Book Review - Trilla Newbell "Enjoy"

The Blessing of Joy

            John Piper tells Christians that the chief end of man is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”  In his book about how to live out this edict, how to reach our end, our goal, I feel like he’s barking at me.  Others have been greatly blessed by Piper’s writing on this, but in reading his book, I felt commanded by someone I had not authorized to have power over me. 

            In her new book “Enjoy,” Trilla Newbell whimsically invites me to live out this dictate of glorifying God and enjoying God forever.  By the time I reached the book’s end, I wanted to do just that.  Through art, exercise, nature, food, community, church, and sex (yes sex), I wanted to enjoy God by enjoying the gifts God gives and by seeing my true identity – who I am in Christ.  Newbell beautifully writes about disciplines of joy.  Where I was repulsed by Piper’s dictatorial tone, I was attracted to Newbell’s playful way of drawing me as a reader into her thought world.

            Truth be told, she actually is not inviting me to live out the life of enjoying God.  I am a man and Newbell writes for women.  I didn’t read the description of the author’s intent ahead of time.  I just plunged into the book because I had enjoyed the previous work I had read by the same author.  Not until I was well into the sex chapter did it dawn on me that this is a book for women, by a woman.  At that point, I felt mildly voyeuristic. 

            I don’t understand why women from conservative Christian backgrounds feel bound to write exclusively for women.  Everything in this book is needed by men just as much as it is needed by women.  I still found great benefit from the book.  And I encourage the author to write for everybody because she has things to say that we men need to hear.

"I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Joy Carriers (Psalm 126)

Sunday, December 14, 2014 – 3^rd Sunday of Advent

          “May our Homes be filled with Dancing.  May our streets be filled with joy.”  Jesus has come, salvation is offered to all who repent and turn to him.  He promises to return and invite all who are his to inhabit the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven as children of God.  Yes, dancing and joy; yes, that sounds right. 

We heard it when Tim and Laura lit the candle and read Isaiah 61:  I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my whole being shall exult in my God.

Mary, the mother of Jesus: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Our songs, our scriptures, our reading, our ears – we are full of joy and we should be.  It is Jesus’ birthday.  We are reminded that we have been born again in Christ.  At Christmas we celebrate our birthday, our awakening to God, our receiving forgiveness, cleansing, and eternal life. 

Psalm 126 offers a beautiful expression of what we have in Christ.  We are who we are because he is who he is.  “Our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongue with shouts of joy.  May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.  We were like those who dream.”  That last line calls to mind the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28).  You and I will dream.  We will see the Kingdom of God. 

The tension comes when we take our eyes off Christmas and the magic and wonder, the holiness and love, and we look around us. Reading Psalm 126 rubs against the hard edge when we step out of the warm soft light of worship into the biting winds of the world around us. 

We won’t let go joy.  We won’t.  We hold it, proclaim, live in it, and spread it because of Jesus.  However, we do this with eyes wide open.  We do this full of compassion which demands that we have empathy for people whose experience of life is different than our own.  That means we have to be joy carriers.  We have to carry joy to people who are having trouble seeing it right now. 

America has blown up in a 21^st century version of racial strife.  Much of the vitriol is spilled all over Twitter and Facebook.  These media can be pathways where we share the Gospel.  I have participated in redemptive conversations on Facebook. 

However, there is no filter.  So, people can tweet, post, or email extremely insensitive thoughts.  Readers see a message and respond with aggressive words.  Insults are thrown back and forth and what started as a thoughtful even hopeful discourse is, in the end, a hate-stained verbal battle ground. 

Remember the Psalm – our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongue with shouts of joy.  We won’t let go of joy.  We will spread it.  This is the feel-good seasonal joy that can be reduced to a greeting card (not that I oppose Hallmark, I don’t).  No, we are here talking about the deep joy of Heaven.  That is what we in Christ are called to share. 

Michael Brown’s family is having trouble with laughter.  Their son is dead.   

Eric Garner’s wife is not raising shouts of joy.  Her husband, a black man, died when a white officer used an illegal choke hold to subdue him.  Conservative commentator Bill O’Reily condemned the actions that led to Garner’s death.

The one that gets me is Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old child in Cleveland, Ohio who was shot by police men because he had a BB gun.  My 12-year-old son runs through our neighborhood all the time playing with his friends playing with pretend guns and swords and having fake battles.  Boys love BB guns.  I don’t have to worry about my son being confronted by police – he’s white. 

