Today is the 4th of July. It might be my favorite holiday. But not because I am overly nationalistic. I simply love that it is a time each year for us to celebrate our culture and history as Americans. I do think that our identity is important.

For as long as I can remember, my family has thrown a huge party on the 4th. We have BBQ and go watch fireworks. I look forward to it each year. Since I spend a pretty good bit of my summers in Mexico, I have missed that party more than once. And I always regret it. This year we are taking a break from the party scene, but next year things will get back to normal. I can’t wait.

Last year I read a fascinating post about the 4th of July on Richard Beck’s blog in which he quoted Walt Whitman’s views on America. I recommend its thoughts as my own. You can view it here.

I am taking a little more time than I thought away from the blog world. At this point I am spending a pretty good bit of time resting and getting ready for yet another school year (but this time as a teacher!). I’ll be back soon enough, though.

May the God of grace bless you all richly. And happy 4th of July.

Well, it is official. I am finished with the most intense semester of my life. I have a few more classes that I need to take in order to graduate in December, but the worst is definitely over.

So now, summer is approaching. And I have to admit that I am having to re-learn how to be me. The load of the semester completely consumed me. I probably turned in 250 pages, and I read and reflected upon thousands. It was rough. It kept me from reading for my own spirituality, and limited it. And obviously it kept me from blogging. I still kept up with reading my favorite blogs, but I was not able to really think for myself and I had no desire to write just for fun.

As I am getting geared up for this summer, and the traveling and working that it will bring, I am more excited than I have ever been to read. I have a stack of novels (McCarthy and Vonnegut) and books on spirituality (mostly Merton) that I am going to read. But there is one book above others that I am so excited to read: the Bible.

I have been a full-time student of theology for the past four years. I have literally read tens of thousands of pages of theological literature. But I have not read the Bible very much in these past four years.

But I am, for the first time in memory, no longer a full-time student of theology. And it is time for me to “re-discover” the Bible.

I have been thinking about 1 John a lot lately. Perhaps I will begin there.

Pray for me as I rediscover not only the Bible, but also myself this summer.

I love movies—especially Coen brothers movies. As you know, they just came out with another called No Country for Old Men—most of you have probably seen it. I must admit, it was intense; but I could not turn away. I have seen it three times! It is a wonderfully made movie. And it has gotten wonderful reviews. They really needed this after the past few flops they have had!

The movie is based on a novel by the same title by Cormac McCarthy. I anticipated the movie so much I decided to read the book before going to see it. I could not put it down. I read the whole thing in about two days. Granted, it is not that long of a book, but that is still pretty good for me (I am a slow reader). The book read like a movie, and I just kept looking for excuses to read more and more.

But the book and movie also presented some pretty real struggles for me. They were both incredibly violent. Profoundly so. From the very first pages of the book, and the first scenes in the movie, we are bombarded by violence.

I realize that McCarthy is one of the most respected living American authors. So as I read the book and watched the movie, I was really trying to read between the lines to get to what he was saying through this story. I know he wasn’t just putting violence out there for the sake of violence—as is so common in movies, television, and video games. This is a story that is intelligently saying something. And there are some important themes presented throughout the story. (I will save my interpretations of the story for another post.)

As many of you know, throughout the past few months I have been thinking a pretty good bit about the issue of pacifism and non-violence. I have even published here on the issue. And when I return to those issues and put them in conversation with No Country for Old Men, some real questions begin to emerge: can violence (in art) have a redemptive function? In other words, can I accomplish a valid artist goal by using violence in my art—as McCarthy has done? Or has he? Is that valid for Christians?

And where does this stop? I mean, if I argue that No Country for Old Men can/should be used to make some real and important statements about humanity, America, or God, then can I use something as senselessly brutal as Halo as well? What is the difference? Is it that McCarthy actually has intelligently placed violence before me? Does the intelligence (or intentionality) behind something validate it more?

You see where I am going with this. I just want some consistency here. Am I going to find it? How?

Hello, both of you who regularly read my blog. I certainly hope all is well with you all.

