Page 1674 – Christianity Today (2024)

Myths, which the dictionary on my computer describes as “widely held but false belief[s] or idea[s],” are everywhere. Let me describe my most recent encounter with one. I had just finished my 9:00 AM lecture on Electromagnetism, an upper-level physics course that I teach every other year. I was erasing the board and chatting with one of the students in the class when the students for the next lecture started to enter the classroom. Two of these students were carrying on a loud discussion that I could not help overhearing. One of them was discussing the death of a friend of a friend, and said this: “You know that our heart stops for a second when we sneeze, right? Well, when [the person who died] sneezed, her heart did not start up again.” Besides being false—I have allergies and sometimes sneeze once every two to five seconds for a minute or two without having my heart stop—the conversation was all the more worthy of some eye-rolling as the students having the conversation were settling down for a biology lecture! This is exactly the sort of myth that Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman—the MythBusters—have made it their business to “bust.”

On MythBusters, an immensely popular television show, Adam and Jamie take aim at common myths, and via delightful experiments (many involving spectacular explosions) decide whether the myth is “busted,” “plausible,” or “confirmed.” The show is now also an interactive museum exhibit. Recently, along with my three-and-a-half-year-old son, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago to see the MythBusters l exhibit. A part of me was delighted by what I saw, but sadly, a part of me was also quite disappointed.

At its heart, MythBusters embodies the deepest motivation in science, a personal, pressing, and inexplicable need to understand—to answer questions to one’s satisfaction and to know if your ideas about the way nature works are true or not. Jamie and Adam do this with élan. They pick an interesting question, they devise a beautiful and flamboyant experiment to test it, they do the experiment, and come up with a conclusive answer while often blowing up a few things on the way. What would the MythBusters do if they heard the question “Does your heart stop when you sneeze?” I think they’d say “Well, let’s not take anyone’s word for it, let’s test it!” These days, when it is not uncommon to sneer at and dismiss scholarship and analytical thinking as “elitist,” and when science is “debunked” by those without any scientific training whatsoever, I say hurrah for the MythBusters. Let’s all learn to think like them. If only all my students could approach thinking about physics with the same intellectual precision as the MythBusters.

So why was I also sad after I left the museum? Because the exhibit, whose main aim is (I think) to show us the power of clear thinking, succumbed to the need to entertain, and subordinated to this need the deeper need to inform and to demonstrate how one constructs a logical argument. The exhibit focused more on the whiz-bang nature of the demonstrations and did not provide clear explanations of the “why.” I was left with the impression that for many viewers, the explanation for why a myth was deemed to be “busted” was simply “because the MythBusters found it to be so.”

In science, there are no sacred cows. Every theory, no matter how great the scientist who stated it, is true only as long as it survives the test of experiment. I think that this is the central idea underlying MythBusters. May I respectfully submit that perhaps the two greatest myths of our time—nationalism, the unfounded belief that people from specific geographic regions of the world are superior; and religion, untestable hypotheses for The Way Things Are—are long overdue for some myth-busting of their own? And, in the spirit of the show, wouldn’t this provide us with some truly spectacular fireworks?

Venkatesh Gopal is assistant professor of physics at Elmhurst College.

Copyright © 2012 Books & Culture. Click for reprint information.

The statues erected at the heart of a community—in a downtown plaza or at a major intersection, say—so often reveal the heart of its residents, their hopes and longings. In our second viewer-created film (made in response to our monuments video), J. R. Briggs takes us on a tour through the center of Lansdale, a suburb of 16,000 on the north side of Philadelphia. There, two monuments echo the longings of the people at Mars Hill, who honored the unknown God without knowing his true name (Acts 17). As you watch the film, from Joel Limbauan, consider how your own neighbors might be longing for the true God, seeking to see his will be done in your city as it is in heaven.

Back in 1990, at the age of 5, I knew precisely when I needed to use the TV remote to pause the VHS of Batman (1989), directed by Tim Burton. At the moment the boardroom appeared, my mom would cover the television from view, protecting me from seeing Jack Nicholson’s Joker electrocute another man until his head caught fire. I didn’t know what I was missing at the time. I only knew that I wanted to see whatever darkness was being withheld from view.

Frankly, I’m not sure which came first: my love of Batman or my insatiable desire to make sense of life’s darker shades. But what’s certain is that both traits prefigure and explain my appreciation for director Christopher Nolan’s neo-noir oeuvre, to which one more film—The Dark Knight Rises, the last of Nolan’s Batman trilogy—will be added later this week.

Since 1998’s Following, Nolan’s films have been pervasively grim in both tone and content. But I find one particular element of this recurrent gloom most compelling—the sense in which this darkness is characteristically psychological. Nolan’s films focus on persons who are, to varying degree, alienated and, as a result, rendered paranoid by their inhabitance of the alternate world that self-deceit produces. Nolan’s characters are oft imprisoned inside themselves, in need of revelation and community. Desperate for a source of light, these characters often develop an irrational fear of life outside the mind. Their ability to perceive reality begins to deteriorate.

An unseen ‘otherness’

In Nolan’s first feature film, the black-and-white Following, the protagonist gains enjoyment tracking strangers from a distance. But when he becomes entangled with Cobb—a burglar also seemingly motivated by thrill and curiosity about human nature—he’s soon caught up in an underworld rife with deceit. In the end of the film the protagonist, who has been enticed by the desire to steal intimate details from other persons without making himself known, is burned by his own game. “It’s nothing personal,” utters the lover who has spurned him (and who, herself, is ultimately spurned by Cobb, too). Nothing personal, indeed. It’s the film’s essential line (it’s said more than once) and encapsulates the lurking evil that Cobb embodies, a stalking deceit that inspires paranoia in others about others, because it’s an otherness that doesn’t reveal itself.

Memento (2000), Nolan’s first major feature and cult classic, builds on Following‘s non-linear approach (a recurring complement to Nolan’s paranoia/darkness) by inviting the viewer into a puzzle that, on the first viewing, is never quite clear until the final scene. Lenny (Guy Pearce) wrestles with a psychological darkness that stems from finding his wife raped and murdered. That trauma renders him incapable of retaining memories for more than five minutes. Tragically, revenge is now the telos of Lenny’s existence; armed with tattoos and sticky notes, he lives to avenge his wife’s murder. Or does he? Even worse, with his memory issues, Lenny is incapable of forming a meaningful relationship. Has he been deceived? Has he deceived himself? Can he know? Due to the pain he’s been dealt, Lenny has no problem giving himself a menacing purpose—one even more reckless than revenge.