But my younger son is black.  All my kids are adopted and the younger two are black.  My neighborhood is mostly white we a few Chinese and Koreans also there.  It is educated, middle class America.  Is my neighbor going to call the police because my black son is playing too aggressively?  When my white son plays that way, it is “boys will be boys.”  Why doesn’t my black son get the same space and grace?  If my neighbors call the police and they come and confront my black son for doing what all his white playmates have done all around him all his life, then what happens? 

He’s seven.  He was listening as we had NPR on recently.  He asked my wife “Is it going to be hard for me because I am black?”  She had to be honest and say, “Yes.  It might be.”

This is real.  A few years ago, someone in our neighborhood saw two black boys going door-to-door through neighborhood.  She emailed the neighborhood list serve asking if she should call the police.  They were football players from Chapel Hill high school selling calendars to raise money for the team.  Why didn’t she ask the same question a year before?  She didn’t ask because a year before, the players who went door-to-door were white. 

So just to be clear, parents of black boys have to teach their kids not to play with BB guns – you might get shot.  Parents of black boys have to teach their sons to be careful if you go through a neighborhood because your football team needs money – someone might call the police. 

Our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongue with shouts of joy.  We cannot let it.  We are of Christ.  We are in Christ.  We know what this season, why joy is the word for it.  Nor can we blithely proclaim joy as if everything is alright.  Everything is not alright.

Much of what I have said is toxic and divisive.  Some white people stand with their black brothers and sisters; other white people decry aspects of black culture they find unappealing.  Some people damn the police – all police.  Others rush to the defense of the police. 

I read an impassioned appreciation shared by the daughter of a law enforcement officer.  I really could feel her heart as she thanked her dad and all officers for his service in protecting the public.  The work the police do is essential in keeping our society safe and ordered.  When you are listening to K-Love or another radio station and the public service announcement comes on calling for thanks and prayer for those in the armed forces, also say a prayer of thanks for police officers and fire fighters.  We need the people who do these tough jobs. 

My only question is this.  Could a black woman offer the same word of appreciation to the police?  Or would her experiences of police pulling her son over to ask why someone like him was driving such a nice car lead her to a different statement?  Does she feel forced to plead with the officials to give her son the same grace and guidance and protection they white boys?  That such a question even warrants asking shows the complexity and difficulty in our culture. 

We have to name it.  We have to insert ourselves into tension and carry the joy of Jesus into it.  As I said, I understand the appreciation for policemen and women I read this week.  That makes sense.  I think I understand that groups of people are fearful of the police.  That also makes sense. 

Many times in recent weeks, reading about Ferguson and Staten Island and grand juries, I have been at a loss for what to say. This morning, with the light of Christmas filling my heart and the even brighter light of Christ illuminating all of life, I know what we have to do.  We have to carry joy to people whose hearts are soaked with tears so that the Holy Spirit can give laughter to those who need it most.  How do we do this?  I have a few thoughts.

First, we listen.  I urge Christ followers to find people whose perspective is different than our own and hear what they have to say.  We listen without judgment and without condition.  Just see the whole picture from their perspective.  Feel their pain.  We listen to them and with them and we do so with compassion and understanding.  You don’t have to agree with everything they say.  Just stand with them and offer compassionate embrace.  It will be uncomfortable, and awkward.  Accept that and go there. 

Second, we pray.  We pray before we listen.  We pray as we listen.  And we pray as we watch.  You turn on the news, find out the grand jury is not going to indict and the rioting and looting starts.  Before we post on Facebook how evil rioting is, we turn our hearts to Heaven and think about with Jesus.  Imagine simply sitting – you and Jesus together – thinking together.  Why does someone see the death of a teenager as an occasion to rob stores?  Because that person, that looter, does not know the joy of Jesus.  He is so lost, his great joy this Christmas will be the TV he stole from a Ferguson store.  You and I want to rant and rave about how stupid looting (and it is).  Is Jesus joining us in our indignation? 

Or do we see this from Jesus’ view?  Yes, Jesus hates sin.  Jesus also weeps when a child dies.  Are we weeping with Him?  Yes, looting is a sign of how broken the world is.  When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, another broken place, he wept (Luke 19:41).  Into Jerusalem, into Ferguson, into Cleveland, are we flicking our tongues in disgust or weeping alongside Jesus?  When our hearts are where Jesus is then we are poised to have our tears turned into laughter.  Only when Jesus has done this in us are we ready to carry his joy to another.

