Looking For A Good Devotional Book For the New Year?

“If you love liturgy, this book is for you. If you don’t know what liturgy is, this book is also for you.” (From the introduction).

It is important to understand a few things about this book. Firstly, this is NOT the original Cranmer-authored Book of Common Prayer - you can tell that just from reading the title carefully. Nor is it a modern attempt to replace or rephrase Cranmer’s version, but instead is a separate project entirely with the stated intention of introducing all sorts of people to the sheer power and beauty that prayerfully-crafted and Scripturally-inspired liturgy can play in worship.

Secondly, ‘Common Prayer’ is the result of a collaborative project between Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. All three are well known for their focus on missional living, intentional community and relating to the poor and are significant figures in the ‘new monasticism’ movement. This means you can see their subversive, peace-loving, Kingdom-living fingerprints all over the place - and I love it!

In the wonderful introduction to the book, the authors try to make us aware that liturgy is not just for certain, more traditional segments of the church but can be a life-giving, Spirit-filling discipline for Christians of every background. The focus is on ordinary Christians who live amidst the challenges that everyday life throws at us, and here the prayers are written with great insight and practical wisdom.

Contained in the book are a series of short (one page for the most part) liturgies for morning prayer that include standard texts, prayers, interesting information on church holy days and people, and even a song selection (melody lines and chords are in the back of the book) – one for every day of the year. In addition to this, there are sections containing a week-long cycle of midday and evening prayers, and another section of occasional prayers (for blessing a house, prayers for a workplace, baby dedication, and two that really struck me - A Litany to Honor Women and Death of Someone Killed in the Neighborhood).

As mentioned earlier, the book has an ‘ordinary radical’ focus – this is a phrase coined by Claiborne in his earlier work ‘The Irresistible Revolution,’ which contains a strong challenge of caring for those living in society’s margins. Thus, throughout the book you will find a generous sprinkling of references to the underprivileged, the outcast, and the innocent victims of injustice.

There has been some criticism of ‘Common Prayer’ for failing to annotate its prayers to provide a richer understanding of where they came from, but asides from that this is a beautiful book that makes liturgy (quite literally) sing. I would highly, highly recommend this resource to anyone and everyone (individuals and communities) who desire a deeper and more meaningful prayer life.

Steve Jobs - The Exclusive Biography

Steve Jobs was no saint. This will not surprise those who have already heard of his legendary temper tantrums and sometimes cruel treatment of family, friends and employees. Walter Isaacson’s recently released authorised biography “Steve Jobs” is a brutally honest portrayal of a man who was a deeply conflicted and enigmatic character. Jobs deserves all the acclaim he received after his recent death aged 56 because he was undoubtedly a visionary who revolutionised the world with the breath-taking beauty and seamless purpose of his digital products. Yet, at the same time, he bristled with arrogance, selfishness and was filled with contradictions of many different hues.

Isaacson’s in-depth portrayal of Jobs shows this to be true from his earliest days, when realising how much more intelligent he was than his adoptive parents, he would relentlessly force his will upon them. Jobs genuinely loved his parents, but still selfishly pushed them into untenable situations - such as taking a mortgage on a house they could not afford just so he could attend a different school.

Further character contradictions abound. Jobs was a Zen Buddhist who eschewed material possessions yet was worth $256 million by his mid-twenties and produced products that most people don’t realise they cannot live without until they have them. He struggled with the fact he had been given up for adoption, feeling abandoned by his biological parents, but then did exactly the same thing to a daughter born out of wedlock, refusing to admit paternity for years. Jobs also was a fan of fad diets, alternating between vegetarianism, veganism and fruitarism. Early on he believed his diet so expunged unhealthy toxins from his body that he had no need to shower regularly (a conviction friends and colleagues did not share).

In his early years Jobs stiffed his best friend and co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak out of a commission, and later ruthlessly stole ideas, refused to share credit on others, humiliated staff members in public, fired people on whims and would go ballistic in restaurants if he did not like the food. Yet he was also sensitive when criticised and was known to burst into tears in meetings, especially during his first incarnation as head of Apple. Jobs would get his way by sheer force of will, shouting and screaming at people, but at the same time he got them to do the best work of their lives. “I was hard on people sometimes, probably harder than I need to be,” he admitted. “But somebody’s got to do it.”

Jobs quickly became renowned for his ‘reality distortion field’. He never accepted anything was impossible, and those who worked with and alongside him testify how in his presence they also came to believe this to be true. Jobs refused to accept imperfection and would agonise for days over the shape, feel and style of the electronic plugs for his Macs, never mind the actual machines. His perfectionism, vision and ability to know what people wanted before they did meant he transformed two companies - Apple and Pixar - into world leaders in their respective fields. Jobs was behind products like the ‘Toy Story’ franchise, Mac computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and the iCloud.

