Book Review of On Getting Out of Bed by Alan Noble

On Getting Out of Bed

By Alan Noble

IVP 

ISBN 978-1-5140-0443-2

Reviewed by Clint Walker

Have you ever gotten a good night’s sleep, and still struggled to get out of the bed in the morning? Have you ever wondered if you are alone in not feeling most of your life is not rainbows or sunshine, and wondered what defect you had? Most of us have endured something like this, says Alan Noble. He says, “Get to know someone really well, and almost without fail you will discover a person who routinely struggles to get out of the bed in the morning” (p.8). 

Reading this book is less of a research project, and more of a book to be experienced, especially for melancholy souls like my own. This text goes to great pains to support and recommend mental health counseling, reasonable medicating, and care. However, at the same time, Dr. Noble challenges the approach that human beings in their mental, emotional, and spiritual complexity should be treated as problems that a medical or self-help industry can fix. This book has several short phrases that serve as hooks to challenge its reader to persevere and persevere faithfully during mental suffering.

You have heard the phrase, “just get out of bed”. Other phrases Noble uses is “do the next thing” as a witness to God’s grace and goodness to others, and as a “spiritual act of worship”. He encourages others not to sin in their suffering, and blame their melancholy for their sin. 

There is much to commend in this encouraging, challenging and thoughtful book of just over 100 easy to read pages. As I read it I felt less alone in some of my down times, and encouraged that pushing through my struggles does matter. I came to understand that sometimes, putting one foot in front of the other is truly an act of faith. And these truths and others touched my heart, and left me both affirmed and changed.

Book Review of The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters edited by Gupta, Cohick, and McKnight

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship: Second Edition

Edited by Scot McKnight, Lynn Cohick, and Nijay Gupta

ISBN 978-0-8308-1785-6

Intervarsity Press

Reviewed by Clint Walker

Many folks, like me, enjoyed the first edition of the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, published in 1993. At that point, I was a twenty-year-old student at Sterling College in Sterling, KS. In 2023, the year that I turned 50, the second edition of the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters was released. I have been excited to dig into this fine new work and highly recommend it to students of the New Testament everywhere.

Part of the reason I am excited about this book is personal. At the time of this book's release, all three of the editors of this new volume were at Northern Seminary. During COVID, I audited a class with Nijay Gupta on Philippians. Lynn Cohick taught a class in my doctoral coursework in 2021. So, my connection has made me root for this fine work.

This is a large text, and I will admit I have not read it cover to cover. (Honestly, it is not meant to be read that way) I have read this text, and several things are helpful to know about the scholarship in this text. They are:

• This is almost entirely new in its content. Only 15 of the original articles were used, and several of them were updated (p. ix). I will probably use both the original and this update for research.
• My perception is that this volume has longer articles than the previous text and perhaps fewer topics covered. 
• The bibliographies that follow the articles are up to date, and worth paying attention to!
• I think the "Interpretation" articles in this edition are an excellent addition.
• It is really worth one's time as a reader to not only explore articles based on the table of contents but go through the contributors list. For instance, I looked up Michael Gorman, and am going to read his three articles. In some cases, you can get a "readers digest" version of influential books and ideas. Good stuff.
• Finally, this may be marketed as a more academic book, but it is a great book for anyone who loves understanding Paul and His Letters in a deeper way, no matter their background. 

If you have the money, I recommend adding this book to your library!

Book Review of Flyover Church: How Jesus' Ministry in Rural Places is Good News Everywhere

Flyover Church: How Jesus' Ministry in Rural Places is Good News Everywhere

By Brad Roth

Herald Press

ISBN 978-1-5138-1372-1

Reviewed by Clint Walker

Since 2016, there has been both a public and ecclesial interest in small towns and rural life. Whether it is the flood of sociological interest seeking to investigate why rural people have such great affection for Donald Trump, or the renewed interest in small churches and rural ministry in ministry circles, understanding rural America, especially in flyover country, is getting some deserved attention.

Into this time, comes a wonderful book by Brad Roth entitled Flyover Church. Brad is a seasoned pastor and leader in out of the way places, and takes his readers on a journey to discover the importance of small town ministry, and some helpful attitudes and practices in that context.

