{"id":1561,"date":"2012-03-20T01:02:52","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T01:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=1561"},"modified":"2018-07-20T20:41:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T20:41:41","slug":"then-god-said-let-it-be-messy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/03\/then-god-said-let-it-be-messy.html","title":{"rendered":"Then God Said “Let It Be Messy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church planter and professor A.J. Swoboda has a book out, and it’s worth a read. \u00a0My review of Swoboda’s book,\u00a0<\/strong>which aired today in the Episcopal Church’s very helpful, ecumenical publication, Sermons That Work (<\/em>http:\/\/episcopaldigitalnetwork.com<\/a>), is reprinted in full below with the permission of The Episcopal Digital Network:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once thought that being a Christian meant having all the answers, with all of my proverbial ducks in a row, all neat and orderly-like. Then \u201clife\u201d happened, and it was anything but tidy. Downright \u201cmessy\u201d would be a better description. These days I find myself looking for God\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0the mess, rather than asking God to wave some magic wand and,\u00a0voila<\/em>, make it all disappear.<\/p>\n

Which is precisely the point, according to Portland, Oregon-based pastor and professor A.J. Swoboda, in\u00a0Messy: God Likes It That Way<\/em>. A mix of the free-wheeling conversationalism of a Rob Bell and the endearing candor of an Anne Lamott,\u00a0Messy<\/em>\u00a0is Swoboda\u2019s first book. I hope it is not his last.<\/p>\n

Swoboda\u2019s refreshing honesty about the Christian life comes salted with some downright funny anecdotes and a collection of truly clever one-liners. These had me giggling and pausing to think with almost every page. How is this for a one-liner, for example? \u201cReligion is the Botox of resurrection.\u201d Or \u201cbeing a follower of Jesus and not loving the unlikeable is on par with eating a Big Mac while watching\u00a0The Biggest Loser<\/em>.\u201d Or \u201ctrust is what God resurrects when our security dies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an unsystematic (messy<\/em>, really), post-modern way, Swoboda succeeds in hoeing some well-trodden theological territory, from church and prayer to sex and suffering \u2013 all with the result of gently and humorously opening up some new contemplative spaces for his reader.<\/p>\n

I, in turn, am left wishing to dwell longer in these pockets of freshly tilled earth. Swoboda\u2019s reflections on God\u2019s\u00a0intentionally<\/em>\u00a0unkempt act of creation, and later, on the nature of human sin, leave me asking how the \u201cmess\u201d that God creates differs from the mess we human beings make, and how we are to distinguish these two \u2013 or for that matter,\u00a0if<\/em>\u00a0we are in the first place.<\/p>\n

Then there are the implications of Swoboda\u2019s understanding of church and community. If you are looking for a self-help manual for how to grow your church or craft a vision statement, you will be disappointed. Swoboda instead is quick to let out the poorly kept yet nonetheless sacred secret that Christians are as much of a mess as anyone else \u2013because they are human beings<\/em>. I applaud him for it.<\/p>\n

If we \u201cidealize\u201d church, Swoboda writes, we also \u201cidolize\u201d it. In this context of \u201cchurch\u201d as a collection of deeply flawed human beings, the Good News of God\u2019s love in Jesus Christ is also incredibly hard: insofar as it must be shared and tried on for size within a community of other followers of Jesus, it requires us to\u00a0assume<\/em>\u00a0that we will be wounded by belonging to the church. Forgiveness of those who have hurt us is our witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Swoboda stops short of teasing out the implications of this ecclesiology for how we very imperfect followers of Jesus might approach the challenge of God\u2019s mission, (laid out, for instance, in the book of Acts, when Jesus dispatches his followers into the far corners of the earth with the command to \u201cmake disciples\u201d of the nations). The image that comes to mind is an odd mix of Keystone Kops and \u201cMission Impossible.\u201d This inquiring mind wants to know more.<\/p>\n

It would seem, too, that the mess that God blesses and deems good is a function of being in the middle of the gospel story, in the\u00a0in-betweenness<\/em>\u00a0of the \u201cnow and not yet\u201d of the in-breaking kingdom of God. In other words, the mess is to a certain degree only provisionally good, because of an ending that we can be assured gives meaning and order to the preceding mess.<\/p>\n

This has me wondering about just how much God really does in fact like messiness in the first place.<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Church planter and professor A.J. Swoboda has a book out, and it’s worth a read. \u00a0My review of Swoboda’s book,\u00a0which aired today in the Episcopal Church’s very helpful, ecumenical publication, Sermons That Work (http:\/\/episcopaldigitalnetwork.com), is reprinted in full below with the permission of The Episcopal Digital Network: I once thought that being a Christian meant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":461,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25,130,122],"tags":[521,535,536,518,534],"class_list":["post-1561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god","category-jesus","category-suffering","category-theology","tag-a-j-swoboda","tag-bible","tag-messy","tag-sex","tag-where-is-god"],"yoast_head":"\nThen God Said "Let It Be Messy" - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Then God Said "Let It Be Messy" - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Church planter and professor A.J. Swoboda has a book out, and it’s worth a read. \u00a0My review of Swoboda’s book,\u00a0which aired today in the Episcopal Church’s very helpful, ecumenical publication, Sermons That Work (http:\/\/episcopaldigitalnetwork.com), is reprinted in full below with the permission of The Episcopal Digital Network: I once thought that being a Christian meant…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/03\/then-god-said-let-it-be-messy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fellowship of Saints and Sinners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kristina.robbdover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-20T01:02:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-20T20:41:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristina Robb-Dover\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@saintplussinner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@saintplussinner\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Then God Said \"Let It Be Messy\" - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Then God Said \"Let It Be Messy\" - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","og_description":"Church planter and professor A.J. 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