Isaacson’s biography of this flawed genius is compelling precisely because it is so honest. Jobs lived with a black-and-white paradigm in which people were either ‘heroes’ or ‘s--ts,’ and work was either ‘insanely good’ or ‘total s--t’. It is fitting then that this extensive look at his life is equally brutal with the truth. While Jobs comes across as a repugnant character at times, there is also something deeply stirring about a man who believed in the possibility that beauty and technology together could change the world. One of his earliest girlfriends described him best when she said he was an enlightened being who could also be cruel. Despite all this, his passing left a huge hole in the lives of those who knew him, with Jobs being described as a mentor, friend and inspiration.

Isaacson’s biography is a fascinating effort - not only for delving into the psychology of a man capable of such remarkable contrasts, but also for its insights into the history-making Information age. It is within this context we see how Jobs - a gifted and supernaturally driven man - actually did change human history, yet at the same time he struggled to carry out normal human relationships. Yes, Steve Jobs was certainly no saint. His character was riven with flaws, but his relentless drive and passion for beauty and technology to find a convergence point saw him become an indispensable part of the digital revolution. In the end, Isaacson’s concluding assessment seems to be spot on: “Was he smart? Not, not exceptionally. Instead, he was a genius.”

A Hundred Reasons to Like ‘A Million Miles in a Thousand Years’

Donald Miller is the author of the hugely successful ‘Blue Like Jazz,’ a personal memoir that spent over 40 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. This success actually became a problem for Miller as it led him into a kind of funk he could not break free from. That is until he received a call from a company wanting to make a movie based on his bestseller, and in subsequent meetings with the screenwriters Miller came to a realisation that effectively shocked him out of this self-absorbed funk ... his life was almost terminally boring and as such was really not worth retelling.

The movie screenwriters tried to convince Miller to change aspects of the narrative because watching the story as it actually unfolded was boring enough, they blithely informed him, to cause paying customers to “stab each other in the necks with drinking straws.” This led Miller to conclude that our lives lack meaning if the story our lives are telling lacks meaning. He then began to ponder the questions that frame this book:

What if we are not truly living the story we were created for? And what if the defining characteristics of a gripping Hollywood movie - like overcoming adversity and conflict - also provide the basic elements of a meaningful life?

Grappling with these issues resulted in 'A Million Miles In A Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Own Life,' a book where Miller writes about story and about how if your life is a story, you should strive to make it a better one. But to do that you need first understand what supplies the power of a story - and this is where Miller’s book gains strength as it details his entertaining and humorous journey of learning about the very nature of stories, and how to apply them to real life.

The truth is the lessons gained from Miller’s screen-writing experience do have some wonderful applications to real life (A Character is What He Does, A Good Character Listens to His Writer, The Importance of an Inciting Incident, and others), and engaging with them does bring about significant life-changes for him. Miller stops watching the Tour de France and takes up cycling, he starts chasing the girls he was too shy to connect with before even though this leads to pain, and most touchingly, he seeks reconciliation with his estranged father. As he lives with the mantra of a good story always involving the defeat of obstacles, Miller seeks out some of his life’s rougher edges and starts to live there instead of avoiding them. This dramatically alters the black and white narrative of his life into something technicoloured and multi-hued, something far more meaningful and beautiful.

I could give a hundred reasons as to why I like ‘A Million Miles’ so much, but my favourite aspect is that Miller is just so darn appealing. He is easy to read and immensely likeable, yet at the same time he is profound and challenging. Miller is much like that comfortable old friend you enjoy long rambling chats over coffee with. You know the kind I mean - discussions that lighten your way forward and enlarge your perspective while comforting your soul. ‘A Million Miles’ is not a perfect book by any means being a little slow in parts, and a somewhat inconclusive and weak in others, but somehow the overall effort is deeply compelling and thought-provoking.

‘A Million Miles’ is highly, highly recommended. Don’t just buy a copy for yourself, but for friends and family members as well!

Hope Against Darkness

Richard Rohr is a brilliant thinker who writes fluently on a number of different topics relating to human spirituality. In this book, Rohr speaks as a modern prophet who powerfully challenges the current setup of our society and calls us to significant change. In this way, Rohr reminds us of the hope that Christ always offers in confusing times.

Rohr tells us that the age we live in can be termed the “age of anxiety,” and thereafter paints a bleak picture of the prevailing thought, culture and attitudes of our society. So much of how we think, act and treat others is based upon our deeply-rooted anxieties, and results in cultural biases, prejudices, oppression, greed and excessive victimhood, - basically, all our personal inner “darkness”. Rohr points out that this “darkness” results in religious, scientific and cultural fundamentalism and also in what may at first glance appear to be the exact opposite - nihilism. Rohr writes:

"It is much easier to look for someone to blame, sue, expel or expose when there is no coherent meaning or divine purpose in the world. Someone has to be at fault for my unhappy life! As long as we keep trying to deal with the mystery of evil in some way other than forgiveness and healing, we will continue to create negative ideologies like fundamentalism and nihilism in all their endless forms. One demands perfect order; the other denies that it is even possible. Jesus does neither, but lives on the horns of the human dilemma."