The book, which I read good portions of in the Flyover Brewery in Scottsbluff NE while listening to Chris Stapleton, is a guidebook for ministry in rural places, especially those in small towns in the Midwestern and Western United States. Brad takes us on a journey in Flyover Church, in which chapter titles are patterned after movement of Jesus as God's incarnational presence in the world, with a call to his readers to follow Jesus' pattern as well. As Roth says in this text, "ministry is about making ourselves available to his people and his world. Ministry is not a task based job, but a presence based one..." (p. 27). As Roth serves as a tour guide to rural ministry, he points to things to notice, attitudes that work, and practices that are necessary to be faithful in rural and small town ministry. There are no step by step instructions on "how to", but there is lots of practical insight on how to live rural ministry as a way of life. 

I would recommend this book to anyone exploring or practicing ministry in out of the way places. Flyover ministry is not always easy, but Brad Roth shows how it can be a true and beautiful way of serving the call of Jesus.

Book Review of Zion Learns to See by Terrance Lester and Zion Lester

 

Zion Learns to See

by Terence Lester and Zion Lester

Illustrated by Subi Bosa

IVP Kids

978-1-5140-0669-0

Reviewed by Clint Walker

Terence and Zion Lester have written a children's book entitled Zion Learns to See, which is a wonderful story about discovering a vibrant, living faith committed to loving others, and standing in solidarity with those who are under resourced.

In a book that appears to be autobiographical, Zion goes to work with her dad one Saturday morning. Her dad works at a community center in a neighborhood that has people who are homeless and hungry. Terance introduces her to his friends, and Zion helps meet some of the needs of hungry and unhoused. She begins to understand in her heart a lesson that her father was teaching her, namely that "Every person matters to God. And that means every person should matter to us"

This is a great book for teaching Christian values and social responsibility to children and adults alike. The illustrations are well done. The narrative tells a story of personal transformation by a young girl, which will encourage others to be transformed as well.

This book belongs in any home that is trying to disciple their children to be thoughtful, compassionate, and committed to loving others. It also belongs in church libraries, city libraries, and Christian schools. 

Review of Not Finished Yet by Sharon Garlow Brown

Not Finished Yet: Trusting God with All My Feelings

Sharon Garlow Brown

ISBN 978-1-5140-0795-2

IVP Kids

Reviewed By Clint Walker

Sharon Garlough Brown has written a wonderful series of novels designed to explore women's spiritual formation in a fictional narrative. Now, she is writing a children's book, describing a grandmother and a grandchild who deal with big feelings through art and a deepening faith in the presence of a gracious God who is still at work in the world and in each of us.

Probably the best compliment I have as a "girl dad" after reading Not Finished Yet is that I wish it had been written when my daughters were little enough to hear it and read it as little girls. It deals with real issues without being platitudinous. 

The story in this short book flows well. Jessica Lynn Evans illustrates it well. The metaphor of God painting the universe and that he is not finished with his creation is thought-provoking and compelling for me, as I am sure it will be for others. 

This is a great children's book on the shelf at a church, in a home with children, or in a library in the middle of town. 

Book Review of the Second Testament by Scot McKnight

The Second Testament: A New Translation

By Scot McKnight

IVP Press

ISBN 978-0-8308-4699-3

Scot McKnight has produced a personal translation of the New Testament. While the dust cover and the introduction to the translation will help you to navigate the differences of this translation of the New Testament as McKnight describes it, and overview for this review might be helpful.

In this translation McKnight does the following:

1. He uses a more literal translation of names and places from the Greek. Often this is followed by a parenthesis to help the reader understand the term.
2. At times McKnight literally translates idiom, and then has some sort of explanation in parenthesis
3. This more literal translation at times will feel awkward, and McKnight says that this is the point, to "jar the reader" (preface) into a deeper understanding of the text.

I have been reading the text most recently for Holy Week passages. My experience is that the text is easy to understand, but I keep translating back into modern idiom. In my head I am reading "Petros" and then translating Peter, for example. This makes for a slower read.