In Insomnia (2002), Detective Dormer (Al Pacino) can’t sleep. Partly because he’s in Alaska’s perpetual daylight investigating the murder of a teen girl, but mostly because he’s haunted by the difficult, morally compromising decisions he’s made during his career. Worse, Dormer accidentally shoots his partner while pursuing the killer, and then proceeds to cover up the incident. Only the killer knows his secret, but Dormer, by the very nature of his secrecy, confusedly inhabits the alternate reality produced by his lies. Is he no different now than the killer, who joins him in that alternate reality? “Murder was easy,” the killer tells Dormer. “That reality doesn’t exist outside our minds.” Yet, Dormer can’t seem to inhabit the alternate reality of deception without the consequence of increased self-delusion and paranoia.

In The Prestige (2006), the nature of deception is perhaps most evident in all of Nolan’s films. It’s about a rivalry that develops between 19th century magicians Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). Performing illusions by distorting their audience’s senses, Angier and Borden employ increasingly deceiving tactics to triumph over one another. Soon, deceit becomes their manner of living. “Secrets are my life,” Borden tells his increasingly alienated wife. “Stop performing—this isn’t you!” she retorts. But his deceit continues, leading to his wife’s suicide. But Angier also loses himself in deceit: In his lust to defeat his rival, Angier frames Borden for his own murder. Angier is willing to commit suicide and perpetuate his legacy through cloning, and he’s only outdone at the expense of Borden’s identical twin brother. Concealing the truth ceases to be an entertaining trick, and instead becomes the mad magician’s identity with traumatizing effect: ultimately, there is no prestige.

In Inception (2010), in a world with the technology to enter people’s dreams, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a troubled thief who steals ideas from people’s minds. He’s hoping to complete one last mission so that he can return to the U.S. and reunite with his children. Cobb had fled as a suspect in the murder of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), when, in fact, she had committed suicide. What led to her suicide is also what causes Cobb unrelenting guilt and grief. Cobb and Mal had created a world in “limbo,” inhabiting a shared dream for what felt like 50 years. But becoming the creators of their own existence was bound to be fraught with problems. Cobb and Mal cannot escape the reality that they are not the all-in-all of their own existence. “It wasn’t so bad at first feeling like gods,” Cobb says. “The problem was knowing that none of it was real.” Manipulating reality is not inconsequential. Even after waking up, Mal is convinced—thanks to an inception from her husband—that she needs to kill herself to “return home.” Inhabiting a false reality eventually leads Mal into madness, paranoia, and suicidal self-deception.

Belief’s necessity and the restraint of conscience

In Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Batman has his own psychological troubles. His parents were murdered when he was a child, and, of course, he developed a fear of bats. But what makes Batman unique in Nolan’s films is that he is self-aware of his troubled mind. In Batman Begins, we see how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, leveraging his fear toward defending the common good against the darkness instead of succumbing to it. Nolan’s Gotham may be more complex than other superhero worlds, but it’s an ethical world with a discernible right and wrong. The ethical element is at the fore of The Dark Knight, and it’s why Heath Ledger’s Joker is so engrossing. He tries to convince everyone—Batman included—that darkness’s chaos is an ontological reality. But Batman shows that ours is a fallen world that still posits the moral imperative as a binding truth—a light that shines on the darkness and illuminates it as darkness.

In the trilogy, two of Nolan’s recurrent themes re-emerge: belief’s necessity and the restraint of conscience. In The Dark Knight, the people of Gotham—when faced with the Joker’s menace—need someone, perhaps a savior, to believe in. Part of Batman’s sacrifice in the third act is his belief that the citizens needed to believe in someone good—in this case, the “white knight,” Harvey Dent. The theme manifests in Memento when Lenny says, “I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe my actions still have meaning.” Or take, for instance, the “leap of faith” coda in Inception. Mal needs to believe—to have faith—if she is to return home. It’s telling, though, that in all three films, the object of belief is a lie. Yet, the fact of belief is, in itself, a potential source of light to our psychological darkness.

So, too, is the restraint of conscience. Of course, Batman leverages fear toward moral purposes, agonizing—however imperfectly—over what is right. But The Dark Knight‘s most relevant scene is when the Joker rigs two full ferries with explosives. The Joker is sure that one boat of people will detonate the other before time runs out and they’re both supposedly set to explode. Ultimately, though, neither set of passengers gives in to the test. Moral conscience wins out. In Insomnia, Dormer—wearied by his secrecy—says “a bad cop can’t sleep because his conscience won’t let him.” And, unlike Mal’s “leap of faith,” Cobb’s is rooted in the “truth” of the guilt he feels for planting the idea in his wife’s mind that would lead to her suicide. Confessing his guilt and trusting in its power to free him is the leap of faith that Cobb decides to take.

Nolan’s meditations on humanity’s darkness push us to ask challenging questions. Is there a kind of ultimate prestige? What will be the nature of the Dark Knight’s rise in the new film? Will we ultimately rise? Is there a person that we can believe in who has risen?

Once we begin to recognize our propensity to deceive ourselves into darkness, we can begin to see signals of how we might transcend it. We must believe in something outside ourselves. Our conscience restrains us, convicting us of the imperative to love others—and of our failure to do so. But perhaps the greatest signal of transcendence in Nolan’s work is his meta-commentary on moviegoing in Inception: We desire catharsis. In a sense, it doesn’t matter whether or not the totem fell—not because reality doesn’t matter, but because the fact that we desire it to fall says something about ourselves. Something’s wrong. And we need a Light to break through.

Nick Olson, who has an MA in English from Liberty University, is a film aficionado who also writes at Filmwell and Christ and Pop Culture.

© 2012 Christianity Today. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Yes, the end of summer is creeping closer and closer, but there’s still time to get a few books read before the season ends.

We urge you to make time to stimulate your brain and keep reading a part of your life. No time? Consider logging off Pinterest or Facebook for a half an hour and all of a sudden, you’ll find yourself getting through at least a few pages a day, maybe even more.

Find a comfortable place to curl up with the right book. Starbucks is eating away at your budget? Consider your couch, maybe not the most exotic location ever, but with the right book, you’ll find yourself in another world.

Okay, fine, you say. Need some ideas for books to consider? What a coincidence. We’ve compiled a list of ideas of what we plan to read and what we recommend, from the serious to the silly.

Amy Julia Becker

What Happened to Sophie Wilder, by Christopher Beha (2009)I’m reading What Happened to Sophie Wilder, by Christopher Beha, a novel about a struggling young writer who re-encounters his first love.

Noticing God, by Richard Peace (2012)I’m also reading Noticing God by Richard Peace, and I’m very grateful for the insight it has offered in practicing the presence of God every day.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman (1997)This book is next on my list, a true story of a culture clash between American doctors and their Hmong patient.

Recommend:

MOMumental, by Jennifer Grant (2012)I thoroughly enjoyed (and needed) Her.meneutics writer Jennifer Grant’s MOMumental, a wonderful series of vignettes about family life that gives me hope for our sanity as our children get older and that gave me reassurance that I’m not the only mother of young children in need of help (or a day at a spa) all the time.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett (2011)I also enjoyed Patchett’s novel about fertility, medicine, love, and family.

