My Review of Sarah Bessey's book Jesus Feminist

I must confess, I went into reading Jesus Feminist, which releases today, with expectations. As a faithful reader of Sarah Bessey's blog, I failed to recognize that books and blogs are different, and maybe it wouldn't be quite the same experience.

Jesus Feminist will not be what you expect either. When you read the title, Jesus Feminist, you will inevitably come to the table with expectations: good or bad. Whether they stem from the first word, Jesus, or the second word (what I've heard called the F-word of Christianity), Feminist.

So drop your expectations at the door. Be open to a little academic writing mixed in with her familiar wispy poetry from the blog. The content is needed, wonderful, and inspiring. It is an invitation, more than a treatise. It's one woman daring to introduce you to a Jesus that loves and calls all people just the same.

*full disclosure: I received a free advanced electronic copy of the book to review. Some links are Amazon affiliate links.

On [announcing my new blog] Being Joyful Always.

On the plane across America on my way to see my love (after 2 and a half LONG months of waiting), I read a book that I downloaded for free on my Kindle a few months ago.

Community Wins: 21 Thoughts on Building a Thriving Online Tribe written by Bryan Allain (I'd never heard of him and knew nothing about him, but it was on my Kindle and I had a 4-hour flight, plus another hour and a half flight, and it was either that or House of Mirth, and I just wasn't feeling turn of the century New York City) was such a fast, easy read with very specific and helpful action steps.

It wasn't written just for bloggers, but since I'd been wanting to expand my blog (while also focusing it) I was happy to find tons of helpful tips, suggestions and anecdotes.

But this isn't a book review.

This is an announcement.

The man in the green sweater sitting next to me on the plane was very angry.

I boarded first (aisle seat for the win), and he arrived a few seconds later huffing and puffing. His heavy breathing was not from a long walk down the jet bridge, it was from his fuming anger for being assigned a window seat (it wasn't even a middle seat, calm down).

He whipped out his cellular device. Immediately after the person on the other line answered he remarked with hostility, "Are you working or did you take the day off??"

No friendly greeting.
No kind gesture.
Only a harsh question.

"I just wanted to say goodbye before I take off. You never know what could happen."

Stay with me. I have no qualms about touching base with loved ones before a flight. I also have a habit of texting or calling when I'm about to get on a plane. But it was what sweater man said next that made it even worse. It appeared that he wasn't really concerned about touching base with whoever was on the other end of the line. He seemed to just want to complain.

"This plane is [bleeeeeeeeeping] small. It's a [bleeeeeeeeeeping] puddle jumper."

Granted, the plane was surprisingly small given it's cross-continental nature, but really, you should be rejoicing that 14D isn't a middle seat, Mister Green Sweater.

Through the course of reading this book (and subsequently taking notes on my answers for the action steps), I learned that my online community needs to reflect what is important to me. So I'm refocusing, evaluating, and putting my energies into what is valuable to me.


And that's where it starts: 
Joy in the little things.
Joy in the big things.
Joy in green sweaters.
Joy in tiny planes.
And joy, even when the airline assigns you to the seat you most despise.

Being joyful always. 


Go add it to your Reader app of choice.

And please, join me over there starting in January 2013.

On [finding myself among] Women of Valor.

Upon finishing Rachel Held Evans’ new book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, I wanted to applaud. I sat in awe, at how a book surrounding such controversy, simply pushed me toward Jesus.

It made me feel so connected to women around the world, in a way that transcends time and space. I felt like I finally understood what connects the Jewish women of the Old Testament, the early Christian women of the New Testament, and the millions of Christian sisters around the world who all live out their faith in different ways.

The Amish women Rachel met were not like the women in Bolivia. Rachel’s Jewish friend Ahava was not like the girl she interviewed who’s family believed in the Quiverfull approach to childbearing. Mary Magdalene was different from Deborah who was not the same as Tamar.

And it’s ok that we’re all different. They can all represent  Eshet chayil: Women of Valor!

I found that this book was less about womanhood, and more about personhood—how we relate to Jesus, ourselves, and others while we are on Earth. Her exploration in prayer and silence as observed by different traditions intrigued me enough to want to examine my own prayer practices.