Third, seek.  Seek out good stories amidst the not so good.  In Richmond California, the chief of police led the protest march against police abuses of power.  His message to the community was I see with you that something is broken and my intent is to be part of the solution.  It can be wearing to constantly hear stories of more deaths, angry rants, and divisive rhetoric.  It is tempting to turn it all off and stick to schmaltzy Christmas movies. We are in Christ.  We cannot just stick to safe, nice things.  Jesus does not do that.  We have to go where Jesus is.  The media magnifies tragedy because bad news sells.  The media buries positive stories.  But those positives are out there.  We seek the good as we pray for all and listen to those whose perspectives differ from ours.. 

A fourth thought I have is to hold on.  Hold on to joy.  We cannot carry it and share it if we drop it because our hearts are full of other things – anger, irritation, judgment.  Let’s drop those things and hold onto joy.

If we listen, we see the other, whoever the other is – black, Asian, police gay, immigrant – we see the other as human.  Joy comes when human hearts join with each other.  Our differences become beautiful variety and likenesses are signs that we are all made in the image of God and in Christ adopted as children of God. 

If we pray, we submit ourselves to Jesus. We let go of everything.  He sets the agenda.  We have already seen in the scriptures that God fills us with laughter and joy. 

If we seek the good, we are inclined toward the light and without realizing it the light of God shines through us.  We gravitate toward stories of hope and people are pulled along with us. 

If we hold onto joy, we release other thing, negative emotions, hateful words.  We are all of limited capacity.  We can only carry so much.  Let joy be what we carry.

I have not mentioned protest – Christians participating in peaceful demonstrations like ‘die-ins’ and other things like that.  I don’t feel I understand protest movements enough to give thoughtful comment.  But I think if we commit to listening, praying, seeking the good, and holding tightly to joy, we will be equipped to be people of the light of Jesus if participate in protests.  If we choose not to participate, we are at least ready to love those who do.  Jesus calls us to love.

When the Lord restores [our] fortunes, we will be those who dream.

² Then our mouth will be filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said of us, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

Healing the world is God’s work, which began with the coming of Jesus.  In the age of the church, we bear witness to Him.  In His perfect time, he will return to complete the work of the cross and resurrection.  This is God’s work.  We carry the message of God’s work to those who need it most and we do so with compassion.  Christmas highlights what God’s people are all year – joy carriers.

AMEN

Review of John Piper's Desiring God

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist is a classic by well-known pastor and author John Piper.  In it Piper urges the reader to “glorify God by enjoying him forever.”  In fact, Piper repeatedly goes back to this phrase.  To glorify God through the enjoyment of God is the reason humans exist.  To live for any other purpose than the enjoyment of God is to fall short of why humans are here, in Piper’s view.

            Piper’s presentation is thoroughly Biblical and his hermeneutic is supported by his own experience.  He doesn’t just share his exegesis.  He has lived this reality.  He found in his own life that true happiness comes only when he finds it in God.  Anything less than rejoicing in God falls short of true joy and pleasure.  Piper’s writing is passionate.  He believes what he is saying.  And really, I have very little problem with his conclusion.

            When I was in high school and involved in church youth group, I yearned to communicate how wonderful it is to be a Christian. I had a sense that people believed Christians should sacrifice the fun of partying (read illicit sex, alcohol, drugs).  Christians were missing out on that scene.  I protested that as a Christian I was not missing out on anything.  I was the one having fun and loving life because of God.  Remembering my own experience, I empathize with John Piper’s serendipitous joy at the thought of Christian hedonism.  I think he and I would be in complete agreement: the greatest joy a person can know is life in Christ.

            However, I would not recommend his book.  There are two reasons.  First, I don’t like the metaphor.  Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure.  Piper’s point is that we should pursue pleasure – pleasure in God.  This may sound as if I am picking at semantics, but I always associate the pursuit of pleasure for pleasure’s sake as Satanic.  When I think “Hedonism,” I think “Satan.”  I could never put ‘Christian’ and ‘Hedonism’ together.

            I prefer Rick Warren’s model of “purpose-driven” living.  I want pleasure, but I think God can provide it better than I can imagine it.  No doubt, Piper would agree.  But, he says pleasure is why we glorify God.  We pursue pleasure by glorifying God.  I disagree.  We glorify God through service and worship and love (of neighbor) and prayer and obedience.  In all these ways, we exalt God.  In the process, we discover pleasure and joy.  Piper has human beings pursuing pleasure.  I prefer the idea of pursuing God’s will and submitting myself to God’s authority.  Along the way, God gives more pleasure than I would find if I were seeking it.