Anna Broadway

To Read:

On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner (1999)

The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)I first discovered Dostoevsky in high school, when we had to read Crime and Punishment. Based on the story’s description, I expected to hate it, but to my surprise, it was fast-moving and engrossing. It is still the book I remember better than any other from that year, and could even extrapolate some of the themes. Though Brothers is much longer, it’s already had some amazing passages. Nor is it dull going, despite the long paragraphs in my translation, which is the highly praised new one.

Recommend:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie (2002)For fiction, either one of Dorothy Sayers’s Lord Peter books, which are a very re-readable, sheer delight, or Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which I happened upon at the library a while back. This fascinating tale really transported me—again, into a world I didn’t expect to like—and is possibly the best book about reading or engaging with literature that I’ve ever read.

Gina Dalfonzo

To Read:

God and Charles Dickens, by Gary Colledge (2012); The Jane Austen Guide to Life, by Lori Smith (2012)Rediscovering the often-neglected spiritual aspects of the life and work of two of our greatest writers.

Jennifer Grant

To Read:

Foods of Ethiopia, by Barbara Sheen (2007)There are some amazing “world cuisine” cookbooks that I hungrily grabbed from the children’s department of my library. My favorite is Foods of Ethiopia by Barbara Sheen, and includes recipes and detailed information on the country’s culture. My daughters and I plan to prepare a dinner to celebrate the birthplace of a young friend of ours.

Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, by Kate Braestrup (2010)Braestrup is a minister who has been married twice and widowed once.

Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society, by Timothy Dillard and Jason Locy (2011)This is a book that calls us to disengage with culture and promises to draw readers to a deeper communion with God.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett (2011)I love her novels (especially Bel Canto) and bought this one for myself for Mother’s Day.

Recommend:

The Ambassadors by Henry JamesThis book requires focus, something that I’ve not had much of lately. Too often I rush or skim, but I can’t get away with that with The Ambassadors. James demands that we read carefully, but rewards us by creating a world – and especially inner worlds – that are so real, we forget we aren’t living in the minds of the characters.

Marlena Graves

To Read:

Lit: A Memoir (P.S.), by Mary Karr (2010)I love good writing, especially good memoirs. Some of my favorite memoirs are by women: Madeleine L’Engle’s Crosswicks Journals and all of Kathleen Norris’s books. I haven’t read any of Karr’s work. However, I’ve started reading this book already; her craftmanship is jaw-dropping.

Portable Chekov, by Anton Chekhov (1977)I am also slowly reading the Portable Chekhov. He’s an author with whom I should be familiar.

Recommend:

Apprenticeship with Jesus: Learning to Live Like the Master, by Gary Moon (2009) Gary shows us what it means for us to live a “with God life” as an apprentice of Jesus and what salvation as a life looks like.

Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace, by Jan Johnson (2011)In a noisy world with many of our lives crammed to the hilt, we grow irritable and exhausted. In this book, Jan Johnson shows us why this is not the Jesus way. Through beautiful reflection she provides practical steps and suggestions for us to declutter our lives—freeing us to follow Jesus and embrace peace.

Laura Leonard

To Read:

A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin (2011)In the summertime I just want a book I can get lost in. Fantasy isn’t usually my “thing” but so many people have recommended these books to me that I have decided to give them a shot. With the added motivation of a critically-acclaimed TV version to look forward to, I feel extra motivated. I am also hoping to get to The Marriage Plot.

Seeking Spiritual Intimacy, by Glenn E. Meyers (2011)A friend recommended to me Seeking Spiritual Intimacy, a book about medieval women who lived simply with Christ at the center of their lives, and I have a copy on my dresser that I’m really looking forward to digging into for my more devotional reading.

Recommend:

Just Kids, by Patti Smith (2010)I absolutely devoured Just Kids by Patti Smith—the writing is so good it made me jealous, and her honest depiction of the starving artist lifestyle that preceded her success inspired me to create!

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck (1952)My eternal recommendation for summer reading: East of Eden. There is no more beautiful, or more deeply Christian, novel in my mind.

Allison J. Althoff

To Read:

Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young (2004)Everywhere I go, it seems like I meet another sister in Christ who shares my captivation with this daily devotional. I’m on my second year of going through this gem, and Young’s extensive spiritual training and communion with the Spirit teach me new things with every turn of the page. Encouragement and inspiration come through daily in this devo that has connected with thousands of readers worldwide, and my mind and Spirit are immediately put at ease at the beginning of every day after reading her entries that are modeled after a conversation with Jesus.

Recommend:

Just Walk Across The Room: Simple Steps Pointing People To Faith, by Bill Hybels (2006)The senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church delivers in this poignant book on modern-day evangelism. By using captivating real-life examples, Hybels eliminates misconceptions of what it means to share faith in today’s post-modern culture: instead of being afraid and intimidated of talking about faith with others, Hybels walks readers through how prayer can lead you to use a smile, friendship, or simple “hello” to build bridges to places you have never dreamed of connecting with both friends and strangers in Christ.

Michelle Van Loon

To Read:

A Cluttered Life: Searching For God, Serenity And My Missing Keys, by Pesi Dinnerstein (2011)My recent trip to Israel was followed by a serious purge of our household’s StuffMart franchise prior to our move. The themes of Jewish spiritual seeker Pesi Dinnerstein’s A Cluttered Life include a reckoning with her own collection (hoard?) of stuff both comforting and stifling and her own soul-shifting journey to Israel.

Recommend:

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, by Francis Chan (2009)This simple, accessible book offers readers a helpful intro to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Sharon Hodde Miller

To Read:

Creating with God: The Holy Confusing Blessedness of Pregnancy, by Sarah Jobe (2011)Although I have heard positive reviews of this book, what really grabbed me was the title. I will be welcoming my first child in mid-August, and as I have navigated the amazing yet crazy journey of pregnancy, God has blessed me with new insights into his nature and character. I look forward to reading about the author’s own experience, and the theological lessons she gleaned along the way.

The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment With the Wisdom of God, by Timothy and Kathy Keller (2011) Shortly after this book was published I received the following email from one of my old pastors: “As expected, best book I’ve ever read on the subject by a long shot. Run, don’t walk, to get Keller’s book.” This summarizes most of the feedback I’ve heard about this book.

Ruth Moon

To Read:

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (1996)I couldn’t tell you anything about the plot, but according to my brother it’s the book that best defines the current 20- to 30-something generation, which is high praise.

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris (1993) A series of essays on a theology of place and the beauty and hardship of life in small-town northern South Dakota.