As you read the translation in a more ancient structure, if you are like me, you are forced to slow down, and read at a different pace and rhythm. This makes me think, how does the structure and rhythym of the original text, even in my native tongue, form me differently as a reader of Scripture?

I find this text good for personal Scripture reading, I would think it would be difficult for worship leadership. It will have a place on my shelf in my office beside other translations as I prepare to preach a text. It will also have a role in my regular reading of Scripture.

All in all, the Second Testament will be a great addition to a bible teacher, or preachers library, which is why I highly recommend it. The everyday lay person in my congregation would be constantly confused, so I probably won't use it with my elderly men/s small group on Wednesday night.

Book Review of Little Prayers for Ordinary Days by Katy Bowser Hutson, Flo Paris Oaks, and Tish Harrison Warren and illustrated by Liita Forsyth

Little Prayers for Ordinary Days

by Katie Bowser Hutson, Flo Paris Oakes, and Tish Harrison Warren

IVP Kids

ISBN 978-1-5140-0039-8

Reviewed by Clint Walker

What a wonderful little book! Designed for kids, but appropriate for persons of all ages, Little Prayers for Ordinary Days is a collection of prayers for children for moments during the day. Some of the moments are more daily, such as putting on clothes and going to school. Some of them may be more occasional, such as when a child loses something or chooses to look at the stars. 

Through each prayer, and through use of this book as a whole, children will be taught that God is near, that God cares about our everyday life and concerns, and that God wants us to connect with, talk to, and believe in Him. 

The prayers that are written are brief, easy to read, and down to earth. I could see my girls using this. Even more, taking some of their favorite prayers and attaching them to a mirror in their bedroom, or something like that. 

The biggest challenge, in this day and age, will be to get the kids you know to open and read a book with prayers in it on a regular basis. A lot of kids would prefer and an app or something like it. I would have preferred the book to be more of a standard size, but that is only because I would like to copy pages and hang them up. 

This would make a wonderful present for kids at significant moments in their lives and faith journeys.

What Happened?--An Easter Message Rough Cut

 

What Happened?

            You know how it is. You may have heard about it. Someone may have told you what was going to happen. But then it happens, and even if you were expecting it, you were totally not expecting it?

          I know, sounds strange doesn’t it? Let me explain.

          I knew that my oldest child was going to enter kindergarten. Kind of looking forward to smaller day care bills even! Yet, when we got to that point, I was really not ready. I wasn’t ready for her eagerness to run in the door. I was not ready for Mattea to scream and cry because she was missing her sissy (I have that on video mind you). I was not ready. Even though I was prepared and ready.

          I just sat down in the quiet of that night and said to myself, “What happened?”

          You decide to get married. You plan a day. You have people gather around and you say I dos. The reception, the honeymoon happen, and you walk into your new home together. And all of the sudden you are like, “what just happened”. It was like you were living your life, but you were somehow watching it in a movie at the same time. And now I have to share all my space and all my stuff. Wow.

          I suspect, that this phenomenon is even more pronounced after deep trauma. And no doubt, the death of Christ was a profound lifeshock, an earth shattering trauma. They watched him beaten, bleed, and eventually suffocate and die.

          The disciples were not ready for Jesus’s death. He had told them he was going to die. He had done this over and over. Even the week of his death, after that Palm Sunday procession, he told the disciples that one of the women was anointing him because she was preparing for his burial. But often we hear what we want to hear.

          Our loved one tells us they are not going to make it much longer. We tell them to stay positive, and to keep fighting. They tell us there is not much time left. But we don’t want to hear it. And then….they are gone.

          And then the death of Jesus is interrupted by the Passover Sabbath. In Jerusalem. No opportunity to care for the body. No ability for over 24 hours to bring spices, to care for his corpse, to do any of that. He died and he was rushed off to a borrowed tomb, and then a day of rest and worship where nobody could do anything. Which brings us to where the passage starts, on the first Easter Sunday.

They were still trying to find out, what happened? What happened on Good Friday?