In case you have not noticed (I hope you have), I have taken a leave of absence from the blog world. I have done so for the simple reason that I have had about 14,000 things going on over the past two months and have just not had time to write at all. Since my last post, I have written 5 papers, traveled to Mexico twice, spent time in six states (some of them more than once), and worked at the Lob. Needless to say, I have been pretty busy!

And, to top it all off, I just began working seriously on my comprehensive exams for my M.Div. This is going to eat up all my time until early April. Also, I am taking 10 hours in addition to Comps, and am working like 20 hours a week!

All that to say, I will probably have to extend my little blog break for most of this semester. I have a few older posts that I never published that I will try to put up here over the next few weeks, but there are only two or three.

I will be back in the swing of things come May. Don’t forget about me!

Que Dios les bendiga.

If you’d like to follow along, we begin our little drama on p. 187 of his Blue Like Jazz.

His Life:

Miller grew up at First Baptist Church in Houston. He was raised by a single working mother. This upbringing plays a significant role in his later writing. He wasn’t overly popular growing up, and that has actually done wonders for his book sales.

At the age of 21 he took a road trip with his good friend (and better literary character) Paul from Houston to Portland, Oregon (where Paul was originally from). This trip has been the single most formative experience of his life, and is played upon as one of his major themes in his writing as a whole. His book Through Painted Deserts chronicles the whole trip in suspiciously clear detail.

After moving to Portland, he audited some classes at Reed college, worked a few odd jobs, and lived a few different places throughout his twenties (both with John MacMurray and in Graceland, just to name a few) . But writing was always his passion. He wrote Prayer and the Art of Volkswagon Maintenance, which was published in 2000. It flopped. After that he wrote Blue Like Jazz, which is still his most popular work.

He is now a rather popular Christian speaker across the country. He travels a good bit with speaking engagements. He is also the founder of The Belmont Foundation, which is bringing mentors into the lives of young boys who are growing up without fathers. He also edits a number of websites and other literary journals—the websites for everything discussed here are provided below.

He attends Imago Dei, an urban, culturally savvy megachurch in Portland. I would imagine they are pretty pleased to have him as one of their own.

He is a gloriously consistent bachelor who still lives with a group of men in a house in Portland. I must admit that I like that about him.

He is currently working on yet another book, (the title of which will either be Let Story Guide You or A Million Miles in a Thousand Years—he can’t decide at the present) which I am sure I will begin reading as soon as it is published.

His Writing:

It is all really just theologically reflective journaling. Self-disclosure with a moral. He gives a healthy mix of testimony and complaint. There is just enough to keep you coming back for more—and feeling guilty about doing so.

He tells stories about a lot of things, and a lot of different kinds of people. He talks about his family history, and also about some of his churchy and non-churchy friends. But his books are very wordy for what they are. He loves to talked and be heard. He is a fabulous storyteller, though. So no one really minds too much. I would imagine a decent part of it is made up or is at least taking creative license telling a story that he knows by heart.

He writes primarily to an educated, white urban culture—in basically all of his books. It seems like he is targeting a non-Christian audience, but I have actually heard little talk of his receptivity among the unchurched. I do not know that he is as successful among them as he is among us. About that I could easily be wrong, though. I’d be interested to see if any of you know about this.

Churchy people like his stuff—and better still, churchy people who do not like other churchy people. Churchy people relate to him because he talks about spiritual things in a way that sounds like our history. His stories are our stories. For example, the time that he joined the group that decided to be holy. Haven’t all of us who grew up in youth groups experienced something like that? We have all made commitments like that and we have all felt the guilt that comes with failure. He addresses it. He is not, or at least does not appear to be, ashamed of himself. That is refreshing to me. Too many people within the church are ashamed of who they are, and that is simply unhealthy.

His concept of masculinity is a major theme in his writing, especially in To Own a Dragon. He really hits home to the vast numbers of people whose home lives do not fit the 1950s ideal. And the fact is that a lot of people fall into that category. If you grew up in a home that had never even heard of Mayberry, you do not feel judged when reading Donald Miller.

He is so refreshing in that light.

There are hints at the Emerging Church movement in his writing. But I would love some help detailing the nuances of this. Any thoughts?