Recommend:

The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011) This is a thoroughly entertaining read about three college graduates in the mid-1980s. Madeleine, the protagonist, graduates with a degree in English lit and writes her senior thesis on the importance of marriage in Victorian novels as a typical plot climax; the book follows Madeleine’s own experiences with life and love (and a bipolar boyfriend) in a postmodern, post-college world.

Karen Swallow Prior

To Read:

The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)I don’t know how it is that I’m only now discovering the beautiful and insightful writing of British writer Ishiguro. The Remains of the Day captures exquisitely the voice of “the perfect English” butler as he reflects upon his service and the man he serves while considering the nature of calling, dignity, and humanity.

The Whipping Club, by Deborah Henry (2012)This debut novel,centered on an interfaith marriage in 1960s Ireland, has been described a harrowing and gut-wrenching, dealing with child abuse, adoption, and family secrets. No wonder it made O magazine’s list of top summer reads and earned a rave review from Kirkus.

Recommend:

Grumble Hallelujah, by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira (2011) If you are as turned off as I am by what I call “happy clappy Christianity,” and if you seek to embrace rather than deny the fact that being a Christian does not guarantee a perfect life, then you will find in this book a kindred spirit. The title captures it all: even in our lamentations (hey, there’s a book in the Bible by that name!), we can come to know, honor, and praise God more.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey

To Read:

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, by Jenny Lawson (2012): I have no idea if this will be any good, but I’ve laughed at Lawson’s blog posts and her quirky humor. I’m a firm believer in making time for fun reading to get the creative juices in the brain flowing, especially when it involves poolside reading.

Recommend:

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, by A. J. Jacobs (2012): I will read just about anything Jacobs writes, though I was mostly curious if his book would offer any follow-up thoughts on A Year of Living Biblically. It seems as though his experiment to live out the Bible has become a mere afterthought, like his occasional attempt at prayer before a meal. But if you want just want a good chuckle, fun storytelling, and a few thought provoking ideas about health and our mortal lives, enjoy Drop Dead Healthy for some light reading.

Courtney Reissig

To Read:

Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, by Kenda Creasy Dean

Think, by John Piper

How People Change, by Paul David Tripp and Tim Lane Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (2009)

Recommend:

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

When God Weeps, by Joni Eareckson Tada, Steve Estes (1997)

Rachel Marie Stone

To Read:

Lying-In, by Richard W. and Dorothy C. Wertz; Get Me Out, by Randi Hutter EpsteinI’m currently reading a number of histories of childbirth—my favorite is the more scholarly Lying-In by Richard W. Wertz and Dorothy C. Wertz, but Randi Hutter Epstein’s Get Me Out is better poolside reading—it’s as funny as one could reasonably expect a history involving forceps, ether, knives and chloroform to be.

Recommend:

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939); The Minister’s Wooing, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1859)I’ll have to follow Laura Leonard in recommending Steinbeck, though I’m going to tell you to read The Grapes of Wrath if you haven’t, or if you suffered through it (as I did) in tenth grade. Not only does it have a beautiful depiction of social childbirth (see my bizarre interest above) it’s a history of one family’s time during the Great Depression that makes you care more than you thought possible. If 19th century literature is more your thing, I have to recommend Harriet Beecher Stowe’s The Minister’s Wooing—it’s her sleeper hit, I’m telling you—with romance, theology, suspense and surprise.

Laura Ortberg Turner

When Women Were Birds, by Terry Tempest Williams (2012)Starting a new MFA program this summer means that most of my reading for the next two years will be set for me, so I’m making the most of the next month and a half to get through the ever-growing stack of books on my nightstand. With a title like When Women Were Birds, how could you not be intrigued by Williams’s latest collection of essays? The book deals primarily with the question of what it means to have a voice, a great question for any woman (or man) seeking to listen to God and self.

The Lords of Discipline (1980) / Prince of Tides (1986) / South of Broad (2009), all by Pat ConroyThe covers of his books would put off most sane people, but to miss out on any of Conroy’s novels is nothing less than a tragedy. I have passed countless summer hours reading and re-reading Prince of Tides and South of Broad, and if you are planning on logging some hammock/porch-sitting time this summer, I can’t recommend another author more highly. The Lords of Discipline forever changed the way I thought about friendship and sacrificial love, and Conroy writes with the most gorgeous, thrilling prose of any author of our day.

In this week’s episode of The Phil Vischer Podcast, Phil responds to criticism about his ukelele. The crew discusses “following your dreams,” the difference between our dreams and God’s dreams, and how dreams can easily become idols. They ask, “Is your treasure Christ or is your treasure what you hope to do for Christ?” Skye discusses why so many Christians fear insignificance, and how that affects our idolatry of dreams.

“As a Christian, the thing that we are to be consumed with – the vision of our life, the dream we have – is supposed to be God himself. He is the treasure that we would give up everything else to possess.” (Skye Jethani)

Listen here and subscribe on iTunes.

A group of Gaza Christians protested Monday against what they believe to be the forced conversions of two members of their community, according to the Associated Press.

Police claim the man and woman seem to have freely converted to Islam but, fearing reprisals from their families, have been staying with a Muslim religious official, the AP reported.

An estimated 1,500 Christians remain among the 1.7 million Muslims living in the crowded coastal strip.

CT has regularly reported on Gaza’s Christians, including how reconciliation efforts continued during the region’s worst violence since the 1967 war. CT also went to Gaza to profile Hanna Massad and his many challenges as pastor of the coastal strip’s only Baptist church.

Other key events include the seizure of Gaza’s Baptist church by Fatah, as well as the bombing of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore and martyrdom of its manager.

God must have been laughing up his sleeve," muses Jobst Schöne. The retired bishop of the Independent Lutheran Church in Germany is applying a German paraphrase of Psalm 2:4 to the baptism of seven former Muslims from Iran. Early Easter morning, the seven were baptized in the Berlin parish where Schöne serves as associate pastor. The baptisms were an emblem of something bigger—a nationwide surge of such conversions in several denominations and a spate of reports of Muslims seeing Jesus in their dreams. But Martin Luther's Bible translation, now nearly 500 years old, also played an important role in their story.

The group baptism happened at an unsettling time for European Christians. During Lent, radical Muslims handed out large numbers of Qur'ans on street corners and announced plans to distribute 25 million German-language copies of their holy book in order to win Germans to their faith. But on the night before Easter, some 150 worshipers filed silently into St. Mary's Church in the Zehlendorf district of Berlin to witness conversions in the opposite direction.

Until midnight, the sanctuary was dark. Then Gottfried Martens, senior pastor, chanted from the altar: "Glory to God in the highest." All at once the lights went on, the organ roared, and the faithful broke jubilantly into song: "We praise you, we bless you, we worship you." Like Christians everywhere, they celebrated the Resurrection of their Lord.