            Piper would take my last statement and say it ultimately means I was deep down seeking pleasure all along.  I would retort that no, I was seeking God, not knowing when pleasure would come.  At times in my own walk, I did not know if pleasure would come.  I was just sure that life is in Christ. 

            My first reason for giving an unfavorable review is his metaphor – Christian Hedonism.  I was never convinced in its effectiveness throughout the book.  I will never frame my description of Christianity in that way.

            My second reason for not finding the book appealing is the legalistic tone Piper sets in chapter 1.  This tone dissipates as the book progresses, but from the outset, he is commanding joy and commanding how and where joy is to be found.  And he has valid scriptural support.  But I think those passages are directed to a believing community in the context of worship.  To command a nonbeliever to be joyful would be unintelligible to that nonbeliever.  The command only makes sense after I am aware of the reality not just that God exists, but also that God is all-loving and all-powerful.  Knowing those two realities, I understand that I find my joy in God.

            But, it hits me the wrong way when Piper is telling me I “must” delight in God.  Let me discover that.  Don’t cram it down my throat.  Again, I don’t think I necessarily disagree with what John Piper writes.  I think it is mostly on target.  I am greatly turned off by how he writes it.  I don’t want to be told, ‘be joyful.’  I want to be invited into worship and into the Word.  Invite me.  Let me feel like I have the freedom to choose this.  Then, because God is God, I will discover the joy that Piper is commanding me to feel and express.  Because he mandates this joy, I almost don’t want it.

            Thus, I recommend readers pass on Desiring God.  There are much better books that will draw one to the Lord’s heart.  Perhaps my negative review is related to the lenses through which I see the world.  I have family members whose faith was restored after reading Piper’s book.  They would surely be unhappy with my review.  All I can offer is my own response.  As I read this, I kept seeking connection points and I found some, especially in chapter 10.  Even so, when I finished the book, I was glad to be done, but not glad for having read it.  Due to the poor metaphor choice and the pushy tone, I advise readers against reading Desiring God.

Disclaimer - I received this book for free from WaterBrookMultnomah Publishing Group for this review.

When Good Things Happen to Bad People

Do you know anyone who is really mean or exceedingly unethical, and also is rich and seemingly happy with life? It’s the age-old question re-worded. Why do good things happen to bad people? One of the wealthiest people in the world is Kim Jong-il, the dictator in North Korea. The people of that nation are cut-off from the rest of the world. They have experienced starvation. They have no religious freedoms. The media is run by the state. Why is their leader allowed to live a life of ease while such a high percentage of the citizenry wallows in poverty, often unable to even have enough food to eat?

Job asserts that good things happen to bad people all the time! He refers to them as “the wicked.” He who has lost everything (Job 1:13-19; 2:7-8) looks at the wicked and sees family wholeness and security in the home (Job 21:8-9, 11). The have success in farming (21:10). And in general, they rejoice because their lives are so good (21:12-13).

Job’s miserable experience has led him to believe that God is against him but is indifferent toward the wicked. And the wicked return the indifference. Job has the wicked ask, “What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?”

Job is not asking that question, but he says the wealthy wicked ask it because their lives are so blessed. What do they need God for? They have everything.

It would be a neat exercise to through these questions out to faithful believers today. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him? Why do we need God? I say it would be a neat exercise because I am convinced that disciples who earnestly follow Jesus would be able to answer these questions in a variety of creative and thoughtful ways. And I think those answers would be edifying to other Christians.

Answers to these questions he never intended to be answered would not necessarily help Job or anyone who suffers understand the cause of their plight. But, hearing the testimony of the faithful as they pour out their reasons for worshipping God and following Jesus would remind the sufferer who sees the world only through pain-tinted lenses that suffering is not all there is. Joy exists too and we can ask God to lead us to joy and to give us joy.

The joy of God will never come as we imagine it. It is from God and Job’s friends are right. We cannot fathom the depths of God’s existence. But, we can trust. The joy of God does come. Even in bad times, we can trust that God is good. Even when the Kim Jon-ils of the world prosper while millions ache in poverty that was imposed upon them, we can believe that God has a plan. God has a plan that involves deep, intimate, unending relationship with those who turn to Him and eternal alienation from and damnation on those who disregard God, like dictators who live fat and happy while their people have nothing.