But he is surprisingly conservative with regard to the biblical text. He seems to buy into things like plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible and Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and stuff like that. Interesting, especially from someone with such close ties to Reed College.

Blue Like Jazz:

You know what the book deals with, so I will save you the boring summary. On to reflection…

The subtitle to Blue Like Jazz, “Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality,” is misleading—in my opinion. I do not think these are non-religious thoughts. I see where it comes from and I see that it sounds cool to say it, but I do not see that as what he is doing. I mean, he talks about grace and the Bible and stuff like that. Those are all pretty religious things. It seems to me that the subtitle was added to sell more copies more than it was to clarify the actual nature of the book. Perhaps I am oversimplifying things, but I do not think so.

Perhaps that too could be a point of discussion?

He challenges the cliches that so often disillusion people to religion. That is so helpful. You feel as though this guy knows what it is like to not fit into the religious mold that seems to surround us. But given the popularity that surrounds this book, that should clue us into the fact that few fit into the stereotypes.

The problem is…I do. But that is for another post.

From the beginning he places himself in a point of extreme vulnerability. On the very first page he talks about wetting the bed until he was ten. This is a man who wants us to think he has no secrets. He wants to gain our trust by giving us his. And I, like most people, responded well to it the first time I read it. Didn’t you?

He is furious at high-profile religious people and would prefer to spend his time and attention on sinners. Hypocrisy within the church is a big thing he does not like. And who is going to argue with that?

He talks about his experiences at Reed, and I just ate that up the first time I read this book. Many of the Christians I know do not even know any non-Christians. I loved the idea of associating with sinners. But I must admit that I simply never did it very much during college. I have never lived in a world like that which he describes at Reed, but I hope to get to one day. My story revolves around places like Abilene and Henderson, where it is more the cool thing to go to church than it is to slaughter a stuffed lamb in a meditation room.

Tell me, which is weirder?

–

Reading him has greatly influenced me. He has served as a motivator for me to read, write, and blog more. And those experiences have profoundly shaped my faith. So in many ways his work has done a great deal for me.

So what have you liked or disliked about Miller? This post?

–

Bibliography:

Blue like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2003)

—This is his seminal work. It was this book that boosted him to success as a writer and thinker. Most, if they have read him at all, have read this. Have you?

Searching for God Knows What (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2004)

—This is a follow-up book to Blue Like Jazz, and is written similarly. There is personal testimony and reflective journaling. This book, however, contains more theology and exegesis than any of his other books. Its major theme is reflection on the moral and sociological implications of the Fall, and really the whole of Genesis 3. Truth be told, I did not find this book particularly profound. It is my least favorite of his books.

Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2005)

— Originally published under the name Prayer and the Art of Volkswagon Maintenance in 2000, this is memoir of the life-defining road trip he took from Houston to Portland with his friend Paul. This is my favorite Miller book—for what its worth.

To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing Up without a Father (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006)

—His first non-Nelson major publication. Again, Miller doing a little reflective journaling. This time he writes more specifically about growing up without a father. It is highly personal and written to a rather specific audience. It was helpful, but not one I would recommend to just anyone.

Weblinks:

www.donaldmillerwords.com

—Donald Miller’s official website. Here you will find various information, bibliography, biography, speaking schedule, booking info, and photos.

www.belmontfoundation.org

—This is the website of Donald Miller’s not-for-profit program encouraging mentoring of boys growing up without fathers.

www.burnsidewriterscollective.com

—A collective blog co-edited by Donald Miller, with posts dealing with everything ranging from current events and theology to sports and entertainment—all with a Christian slant, of course.

www.ankenybriefcase.com

—A website featuring unpublished fiction authors co-edited by Donald Miller.

www.imagodeicommunity.com

—The official website of the church community that Donald Miller calls “home.”

I recently read Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006). Here is a quote from p. 326:

In fact, Jesus and the disciples would probably get in a lot of trouble in most fancy churches. They’d probably be turning water fountains into wine fountains, inviting kids to swim in baptistries, ripping holes in the roofs when the crippled can’t get in the doors, flipping over the cash registers in the book stores—at which point a trustee would scold Jesus and ask, “Jesus!?!? What, were you born in a barn?” And Jesus would nod.