For the six young men and one woman in the front pew, the moment had additional significance: They were placing their lives in danger in exchange for salvation. Under Islamic law, apostasy is a capital crime, a fact brought home to the German public by press reports about Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an ex-Muslim, who was sentenced to death in Tehran. Some of the converts at St. Mary's were themselves persecuted before fleeing to Germany, now home to the largest Iranian community in Western Europe, numbering 150,000.

"These refugees are taking unimaginable risks to live their Christian faith," says Martens, who ministers to one of Germany's most dynamic parishes, which has grown from 200 to over 900 members in 20 years. He views the conversion of a growing number of Iranians in Germany as evidence of God's sense of irony. "Imagine! Of all places, God chooses eastern Germany, one of the world's most godless regions, as the stage for a spiritual awakening among Persians," Martens exclaims. According to a recent University of Chicago study, only 13 percent of all residents of the formerly Communist part of Germany attest belief in God.

The Vision Thing

The Berlin baptism is a small piece in a mosaic of faith covering all of Germany, crossing denominational barriers and extending into Iran itself. Some German clerics speak of a divinely scripted drama that includes countless reports of Muslims having visions of Jesus. According to Martens and others interviewed for this article, most of these appearances follow a pattern reported by converts throughout the Islamic world: Muslims see a figure of light, sometimes bearing the features of Christ, sometimes not. But they instantly know who he is. He always makes it clear that he is Jesus of the Bible, not Isa of the Qur'an, and he directs them to specific pastors, priests, congregations, or house churches, where they later hear the gospel.

Thomas Schirrmacher, chair of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, comments on this pattern: "God sticks to the Reformation doctrine that faith comes by receiving the Word through Scripture and preaching. In these dreams, Jesus never engages in hocus-pocus, but sends these people to where the Word is faithfully proclaimed." This is why Martens says he cannot dismiss such narratives: "As a confessional Lutheran, I am not given to Schwärmerei," he says, using Luther's derogatory term for religious enthusiasm. "But these reports of visions sound very convincing."

Martens's experience with Muslim converts goes back to when he began catechism classes for Persian immigrants five years ago. The classes quickly expanded, and on Easter Sunday 2011, Martens baptized ten converts. Ten more converts are expected next Easter, and another ten the following year, plus more in between.

As news of the Easter baptisms at St. Mary's spread, churches across Germany reported similar experiences: Across Berlin in Neukölln, a district with a nearly 20 percent Middle Eastern immigrant population, deaconess Rosemarie Götz baptized 16 Persians on Easter Day in her modest house of prayer, Haus Gotteshilfe ("God's Help"). The baptisms doubled her tiny congregation, which belongs to the Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaft, a pietistic group within the otherwise liberal Protestant church of the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

"The new members brought along 50 others whom we are now instructing in the faith, and 8 to 10 of them will be baptized in August," says Götz, whose involvement with the Iranians started 19 years ago, when a social worker introduced her to Nadereh Majdpour. Majdpour had fled Iran after suffering torture for declaring that she loved Jesus more than Muhammad. "She lost all her hair from being beaten savagely on her head in jail," recounts the deaconess. Majdpour brought the other Persians to Götz and now acts as their interpreter.

Two weeks after Easter, four more Iranians were baptized in the Baptist Friedenskirche (Church of Peace) in the fashionable Charlottenburg district. Meanwhile, not far from Götz's chapel, Sadegh Sepehri, an Iranian-born minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was preparing substantial groups of former Muslims for baptism in the Bethlehemkirche, a German Reformed Church hosting a congregation of 150 native Iranians. "I have already baptized more than 500 Persians in my 20 years here in Berlin," Sepehri reported before pointing to an American pastor who has done four times as well numerically in the southern city of Nuremberg.

Mark A. Bachman, founder of Nuremberg's independent Word of God Baptist church, returned to the United States two years ago. Speaking by telephone from Hyles-Anderson College in Indiana, where he is training missionaries for work in Islamic countries, Bachman estimates that he baptized some 2,000 former Muslims during his 23-year ministry in Nuremberg; most were Persians.

In yet another part of Germany, Baptist pastor Helmut Venske baptized 13 Iranians on Easter Sunday. Venske serves a congregation in Mülheim in the industrial Ruhr District in northwest Germany. "This is happening in many parts of the country, wherever there are Persian communities," he says.

In a rural Lutheran church in Bavaria, for example, several dark-skinned strangers surprised the Communion assistant during Lent when they showed up at the altar. "Who were they?" he later asked his pastor. "Oh, they are just another family of Persian converts," the minister answered.

Missing Data

"Something significant is taking place here," says Max Klingberg, an official with the International Society of Human Rights (ISHR) in Frankfurt. But when questioned about a radio report that in Germany alone, at least 500 Persians become Christians every year, he cautions, "As a trained scientist, I prefer to be very careful with numbers." However, Schirrmacher suggests, "The real figure could well be a thousand, perhaps thousands."

Actual numbers are hard to determine because of the theologically liberal leadership of the regional Protestant bodies linked to the state. Their leaders tend to steer clear of mission, says Schirrmacher: "They worry that it might interfere with their interfaith dialogues." Götz agrees: "I suspect that this is why the parish pastor around here, a woman, has never visited our congregation."

Therefore, says Schirrmacher, only "free churches," such as the Baptists and independent Lutherans, and semi-autonomous congregations like Götz's, joyfully report conversions. "We know that faithful ministers of the state-related churches also baptize ex-Muslims, but we are left in the dark about the numbers." Albrecht Hauser, a former missionary and retired dean of the Lutheran Church of Württemberg, adds, "We are aware of faithful Catholic priests doing likewise." But, observes Schirrmacher, "The Catholics are just as hesitant to release statistics. They don't want to jeopardize interfaith dialogues."

However, the number of baptisms of Persians and, to a lesser degree, other Muslims in Germany outweighs the conversion of Christians to Islam. "According to a report by the central archive of Germany's Islamic organizations in Soest, approximately 500 Germans became Muslims in 2010," says Schirrmacher. "Yet those were either German girls marrying Muslim immigrants or nominal ex-Christians hoping for good business opportunities in other Islamic countries. The conversion of Persians is of a totally different quality, usually following long instruction in the Christian faith."

In Gottfried Martens's congregation, for instance, the catechumens from the Middle East spend four or more months studying the Bible, the church creeds, Martin Luther's Small Catechism, the significance of the liturgy, and the hymns. "They are very attracted by the liturgy, which was absent in their previous faith," Martens explains. Wilfried Kahla, an ex-missionary from Germany's state-related Lutheran church and a veteran in evangelizing Muslims, told the Protestant news magazine ideaSpektrum that he made his candidates study a 62-page brochure on Christian doctrine and administered a written exam to them. Then, at the baptismal font, he made them abjure Islam.