She approached the Bible in such a gentle and thoughtful way, even more careful and loving than I expected. Sometimes people who self-identify in either the “egalitarian” or “complementarian” camps are viewed as harsh and unsympathetic. I was happy that I did not find that attitude in this book. Her words and stories clearly show that she dearly loves Jesus, holds the highest respect for the word of God, and cares deeply for humanity—especially women who have a difficult plight in most areas of the world.

In between her tender words about the Bible, Rachel shares hilarious anecdotes that occurred during her year of trying to live as a biblical woman. She adopted a computerized “baby think it over,” camped outside during “the way of women,” and attempted to cook her way through one of Martha Stewart’s cookbooks.

While reading the book, I felt the need to define roles to be less and less important, and my desire to become like Christ to be more and more significant. “It’s not our roles that define us,” Rachel writes, “but our character.” I want my character to reflect that of Christ alone, rather than an unrealistic ideal that the church thrusts women.

Full disclosure: I received a free advanced copy of the book to review.

On Writing, Being, and [walking on] Water.

via

A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books as a kid. That and Harriet the Spy, Anne of Green Gables, and anything with a strong female lead in those pre-Hunger Games days. So when I heard murmurs about Madeleine L'Engle's book, Walking On Water, I immediately recognized her name. (One of my favorite bloggers even called it her favorite book she read in 2011) The premise: L'Engle's reflections on faith and art, intrigued me enough to find myself a copy.

It sat on my bookshelf for weeks before I actually got around to picking it up. The delay was mainly due to my busy schedule of grad school, work, church, getting things ready for France, and some semblance of a social life. But once I did pick it up, none of that mattered. It didn't matter that I was quickly approaching finals week with little time to spare. It didn't matter that in mere weeks I'd be flying to the other side of the world for the summer.

It's hard to put into words what this book did for me. If you are a musician, writer, artist, or otherwise creative person, I sincerly implore you to get your hands on a copy, especially if you are feeling drained creatively or suffering from "writer's block," regardless of medium. This book invites you to be a dreamer; to believe things are possible that we have long forgotten: like how to walk on water.

The book begins with beautiful imagery of just being. Something, I think, we all have a hard time reconciling in our frantic little worlds. Busyness always seems to take precedence over being, and I think that's why I kept reading the book, even in such a busy season of my life. It refreshed my soul to hear that it is ok, more than ok, it is good to take time to just be.

"I sit on my favourite rock, looking over the brook, to take time away from busyness, time to be. I've long since stopped feeling guilty about taking being time; it's something we all need for our spiritual health, and often we don't take enough of it...When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening." pp. 2-3

And L'Engle talked about what it means to be a Christian today (even though "today" was 1982 and the internet/facebook/twitter/hulu/instagram/smart phones/and pinterest weren't around yet). She quoted lots of famous people and less than famous people and sometimes she didn't know who she was quoting, just that their words had impacted her at some point in her life. She collected and recorded all of these quotes in one special notebook throughout her life. I think I need a notebook like that.

L'Engle probably wouldn't be described as Evangelical, but she had her own way of sharing her faith. She fashioned her life around wisdom from the words of Emmanuel Cardinal Suhard. He said, "To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life would not make sense if God did not exist." p. 26 I don't think any of our lives would make sense if God did not exist.

Later in the book, she likened that "living mystery" to a sort of light. "We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it." pp. 140-141

The following quote that L'Engle copied out of Chekov's letters was especially encouraging leading up to finals week. "You must once and for all give up being worried about success and failures. Don't let that concern you. It's your duty to go on working steadily day by day, quite quietly, to be prepared for mistakes, which are inevitable, and for failures." p. 29 Chekov was talking about engaging in art, but I think the message of this quote is applicable to every part of life. It's inevitable that sometime in life we will fail. And we will most likely succeed sometimes too. Our focus should not be on those successes and those failures, but on being steady in our day to day lives.

I think my favorite quote in the book was from Rainer Rilke, a poet. She is talking about how to know if you are truly called to write, to be an artist. "You are looking outward, and that above all you should not do now. Nobody can counsel and help you, nobody. There is only one single way. Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you to write; find out whether it is spreading out its roots in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you to write. This above all--ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: Must I write? Delve into yourself for an answer. And if this should be affirmation, if you must meet this earnest question with a strong and simple 'I must,' then bind your life according to this necessity; your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and testimony to it." pp. 29-30

Fill in the word "write" with whatever your artistic medium. Must I paint? Must I make music? Must I act?

Must I write?

I must.