I was going to write a short review of the book. But after reading that quote, do you really need one?

Read his book. He has a lot of great things to say.

So I thought I might take a short break from my little reflection on pacifism, non-violence, and all that fun stuff. Being that Thanksgiving is coming up for the American people, I thought it appropriate to clarify my position on America. Because I fear that I have come across as being anti-America, or something of the sort.

In fact, that is far from the truth. I deeply love my country and my people—even if I disagree with some of the decisions that my government makes (which, by the way, are decisions that every government in the history of humanity has made; we are not alone in our corruption). I have traveled enough to know that we have a great country. This really is a great place to call home.

I am against the war in which the American people are engaged. But I am not against the American people who are in that war. I love my fellow Americans very, very much.

Sidenote: And, for that matter, I am not against the Iraqi people, either. It would be unchristian for me to be for some people and against others. Right? It upsets me so very much to see slogans like “Pray for our troops.” Why should we only pray for the American troops? Doesn’t Matthew 5:43-48 speak to the American church?

So, in some very real ways, I am a patriot. I love my country. And while I do intend to do mission work abroad, I do not intend to spend the rest of my life as an ex-patriot. I want to be a part of this nation. I want to help make it better. I really do.

And, more specifically, I love being southern. I find myself so very happy that I am from Alabama. There is so much wonderful culture in the deep South that you simply do not find anywhere else. Have you ever wondered why people have written so many books, songs, and poems about the South? Everything from Sweet Home Alabama to Walking in Memphis to Gone with the Wind speaks about a magic that is only found in the South. I mean, they just don’t write songs about living in Delaware, you know? Now, I am not saying that other parts of this country are not great places, but they are not the South. They are not home.

The concept of home is an interesting one. It is something I would like to develop a little more thoroughly in another post.

I am not, however, a nationalist. And I think there are some pretty real differences between nationalism and patriotism. I love being a part of this country and culture. But I do not hold this nation as being, in any way, perfect—or as being a provider of normative thought. My faith is where my allegiance lies. More than anything, I am a Christian. And when I see my faith and my country in conflict (as I insinuated a few posts ago), I am going to depend on my faith to direct my life.

I do not equate Christianity with my citizenship in the United States. And I feel like that is a pretty common thing these days. Is that not fair? I think issues such as justice are for the church, not for the government. I do not think that we live in a “Godly” nation. But I do think that God has blessed us.

So it is coming up on Thanksgiving. And I am thankful to be here in the States. I am thankful to be writing this blog, to be engaging thought and ideology in the name of Jesus, to be blessed with the opportunity for education and literacy (and freedom of speech). And I am thankful that you are taking the time to read this.

But really I am just thankful for Jesus. I don’t know that I need to say much more.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving day.

As my last post said, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this idea of pacifism lately. I’d love to do some more reading on the issue—on both sides. If you can think of any good books supporting war and violence from a Christian perspective, let me know. If you know of any good works on pacifism and non-violence, send them my way, too.

I have been reading some from Thomas Merton’s Passion for Peace: Reflections on War and Nonviolence, ed. William Shannon (New York: Crossroad, 2006). He was a Trappist monk who died in 1968 (pictured above). He was one of the best Christian writers of the 20th century. I highly recommend his ideas to you all as a source arguing against violence.

Also, check out Richard B. Hays’ The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation; A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (San Fransisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996). This is a scholarly level book that I think has extremely important things to say to the church today. His section on violence is classic in defining the Christian response to violence—taking into account many of the common arguments in favor of violence (WWII, self-defense, etc.).

And, there are some classic texts that, in many ways, go without saying. For one, Ghandi’s Nonviolent Resistance (Satyagraha) (Mineota, NY: Dover Publications, 2001).

Oh, and lest I forget…Pacifism was one of the definitive characteristics of the Restoration movement in the 19th century. There were several key books written on this issue by people from my faith tradition. I am proud to be a part of a fellowship that has a rich pacifist history. I’ll write more on that in a separate post.

I just saw this post on Mike Cope’s blog. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I thought this quote from Vonnegut** appropriate to end this post:

Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and show of flags and well-oiled guns.