Martens, Venske, and Götz follow similar curricula; like Kahla, they carefully explain to converts the difference between the Allah of Islam and the God of Christianity. "Islam is like a rope ladder on which people try to reach God," Kahla likes to say. "They manage to climb a few rungs, but with each sin, fall off the ladder and must start all over again. Christians, by contrast, need no ladder because Jesus comes down to earth for them. Christians have salvation. Muslims don't."

An Educated People Group

Why is it that, of the 4 million Muslims living in Germany, Iranians are the most likely to turn to Christianity? The ministers interviewed attribute this fact in part to their high level of education. They say that most of the Iranian refugees are businesspeople, physicians, scientists, engineers, lawyers, economists, teachers, and other professionals or students. In coming to Germany, they followed a centuries-old pattern of cultured Persians in a country where German-Persian professional organizations have existed since the 19th century.

"Iran is suffering from a big brain drain as a result of its fanatical religious policies," observes Schirrmacher. Hans-Jürgen Kutzner, who ministers to 1,000 Persians on behalf of the state-related United Evangelical-Lutheran Churches in Germany, agrees: "As far as the university-educated elite in Iran is concerned, Islam has lost all moral integrity, especially among the young."

Citing a report by the nationwide Deutschlandradio network, Martens wrote to his parish that perhaps half of all young, educated Persian urbanites sympathize with Christianity these days, while Klingberg of the ISHR cautions that such estimates might be exaggerated.

Still, Bachman ascribes the rise of underground Christianity in Iran partly to the fact that every day 17 million of its 79 million people listen to programs via Christian satellite radio and television from abroad. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a U.S. Lutheran pastor involved in clandestine missionary work in the theocratic nation speaks with awe of the intensity of exchanges between the expanding Christian communities in exile and in Persia itself.

Why Do They Do It?

Clergy interviewed for this story reject the suspicion held by some German government officials that many refugees from Iran convert solely for refugee status. They point out that many converts had to exchange material comfort for poverty. "You don't do this simply for material reasons," says Götz. "Neither would you study so hard for your baptism and attend services so faithfully."

Martens admits he gets angry when testifying before immigration tribunals on behalf of Persian congregants. "Can you imagine?" he growls. "Here we have judges whose knowledge of Christianity is at best on the superficial level of cultural Protestantism, and they presume to judge the sincerity of someone else's Christian faith." Like his German colleagues, Bachman says, "I have always made it clear to ex-Muslims asking me to instruct them in the Christian faith that baptism would not automatically save them from being returned to Iran by German authorities."

Perhaps the most convincing argument supporting Bishop Schöne's image of a laughing God at work is found in the genesis of the Persian awakening at St. Mary's. It began in Saxony, the birthplace of the Reformation, where Christians have become an endangered species. Twelve years ago, Trinity Parish in Leipzig, a tiny congregation of the Independent Lutheran Church, began teaching German as a second language to asylum seekers awaiting government approval of their refugee status.

Trinity used Luther's Bible translation as a textbook. Linguists credit that translation with having created the modern German language. Intrigued by what they read, several exiles asked to be baptized. They brought along friends who also wished to learn the basics of the Christian faith. "Today, one third of our 150 members are Persians," says Markus Fischer, Trinity's pastor.

'In this congregation, I heard for the first time that God is a loving Father who desires a personal relationship with every human being.'—'Hamid'

Those members include 28-year-old "Amin" (not his real name) and his young family. Amin says he is a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad. He was a successful corporate executive in Tehran until an Armenian friend introduced him to the Christian faith. Amin and his pregnant wife then fled to Europe. Their story is much like that of "Hamid," former owner of a Tehran shopping center. He was arrested and tortured after a raid by Iran's religious police on the house church he attended.

"In this congregation, I heard for the first time that God is a loving Father who desires a personal relationship with every human being. This was news to me, because Islam had taught me the image of God as a distant, punishing deity," says Hamid. He was one of the ex-Muslims baptized this Easter in Berlin, where he had moved after the German authorities granted him refugee status.

Other Persian converts from Leipzig also moved to Berlin. Others still moved on to Hamburg, Dresden, and Düsseldorf, where they joined the local congregations of the Independent Lutheran Church, according to Hugo Gevers, the denomination's special representative to migrants. Wherever they went, they started evangelizing fellow refugees, which helps to account for the surge in conversions.

Meanwhile, in Leipzig, Trinity's success among immigrants has caught the attention of German-born seekers. The congregation is outgrowing its minute makeshift building in a cemetery and negotiating a permanent lease of a large but little-used sanctuary of the state-related Lutheran Church, a shrinking denomination.

Schirrmacher finds stories like this engrossing. He says, "Isn't it odd that the Ayatollah Khomeini has turned out to be one of modern Christianity's greatest missionaries?"

Matthias Pankau is a Lutheran pastor and an editor of Idea, a Protestant wire service and magazine in Germany. Uwe Siemon-Netto, a journalist, directs the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life in Capistrano Beach, California.

Vanderbilt University will stand by its “all-comers” policy for student groups next fall, after a veto from Tennessee governor Bill Haslam in May stopped popular legislation that sought to block it.

The policy requires student groups to open membership and leadership positions to all. The legislation, which passed both state houses easily, would have instructed Tennessee’s public universities—and Vanderbilt—to drop “all-comers” policies or extend them to now-exempt fraternities and sororities.

While Haslam disagrees with the policy, he said government interference in the policies of private institutions was inappropriate.

“It was the wrong decision,” said Christian Legal Society (CLS) counsel Kim Colby. Christian groups should be able to require student leaders to be Christians, she said.

CLS is one of 15 Christian groups that refused to sign the new policy. The groups include more than 1,400 students.But some religious groups at Vanderbilt agreed with the veto.

“If you try to use [legislation] to force a private [school] to do something, that could come back to our evangelical colleges and seminaries,” said Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) national coordinator Rod Mays. “People aren’t really thinking through this process carefully to understand this could hurt us.”

The campus ministry is led by an ordained chaplain and doesn’t depend on student leaders, so RUF has signed the policy.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has recently been challenged at 41 campuses, said national field director Greg Jao. Much of what colleges want in an all-comers policy is laudable, he said. But what has gone wrong is lack of appreciation for the truth claims of faith organizations.

“Our position is informed in part by our understanding of history,” said Jao. Student-focused missions—such as the YMCA—were once vibrant; but as they downplayed the need for students to embrace the core beliefs of Christianity, God removed them from campus life, he said.

“We’ve watched this kind of thing happen before,” said Jao. “We’re saying, ‘Not on our watch.'”

In Howard Schultz’s book, Onward, the Starbucks CEO candidly shares about his 2008 return to day-to-day operations of the coffee giant. His focus was stabilizing the company he founded and returning it to its core values.