          So, early in the morning, the Scripture says, the women get busy going out to care for Jesus’ body. There is a stone that has been rolled away from the tomb. They look in. They do not find the body of Jesus.

          New Testament scholar Tom Wright says in his translation called THE KINGDOM NEW TESTAMENT that “they were at a loss what to make of it all”. The NIV puts it, “they were wondering about this”.

          They were wondering what happened? They walked in ready to care for a body, but there was no body there,

          The angels reminded the women of what Jesus had said and taught about his death, burial, and resurrection. The Scriptures said that the women then remembered what Jesus had taught them.

          The women went and told the 11 what happened. And they thought they were just women telling stories, and they did not pay much attention to what the women had said.

          Now mind you, from the context I believe they told the men about the empty tomb, but then they also reminded them about what Jesus had said that they had remembered after they were confronted by the angels. They preached their experience, but they also preached some theology. Nevertheless, the men all thought that all that they were saying made no sense. Probably just emotional women telling stories.

          All of them, anyway, except for Peter (and probably John from the other gospel accounts), did not respond at all to what the women had said.

          Luke says that Peter got to the tomb. He too saw that it was empty. Wright translates it this way, “he too saw the grave clothes, he went back home, perplexed at what had happened”. THE NIV translates it as “wondering what had happened.”

          And that is how that first account of the resurrection account ends. Perplexed. Shocked. With the people who encountered the empty tomb saying, “what happened”?

          It is a little disappointing isn’t it? You mean the early disciples encountered the empty tomb and they didn’t have it all figured out then and there? They didn’t have a theology developed, a sermon prepared, and a ministry plan ready to go?

Nope.

They didn’t have all the answers.

But, they were lost in wonderment.

The experience of the risen Christ rocked their world. Their hopelessness turned to eternal hope. Their brokenness begun to be made whole. Their confusion was transformed to clarity. Their apparent loss and defeat was turned into victory.

They may have been perplexed and confused, they might not have had all the answers or put everything together right away. But this one thing we see in the passage, and in the encounters people had with risen Lord throughout history. People who were drawn into the movement of Christ were captured by a sense of wonder.

You see, my friends, we may have lived life with great church programs, wonderful Christian friends, awesome memories of great childhood Sunday school teachers, and more.

But I worry we have lost the sense of wonder and awe that stems from encountering the power and truth of Almighty God, and surrendering ourselves to his call.

The men on the road to Emmaus had their hearts burn within them.

Does your heart burn within you because you are living in the presence of the risen Lord?

I have to be honest. As a pastor, one of my worried as a parent has always been that we will live near the church, and they will live under the day to day operations of church life, and because of all the kind of “church business” that they live with day to day they will miss encountering the power of the living God. Or worse, they will live with it so surrounding them that they see it as commonplace. I have seen it in youth group with church kids whose parents go to meeting after meeting, and the things of God become common place. It concerns me. It grieves me.

This is my prayer for you today: Don’t lose that sense of awe and wonder that you have been called by the one who conquered sin and death, who died a painful death to show us his love, and who now shows us how to live in supernatural victory through transformed lives.

Don’t lose the wonder, friends.

 

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning puts it this way,

 ““Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

Miracles are breaking through all around us. God’s glory is at work in every nook and cranny of the universe. Some of you take off your shoes, raise your hands and cry glory.

But many of us are oblivious, and so we just sit around and pluck blackberries.

Don’t lose the wonder.

Don’t lose the wonder.

I’m still in awe that God broke through to my broken heart and found me. A lonely teenage who was in middle school, wondering if my life was really worth living, wondering if my life really was worth anything, wondering if I had any value. Wondering if there was anything anyone saw in me that was loveable. Wondering how long I could really go on.

And somehow this fat, awkward kid, who had some semblance of a knowledge of Christ from Sunday School years before, found his way into a small church that met in the little league clubhouse, and then the seventh day Adventist church on Sunday mornings.

And somehow I encountered this Jesus who loved me when I felt unlovable, who called me to trust and follow him, who slowly pulled me out of my life of hopelessness into a life that had some sort of purpose that he gave to me.