Instead of investing blindly in those people and institutions for some sort of misguided security, or conversely living with a sense of victimhood and looking to those same people and institutions as scapegoats, Rohr encourages us to follow the way of Jesus. Here Rohr looks to Christian tradition for mentors who have followed the way of Jesus despite similar social and cultural challenges. Rohr uses the life and example of Francis of Assisi because he believes that Francis lived and thrived in a very similar age to our own.

Rohr describes in detail how following Saint Francis' way to forgiveness and love, and "owning the darkness," can bring us out of the gloomy postmodern depths in which we find ourselves. For example, Rohr says that we all too easily embrace hate instead of love when we feel anxious, because hate is easier to take up and more quickly gives us a sense of control and temporary power over situations that we are fearful of. Rohr writes:

"Hate unites a group quickly, it gives a person identity even if it is a negative one, and most of all it takes away doubt and all free floating anxiety. It gives us a place to stand that feels superior and in control. Hate settles the dust and ambiguity that none of us like. Hate is more common and more immediately effective than love."

Yet, the consequences of hate are immensely destructive to all. This is why Rohr encourages us to follow after Francis and be prepared to “live the emptiness of not knowing" for "You do not have to create all the patterns and you do not have to fix all the failures. What else would be the beginnings of peace? Only people who have moved beyond ego and controlling of all outcomes, only those practiced at letting go, see fear for the impostor that it is. To be trapped inside of your own small ego is always to be afraid. Perfect love casts out all fear. (1 John 4:18)."

Rohr can always be counted upon to offer wonderfully fresh insights into both Scripture and modern society. He is a deep thinker who is able to craft his thoughts together into words that will really make you think, and then think again. I especially loved how he uses the example of Francis of Assisi, a man who followed Jesus so closely and developed his spirituality in a similar age of anxiety to our own. This book is highly recommended!

The Theological Adventures of 'Going Green'

In honour of COP17 - the climate change conference currently taking place in Durban, South Africa - this week’s book review is the engagingly humorous and startlingly profound attempt by one pastor and his family to live responsibly and faithfully as stewards of God’s creation. In ‘Year of Plenty: One Suburban Family, Four Rules, and 365 Days of Homegrown Adventure in Pursuit of Christian Living,’ Pastor Craig Goodwin and his young family embark on a year-long experiment to consume only what was local, used, homegrown, or homemade. Goodwin shares how he and his wife decided upon this move in the aftermath of Christmas one year, feeling sickened and depleted by the excess consumerism of it all. While there are plenty of ‘eco’ books out there that recount similar stories, what is refreshing about Goodwin’s book is the clear theological message he exhorts amidst their struggle to make sense of simple living, farmers markets, backyard chicken and going green.

Goodwin believes the Christian faith has largely been colonised by the narrative of consumption and unlimited growth, which is why this book is more than a call to ‘go green,’ but instead stands as a profoundly wise challenge to grapple with the theological foundations of caring for the environment. In this Goodwin paraphrases Wendell Berry's famous phrase, "eating is an agricultural act," by saying that"eating is a theological act." (195). He writes:

“For those of us who claim an ultimate allegiance to the Jesus who is redeeming all things (Col. 1:20), decisions about what we purchase or don't purchase are vital expression of our faith. In a world where everything is being gathered up "in Christ" (Eph. 1:10) we are invited to join in, seeking justice and peace by what we gather up in our arms at the shopping mall and grocery store.”

It is quite possible to idealise and romanticise the kind of ‘simple life project’ undertaken by the Goodwins, but the author charmingly avoids these pitfalls by recounting stories that illustrate how much they struggled to fight consumerism and stay green amidst the normal suburban rounds of working parents, moderate incomes, peer pressure and children’s birthday parties. Goodwin admits he and his wife had no idea what they were really getting into and describes many of these situations with endearing wit, while at the same time helping his readers to appreciate that sustainable living is never a flip or easy choice. Goodwin’s story is nevertheless a deeply touching one that enables readers to see the possibilities of living in a way that is more honouring toward God and creation. This story take readers on a journey of discovering the immensely beautiful, yet often mysterious and hidden connections between food and people, the land and human flourishing, environmentalism and devotion to God.

While the idea of going green may not be your ‘thing,’ Goodwin’s heart for the church and his strong theological foundations ensure that Christians learn just how integral to faith caring for the environment is. Goodwin describes his family’s journey as an ‘adventure,’ and through his amusing, yet very real stories, and his deep and abiding faith, this Presbyterian pastor brings a healthy and fresh perspective to conversations in environmentalism and sustainable living.