An early turning point was a retreat with key leaders. His goal was to “organize an off-site retreat to flush us out of our familiar space and help us freely consider how we had lost our way, and then embark upon fresh thinking.” Schultz continues, “we needed to rediscover who we were and imagine who we could be.”

He reluctantly agreed to let a consulting firm run the retreat, but upon entering the retreat location, he was pleasantly surprised when he found:

• A casual, fun atmosphere that piqued curiosity
• The Beatles music playing loudly
• Bright Beatles album covers and posters covering the room
• Note cards with questions like What does it mean to reinvent an icon? and What did John, Paul, George, and Ringo teach us about the art of reinvention?

Schultz summarizes, “The retreat did more than just spark creative thinking. It also took us to a new level of decisiveness.” For Starbucks, this refocus on decisiveness quickly led to hard but necessary decisions like store closings and deep cost-cutting measures for the first time in company history. But decisiveness also led them quickly to new innovations, an impressive turnaround even amidst the global economic crisis, and back to more sustainable growth.

Your church doesn’t have the resources of Starbucks (although you might consider providing good coffee!), but even on a limited budget you can pull off a retreat that can breathe new life into a tired staff or help you discover a whole new way of doing ministry.

Why Go Out of the Box?

It’s time for an out-of-the-box retreat when …

• You’re stuck in a rut and need fresh thinking. As a marketing director at Christianity Today, I try to take our marketing staff away from the office at least a couple times a year to break from the ordinary. Recently that meant going to a creative design firm to study what keeps their minds fresh and good ideas flowing for their clients. In past years, it’s meant holding a creative scavenger hunt around town, going to museums, and interacting face-to-face with our audience.
• You’re wrestling with a complicated problem or issue. When your church has a challenge, say finances aren’t where they need to be, staffing needs restructured, or you’re planning for your next ministry season, a retreat affords you the time to go in-depth, maybe including things like historical analysis and feedback, research, creative brainstorming, prayer and meditation, laying out a comprehensive plan, action steps, and follow-up. You can’t do all that in a one-hour meeting!
• You want to build team camaraderie or morale. I’ve found that our retreats always leave us coming away with a renewed focus, energy, and appreciation for our important work. Days and weeks later our team members were still excitedly sharing what they took from our time together. And newer staff members felt plugged in faster because they were able to contribute and get to know their teammates away from the office.
• You need to complete a project, but can’t in your normal environment. I’ve been frustrated when we’ve needed progress on something like a new product launch or engagement with a new marketing tactic, but in each weekly meeting we barely move the barometer forward. With my staff, I’ve tried to “get away” and retreat together when I realize we’re not moving fast enough to get a job done by a deadline, or I feel an issue is worthy of extended, uninterrupted time.
• Substantial changes are happening and you need understanding and advocacy from your team. I’ve been part of important retreats to announce complicated structural or staff changes, to communicate new ministry goals, to unveil new products, and after heart-wrenching downsizing. These retreats have clarified our direction, reignited our passion, and helped heal wounds.

If you resonated with any of the reasons above, then you probably need a retreat separate from your normal, regularly-scheduled meetings. Here are six elements that will help make an out-of-box retreat successful.

1) Break from the Norm

In any given day, how many e-mails do you read, phone calls do you take, meetings do you attend, projects do you have to finish, and deadlines do you have to make? It can be overwhelming, can’t it?

Retreats let your team focus—away from daily stresses and work tasks that can cloud your minds. Personally, I try to get away from the office once a month so I can focus on a topic or a task that might stoke my own creativity and teach me something new. I encourage my staff to do this occasionally. And, we need to do it together. While I sometimes wrestle with “loss of efficiency” of the day-to-day work that’s being missed, I’ve come to acknowledge that we can’t afford not to.

If this is a big worry or a retreat doesn’t seem appropriate, most of these tips are flexible in the context of an out-of-the-box meeting—maybe it’s scaling your “retreat” to a morning or an afternoon or even thinking about how to be creative in your regular meetings.

2) Infuse Surprise and Excitement

What would encourage your team and keep momentum and energy through the day? Music or other media? Visuals? Humor? Games? A small thank-you gift (everyone appreciates gifts!)? Good food and drink?

I’ve often used retreats to give my staff a book that has helped my own professional development. We’ve given small awards to acknowledge good work or have fun with each other. (For example: I recently received the highly coveted “Most Orderly Office” award—that probably tells you something about my personality.) Among the surprises at the aforementioned Starbucks’ retreat was sending everyone throughout downtown Seattle to visit some of the city’s successful homegrown retailers and report back the experiences and values that help define each of the stores.

Be creative and find ways to communicate to your staff or volunteers that they are valued and important.

3) Involve Key Leaders and Volunteers

Sometimes in your regular church meetings you can’t have everyone involved that needs to be. Make sure at a retreat you strategically have the right people in the room to make the decisions that need to be made.

Does someone from your board, deacons, or elders need to attend if they’re ultimately going to be involved in what comes out of your retreat? Is there someone from your church that specifically can speak wisdom into your conversations—maybe in the area of communications, finances, project management, or event planning? Are you unintentionally leaving someone out that may feel slighted?

In preparation, think through how to involve and engage these leaders and volunteers in ways such as the following:

• Logistics. Getting the location, bringing resources like pens, paper, decorations, food.
• Moderating the day. Leading you through the agenda, participating in different components like a devotion or an activity.
• Taking notes. An oft-overlooked task that’s highly important!
• Action steps. Who has what responsibilities after the retreat?
• Follow-up. You want to make sure there is some accountability and progress made one week, one month, one year after your retreat.

4) Invite a Guest Speaker

A retreat is a great setting to bring in someone from the outside—someone who can provide feedback, a new perspective, or a challenge. Think about someone (another church leader, pastor, community member, speaker) who could enrich the day and inject some fresh thinking into your team.

I’ve brought in pastors to tell us what they like and don’t like about what we do. We’ve had a branding expert share with us what makes a strong brand. My favorite was bringing in Peyton Manning to teach us about leadership under adversity (okay, that one may have been a dream).

5) Set and Communicate Your Goals

Some goals may just seem too big to accomplish in one of your regular church meetings. Earlier I stated that I often take my team away from the office if we need focused time or need to accelerate our pace. Maybe for you it’s starting a new church ministry or envisioning a whole new approach to community outreach. It’s hard to get the focus you need unless you’re in a retreat setting, and you need to answer early on for your team:

• Why are you having a retreat in the first place? Here it’s important to answer for your team why you think it’s necessary to spend the time you’re spending at the retreat and away from their other duties. You’ll undoubtedly have people coming into the retreat skeptical or feeling that it’s not necessary. This is a chance to communicate your perspective and hopefully get your team on the same page.
• What do you hope to accomplish? Ahead of the retreat, you want to have clarity in your mind about its core purpose. Don’t have a retreat just for the sake of a retreat, but think ahead about the progression of your time together and how you will come away closer to your goal.
• What will change because of this retreat? One of the worst things that could happen as an outcome of your retreat is that nothing happens, nothing changes. You could potentially lose some leadership capital and trust from your team if they feel like their time was wasted and not respected. In my retreat experiences, I end each retreat laying out the vision going forward and hearing from everyone about what lessons they learned, how they feel differently, what might be different in the future, and often give action steps and a schedule or time frame. It’s a good habit to document each of these things and share it with the team after the retreat, as well as integrating some sort of follow-up. I also want to hear honest feedback about the retreat: What didn’t work and why?