I am still wondering how and why I went on to sense some sort of call of God on my life in full-time ministry, encouraging others to know Christ and grow deeper in their relationship with him. I mean, I am not really all that smart or gifted. And I am certainly not

I am still in awe in how I am so blessed to have someone like Jennifer to walk in this life with me, and how I got two little girls that are so wonderful and smart to raise and hopefully point them Jesus.

Don’t lose the wonder, friends.

Christ is risen! God has done marvelous things, and given us a lifetime to work out what happened on that first Easter morning.

He has given us the opportunity stare in the empty tomb with wonder. And to know that that empty tomb means new life, victorious life, a life of beauty, and life everlasting.

 

When the Rooster Crowed--Maundy Thursday Meditation

 

WHEN THE ROOSTER CROWED

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Peter, when that rooster crowed?

He had seen Jesus have arrangements made arrangements for the meal. And then as he walked into the meal, there he was, dressed like a servant. Washing feet. The feet of his friends. Then Jesus made his way to Peter. I must wash your feet as well.

“No way!”, Peter said. I should wash your feet.

“Peter this is both a lesson for you and for others. You have no part of my or my kingdom if you don’t let me wash your feet, “ Jesus replied.”

“Well, wash me all over then”, Peter said.

Your feet will do just fine, Peter replied.

So passionate. So enthusiastic. So eager to be the one standing by Jesus. Just a few hours before!

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Peter, when that rooster crowed?

“Someone will betray me”, Jesus said.

“Who?”, Peter replied

“The one whose bread was dipped in the cup,” Jesus replied

It was Judas, and immediately Judas left the meal.

I will not betray you, Peter said.

Before this night is up, though, Peter, you will deny me three times, Jesus said.

NEVER, Peter answered.

Soon the disciples went to the garden to pray. Pray with me Jesus asked. Peter and his friends kept falling asleep.

Can’t you stay up for at least an hour and pray with me, Jesus asked.

And soon Judas came with the soldiers to arrest Jesus.

Could you not stay up an hour, Jesus asked

Can you imagine what it must have been like a few hours later, when you were Peter, as the rooster crowed?

The soldiers went to grab Jesus and arrest him. Peter took out a sword, and cut off Malchius’s ear. Jesus healed the ear, and rebuked the violence. They let him away.

Can you imagine what it must have been like, if you were Peter, when the rooster crowed.

They led him to the house of the chief priest. A preparation for a mockery of trial had already been started. Peter stood in the courtyard. People kept thinking he looked familiar. You are with that Jesus, aren’t you. He denied him once. Then again. Then a third time. As the led Jesus out the rooster crowed? Peter wept bitterly.

Peter started out passionately committed that day. Eager. Enthusiastic. Passionate. Committed to Christ.

By the end of the day, Peter had argued with Jesus, failed to stay awake with him, lashed out in violence and was scolded, and then finally denied Jesus three times before the sun had even come up.

We have all failed. We have all lost our nerve. We have all failed to have courage when we needed it most. We have all not done what we should have, and we have all done what we should not. We have all sinned.

We have also all betrayed Christ. We have betrayed his trust, denied his provision, failed to stand for what is right, failed to love the least of these…..

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Peter, when that rooster crowed, and just as Jesus had told him would happen.

Maundy Thursday that Jesus was willing to serve us even when he knew some of us would betray him, others of us would deny him, and others would shrink and hide away in the difficult moments.

Maundy Thursday reminds us that we cannot be made whole through our own efforts. Christ was broken so that we could be made whole. Christ’s blood was shed so that we might be set free. Christ gave us the model of a servant God and a sacrificial savior because he knew that we needed that model, and he sent us his Spirit and his church because he knew we could not do this on our own.

Can you imagine what is was like to have been Peter, I bet you can.

But we know now what Peter didn’t understand until later. That grace is offered freely. That forgiveness and redemption are the hallmarks of the life of a disciple. That no failure is ever fatal. That God’s love is bigger than our failures.

So, lean on the Lord this evening and this week. Let his meal sustain you. Let his example inspire you. Let his love heal you. Let his grace set you free.

Amen.