Thoughts?

**As spoken by Ambassador Horlick Minton in Cat’s Cradle (New York: The Dial Press, 1963), 254.

I am a Christian. I try to read a lot of the New Testament. Try to. But I don’t enough. Do any of us? I am of the opinion that when you think you read the NT enough…that is when you should be most worried about your faith. Either way, I believe with all my heart and mind that it is part of God’s message to humanity. And I believe that it is normative for faith and practice within the Christian church (along with the Old Testament, of course).

But I am also an American. I am an educated, middle class citizen of the United States. And I am fed news almost everyday about our government’s ideology—be it flawed or not. I read this more, I think. Even if I don’t try to. I read it in books, magazines, television, movies, and music. I read it in conversations with politicians. And I believe that it has been made more normative for faith and practice within the American church. Is that fair?

Turns out the two are wildly different. Surprising, I know. But true.

And as I reflect on both of these competing ideologies surrounding me, there is one thing I have noticed…Americans and the NT have very different views on one “hot button” issue in particular: violence. Americans tend to be all about violence; the NT does not. And should the NT not have the final word?

This brings me to a confession many moons in the making. I wrote this post in order to get this off my chest: I am a pacifist. Wow. It feels good to get that out! I have been leaning that way for a long time, and have finally come down on one side. I am completely opposed to violence and war in all situations. There is a better way. There simply has to be, or NT theology is completely meaningless.

In the NT, I see no situation in which violence is appropriate. None. Not one. In fact, I see a command to “turn the other cheek.” But in America (and even the American church) I hear justifications for violence of all types all the time. Americans adore violence. We celebrate it, if you will.

What confuses me is that I hear people that profess to live by the NT argue in favor of something that it speaks against. We are even entertained by it.

Isn’t that profoundly unchristian?

Now let’s be clear about one thing: I am not, in any way, saying that I have it all figured out. There are so many questions and objections that could be given. But, truthfully, I am not sure that any of them can trump the fact that Jesus was completely non-violent. Non-violent to the point of submitting himself to murder.

I just see no contexts in which Jesus would condone violence. He was the ultimate pacifist.

It is amazing how Christians in America talk all about grace, love, and mercy. We talk of those things all the time. But when it comes to talking about politics, we leave all talk of grace, mercy, and all of those things like that, and we validate a political system that kills people in the name of “democracy”—or so they say.

Thoughts on this wonderfully incomplete and controversial post? Implications?

Well folks, it looks like I have been blogging for an entire year now! I must admit, I have had a great year. The experience has been beyond therapeutic. I cannot thank you enough for indulging me with the opportunity to get my thoughts out there. Your feedback (both positive and negative) has proven to be very important to me. Thank you.

I thought that I would post links to my most popular posts so far. These are the posts that got the most hits, or caused the most discussion. Thanks again!

Art and All Things Spiritual

This is one of my personal favorite posts. It deals with the interplay between art and spirituality. I have always been fascinated by that, and I hope that I can one day contribute to the discussion in some more substantial ways. I love and appreciate art more than anything else on earth, and I think that it has a great deal to do with my faith.

Christian Creek Memoirs

This is a memoir of my time in Montgomery on the hunting land that my buddies from church and I frequented. This post was so fun to write. I loved the process of remembering those times and those people. They were some of the best times in my life. This is my tribute to the Dalraida boys.

Abortion, The O.C., and Lessons Learned

This post was written after watching an episode of The O.C. dealing with religious responses to the issue of abortion. I am pretty opinionated on the matter, and I would love to have your thoughts on it.

Why I Love the Church

Perhaps my favorite post. Or at least it is one of them. Here I tell the story of my brother’s illness this past summer—along with a reflection on the phenomenon of church that seemed to inexplicably get us all through it.

I Burned The New Mother Teresa Book

This is my most recent post. It deals with my internal conflict over reading some of Mother Teresa’s private, confessional correspondence. I ended up burning the book as a result of the conflict. I just could not bring myself to read it. The discussion that followed this post was some of the best of the whole year.

Thanks again for reading my blog. I hope you find it helpful.