Into the Fray Review The Book of Acts for the 21st century

The Book of Acts is one of my favorite parts of the Bible, I love reading about how Christianity Spread in the early years of the Church.  And now, with Into the Fray: How Jesus’ Followers Turned the World Upside down. (OR: The Story of Acts Retold for Today) (Baker Books, 2015) Matt Mikalatos has used his extraordinary writing skills to bring the book of Acts from the 1^st century to the 21^st.  Here’s my disclaimer. I had fun reading Night of the Living Dead Christian; since reading Imaginary Jesus, I’ve used several of those stereotypes as Sermon illustrations. A couple of sermons were based on parts of The First Time We Saw Him, and now this.

To paraphrase myself in a tweet after reading the 1^st three chapters, , how can any one person write so well in so many different genres and styles?

Meet Dr. Lucas. He is writing letters to his friend Theo, to explain a lot of stuff that happened to a bunch of guys. Dr Lucas has a dilemma, he wants to start at the beginning, but recognizes that the story itself is so big that it’s hard to decide which beginning. And so he decides to tell The story by telling the stories of people, people who were there, who walked and talked with “the Teacher”

So Dr Lucas wanders around with a handheld recorder and interviews people, and then he writes their stories and sends them to his friend Theo. And there is a caveat to these stories that Dr. Lucas sends Theo’s way: “You know their stories because their stories are ours, just as our stories are theirs. They are the tales and happenings and accounts and reports of the good news about Jesus and about his life and death and teachings and coronation and return”. And then comes the question that each of us must answer: “Where does your story of the teacher become our story of the good news?

And so Dr Lucas sets out, recorder in hand, and collects stories.  If you’re familiar with the book of Acts you’ll recognize the Pentecost event. Names like Pete and Esteban and Felipe will soon be as familiar as Peter, Stephen and Phillip.

The 21^st century rewrite of a familiar story could be expanded and would stand on its own as a fun book to read, and a great teaching tool, but there’s a lot more to this book. Mikalatos has also done a great job of explaining the sacred text. With exegesis, expository teaching, and lessons on how to apply the text to our own lives, Matt invites us to make this story our own, to identify the beginning of our story with Jesus, and turn it into a story of the good news that can be shared with others.

But don’t despair, it’s not all theoretical, for those who like some practical advice on how to put the lesson into practice, turn to chapter 14 for some ideas on how to write and tell your own part of our story.  One of the core values at our church is that we are all a part of God's story, and we need to learn to tell that story and invite others into it.  I haven’t decided yet if Chapter 14 is recommended or required reading for the leadership team.

And in Dr Lucas’ last letter to his friend Theo, he reminds him that we can’t change the world without being changed ourselves. We are a part of God's creation, a creation which is being transformed by the Holy Spirit. As it changes, so do we.

On a scale of 1 to 5, can you give more than five stars?  Highly recommended to those who have heard the stories from Acts all of those lives and to those whose journey is just beginning.

FTC disclaimer, I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a review. There was no requirement to write anything but an honest review…

Love in the midst of a mess REVIEW of Messy Grace

In Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others without Sacrificing Conviction Kaltenbach shares his experiences of growing up attending Lesbian parties, Gay Pride parades, and watching a friend from one of his mother’s parties die from AIDS. With two parents who were antagonistic towards Christianity, the story of how the author came to Christ and eventually became a pastor is an incredible lesson in why we should learn to love like Jesus did and to share the good news with others even when it seems that it might be a waste of time. Kaltenbach is fairly candid about the fact that he went to that first bible study, not because of any real desire to learn about Jesus, but, as so often seems to happen, to prove that Christianity was not in his future.

                Along the way something happened that changed his mind and his heart, and in the process he learned several lessons, some of which he shares in this book.

                Particularly heart-breaking are the accounts of how he and his mother and her partner were treated by Christians. Love was certainly not a factor in some of those interactions. When he told the story of how after his mother visited the church where he was pastoring and the following Sunday he was met by the elders with the admonition that he was never to bring “that kind of people” to the church again, I wanted to cry. 

This is Kaltenbach’s story of growing up immersed in the LGBT community, and it’s the story of his conversion, but it’s also a text book of how the church should be responding to the cultural shift over the past 60 years, and especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding Same Sex Marriage as opposed to the Biblical definition of marriage as something that happens between a man and a woman.

                Nor is this a suggestion that we just open our arms to everyone and love them without sharing biblical principles. Kaltenbach offers several suggestions grounded in scripture for why we should love sinners (and we’re all sinners, regardless of which community we belong to) but like Jesus we should encourage them to repent and leave the life of sin behind. He presents some of the justifications that he has heard concerning the relationship between the Bible and LGBT activity, and shares how he has responded.

                It must have been cathartic for the author to write this book detailing his personal journey, but it is also a wake-up call for the church. Christians need to respond in love to changing cultural values rather than react in hate, disgust and loathing. Kaltenbach offers a way to reach out in love (after all, that member of the LGBT community is still a member of your family, a friend, someone you love) without compromising biblical standards.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for the review. 

I highly recommend it. 5/5

Jesus answered questions with another question.

People who read scripture regularly have probably noticed that Jesus doesn’t always answer questions directly.  In fact quite frequently instead of answering them directly, He answers them with a question of his own. In Questions Jesus Asks: Where Divinity Meets Humanity (New Leaf Press, 2014) Israel Wayne takes 20 of these questions and turns them into a (very) abbreviated form of a systematic theology.

                The point that he makes, one that many others have made before, is that Jesus is not asking these question because He didn’t know the answers, but for his audience’s benefit. Through school I was always told that I shouldn’t answer a question with a question, but for Jesus, it works. With a combination of scriptural references, cultural background and personal experiences, Wayne explains the reason for Jesus’ questions.

                He doesn’t do it often, but there are a couple of times that Wayne uses words that I’m sure I heard in Seminary, but I don’t remember what they mean, and since I haven’t heard them since seminary I didn’t even bother to look them up.  When you throw around words like “infralapsarianism” or “supralapsarianism” (page 113), you ought to do a friend a solid and explain with they mean.  Granted these were words that Wayne used as an example of how easy it is to confuse people, especially new Christians with ‘christianese’.

                There is some good information presented here for the person who is looking for a basic introduction to many of the topics that Wayne introduces, and the occasional bit of humor adds to the presentation.

                 I received a copy of this book from Cross Focus Review in exchange for this review.

4/5