer Derek Chauvin.
Murdered
by a white supremacist
militarized police state.
Murdered
for being black
and living.
But now
some semblance of justice
through accountability.
Chauvin found guilty
on all 3 charges.
2nd Degree Murder:
40 years –
but George Floyd is still dead.
3rd Degree Murder:
25 years –
but black people continue to die.
2nd Degree manslaughter:
10 years –
but a murder each day of the trial.
While we await sentencing,
we sigh a collective exhalation of relief
at this brief respite of accountability.
But we cannot replace George Floyd,
God’s beloved child,
and God’s beloved children,
who have been lost –
past and present.
But the future
is present
and we are all called
to the Christ-modeled work
of dismantling white supremacy
and demanding
imagining
transforming
an alternative to
the death dealing
militarized police state.
Say his name.
Honor his name
And let’s get to work.
Rest in power,
George Floyd.
Amen.
Deacon Grant 