6) Spark Creativity Through Fun!

Most of your meetings are probably in a sterile office or conference room. With a retreat, you want a space that exudes creativity and comfort (i.e. someone’s home, park, museum, coffee shop) and make space for people to think, meditate, and pray. You should break up the day with the non-ordinary: activities, field trips, or other outings.

We went into Chicago for one recent brainstorming retreat, which is 45 minutes away from our office. Our team felt it was appropriate because we didn’t want the distraction of the office. We needed our sharpest minds present, and we intentionally wanted to be “out of our element” for the possibility of the freshest ideas. We walked around the city during a break—taking in the beautiful summer sun and breeze off Lake Michigan. We broke out of our normal eating habits and had some amazing ethnic food. We were given a tour of a local neighborhood and heard about its history and redevelopment. And we watched some compelling videos—all to try to give us space for creativity.

So, What’s the Bigger Picture Here?

Going back to the Starbucks’ retreat, the goal was to rediscover who they were and imagine who they could be. While the company had years of unprecedented growth with new stores and exploding profits, growth became their sole focus. They were losing their core values and reason for being (like their intense care for the customer experience and pouring the perfect espresso). They had gotten distracted, and the retreat helped get them back on track.

As a church leader, your goals are different than Starbucks. You may want to encourage your volunteers and build on their God-given gifts. You may want to envision reaching more people with the love of Christ that you’ve experienced. Or, maybe your goal is to help your team trust and know each other more intimately so they can work more effectively together.

Planning and leading a retreat that’s “out of the box” isn’t recommended simply for the sake of being cute or creative. Instead, think and pray about how God might use your imagination to spur the Holy Spirit to move in your church in a way no one could have imagined on their own.

—Cory Whitehead is Director of Brand and Digital Marketing for Christianity Today; © 2012 Christianity Today.

Discuss

1. Thinking about the next year, what is the top reason you’d see a need for an out-of-the-box retreat?
2. Who would be the appropriate leaders and volunteers for this retreat?
3. What goals will you set for the retreat? How will you communicate and then follow up those goals?

Our house was still smoking, the day an arsonist randomly set it on fire, when the questions began to pour in. “What do you need?” friends and neighbors started asking. Our family had all been at home and in bed when the fire was set, and we escaped with nothing but my laptop and the clothes on our backs. Yet I couldn’t think of how to answer—until I remembered a line from a previous conversation with my neighbor, who was undergoing chemotherapy at the time: “Anything anyone does for my kids helps me.”

So I began saying, “Gift cards for books. For the children.”

I asked our children to list which stores they wanted gift certificates from. I began with our youngest, age 7 at the time. Eden sat down and made the list you see in the photo below (after the jump).

25¢

As we stood on the lawn, watching the house burn, she said, “I’m so glad I put most of my money in the bank this week!” We had made a recent trip to the credit union, but she had reserved a quarter.

TIGER BOOK

The night before the fire, we had begun reading Kate DiCamillo’s The Tiger Rising, a book about grief and loss.

Then Eden listed,

STRTS (shirts) SURS (shoes)PANS CLOTHING

Then she added,

LIFE

That pressed the air out of my chest.

I wept reading over her list. Then I tried to pin her down. (You see my personal list at the bottom of the photo.) “Would you like a gift certificate from Target or from Old Navy?” I was considering actual stores, but Eden got to the heart of her loss.

I pulled myself up. The child had said what she needed, so I gave her a quarter and called my dear friend, Jane, who ran out and bought The Tiger Rising that day. Clothes and books and toys and art supplies and gift cards came flooding in.

My husband, Paul, and I were at first reluctant to accept help. We thought we were fine and figured we would sort out the insurance and financial details on our own. We were mistaken. Not only were we delusional, we also found it surprisingly uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of extraordinary generosity. Wrangling with the township, utilities, and insurance was beyond exhausting. It was only when we moved back into the new house that we began the slow process of mourning the fact that a crime had been committed against us. When we were asked, “What do you need?” I can see now we could have co-opted Eden’s list for the entire family: “Please send money, books, clothes and—while you’re at it, if you would be so kind—we could really use our old life back.”

Immediately after a house fire, a person’s needs seem complex, but they’re quite simple. Everything narrows and focuses: You need shelter, food, and clothes. In the early days, even our prayers were simple: “Thank you. Thank you.” We were just so grateful to be alive.

After a tragedy, those of us on the outside often wonder what to say. We look for the escape hatch of a platitude or a verse. Or we are tempted to think we need to offer a reason, find a purpose, or defend God. We shouldn’t. A simple, “I’m sorry,” is appropriate. God doesn’t need us to be his PR reps, and people in midst of calamity aren’t asking questions, at least not yet. Usually they’re simply trying to keep going, take the next step, and figure out how to live this new, strange life.

The “I’m sorry” won’t feel like enough. There is a tension in suffering, a stress in its very existence, even if not our own. When something horrible happens to someone we know, for a moment, we realize this terrible thing is possible in our world too, and that’s scary. It’s the rare friend who is willing to hunker down with you in the mystery of deep sorrow—knowing full well it could be their own.

If you want to help someone after a house fire, or any crisis, you need to know they probably won’t even know what they need. Or, if they do, odds are they won’t have the strength or will to ask. Saying, “Anything I can do to help, just let me know,” isn’t actually helpful. If you want to demonstrate love and support, figure out a practical need and fulfill it as unobtrusively as possible. In the case of a fire, it doesn’t matter if it’s right away or a year later.

Paul and I can’t remember any of the encouraging comments that we’re sure were said to us after our house burnt down. But we’ll never forget the practical tasks people undertook, what items they gave, and how generous and kind they were in the midst of it all.

In Eden’s note above, she circled the items of top priority. Equally first were the quarter, the book, and her life. You can’t tell a child, “This is it, Baby. We’ll give you 25¢ and replace your book, but you are never getting back into the cocoon of your home and life before someone set it on fire.”

You can replace some of her belongings, help her family, surround her with love and affection and, in so doing, be a haven for her and for them when their first haven is gone.

Alison Hodgson is the expert on the etiquette of perilous times. She writes for Houzz.com and blogs at olderthanjesus.blogspot.com.