Book Review: Advent Conspiracy: Making Christmas Meaningful (Again) by Rick McKinley

As we enter the season of Advent, a time that seems to come more quickly every year, I often spend time reflecting on the meaning of the season. It’s not easy, to be sure, as I also begin thinking about Christmas gifts, holiday traveling, and preparing for the many worship services. This year, I decided to take some time to listen to the audiobook version of Advent Conspiracy: Making Christmas Meaningful (Again) by Rick McKinley. It was convicting to listen to as I drove to St. John’s Town Center to buy a Christmas gift. 

It asks the compelling question of what if the incarnation, the most incredible gift ever given in Christ Jesus, was actually what we celebrated during Advent and Christmas season? McKinley challenged me to think about those who are most vulnerable in the world as we celebrate the one who came as a vulnerable baby to an unwed mother in Bethlehem. In the next couple of weeks, I hope to focus less on the hustle of Christmas shopping and more on Christ’s mission to be with the last, lost, and least. 

Consumerism, McKinley says, is the fastest growing religion in the United States. Ouch. As much as I would like to deny it, I know that I often neglect God the Creator for the gods that are money, consumerism, and the insatiable need for the new shiny thing of the Christmas season. Even though I know, theologically, what Christmas is all about, I need to be reminded every year (if not every month and every week), that this season is meant to celebrate our incredible God who loves us so much that God would become flesh and blood and live among us. 

Christmas is about a gift— but only one— the gift that saved the entire world in his living, healing, dying, and rising again. I’ll continue to ponder what Advent might mean if we focus more on that everlasting gift and our relationship with our siblings in Christ, and less on the gifts we place under a tree. I invite you to ponder with me.     

You can find Advent Conspiracy: Making Christmas Meaningful (Again) by Rick McKinley in the St. Mark’s library. You can also find out more information about the movement at adventconspiracy.org. 

Women of Valor

I read A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans few months ago and completely fell in love with it. I never got around to writing a blog post about it because I finished it when I was in the middle of moving into my new place and I was spending an incredible amount of time with my boyfriend who is no longer long distance (for the next two months at least).

So a few days ago I decided I needed to buckle down and write something. I did what I almost always do before writing: I brainstormed. Then when nothing came up (I lose inspiration unbelievably quickly), I decided to Google Image "women of valor," one of Rachel's big themes in her book. 

I must say I was really disappointed by what Google turned up:

Here are two beautiful women (of today's standards) in medieval clothing, doing things that men usually do (playing with bows and arrows and knighting a man).  What?

Why do "women of valor" have to be "women who do what men do?"  Why can't women of valor be women who do housework exceptionally well (my mother) or women who pray relentlessly for people (my grandmother) or women who cook amazing meals for their families on a regular basis (my future sister-in-law) or women who live every day broken hearted by the world and wishing that the Kingdom of God was now (my best friend)?  

I'm not necessarily one for "feminism," at least not the way it seems to be used today. I'm a fan of men holding the door open for me and pulling out my chair. In a lot of ways, this idea of "biblical womanhood" sounded really nice to me. Yeah, maybe I don't want to make my own clothes, but I don't really have too much of a problem with cooking for my family every night or taking care of the finances.  

But I am a little put off by feminists who believe that to be a strong, independent woman you must do all the things men do and receive as much or more recognition for it. Why can't I be a strong woman who decided to raise a family and stay at home for the first twenty years of marriage instead of becoming a lawyer or a doctor? Doesn't it take just as much hutzpah to raise a few kids?

I don't believe in the feminist movement that is out to prove that women are the same as men. 

We aren't. Intellectually, motivationally, sexually, emotionally- we are not the same creatures.  God made us different. God made woman the man's helpmate. Meaning men rely on us as much as we rely on them. We cannot function or reproduce by ourselves. And we are not the same.

I'm not saying that men and women should not have equal opportunities in employment and education. But please don't try to tell me that I am a better woman of valor than my mother just because she decided to stay at home to raise two kids and I have a degree and I'm going into a "man's profession."  Just don't. 

In fact, most of the women of valor in my life are just like my mother- women who have sacrificed and lived in such a way to give more to their children and their husbands than they give to themselves. They have lived Christ-like lives with pain and sacrifice and love beyond measure. And nothing, in my opinion, seems more valorous than that.

"Woman of valor" in Hebrew is translated eschet chayil. 

With that being said, women who find their calling in being teachers: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being mothers: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being soldiers: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being followers of Christ: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being promoters of justice: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being wives: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being single and strong: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being single and broken: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves overcoming sickness of the heart, brain, or body: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves living exactly how they wish to live: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being brave despite the world: eschet chayil!

Women who find themselves being brave because of the world: eschet chayil!

Women who are going to grad school: eschet chayil!

Women who are bosses: eschet chayil!

Women who are their own bosses: eschet chayil!

Women who have suffered and still live to tell the story: eschet chayil! 

Women whose stories we continue to tell: eschet chayil!

Women whose stories we have forgotten: eschet chayil!

Women whose only Master is the Lord: eschet chayil!

Sex God by Rob Bell

I'm not usually one for scintillating titles and the "oh my gosh" factor. I can usually give or take the latest fad (unless it's Taylor Swift's new album).

But when my church started talking seriously about the book Sex God by Rob Bell, I found myself getting pretty interested.  I thought it would be about what "typical Christians" have to say about sex. I was a little put off at the idea of that, but if the off-balance or somewhat nontraditional people of Jacob's Porch wanted to read it, then it was probably worth checking out.

There are two things you should know about Sex God:
1. It is not what you think it is
2. Everyone should read it. Everyone.

Those might seem like pretty bold statements. Maybe they are.

But Rob Bell does something fantastic with this piece of work. He takes sex, as an action and as a gender, and brings it out of the "taboo conversation" category. He puts it side by side with spirituality. Who does that?

With witty chapter titles and anecdotes about himself and others, there's virtually no way you could get bored with this book. I have friends who would rather pull their eyelashes out than read and they read this book in a single night.

Why do I like it so much? It's real. This isn't a sex manual or a long-winded explanation about why having premarital sex is evil. Bell understands that, frankly, we (modern society) don't want to hear that. Just because I am a Christian, doesn't mean I don't have the same pressures and urges as anyone else. I don't want to be told that I "just have to deal with it." I want to understand what God thinks of sexuality and I want reasons to keep my body (and other people's bodies) sacred for God.

Christianity Today has this to say about his book:

"While most books about sex for dating Christians begin and end with 'don't,' Bell outlines the bigger picture of human relationships and what they can teach us about God's character."

Give teenagers a health teacher that says, "Don't have sex or you'll get pregnant and die," and they will be completely turned off by anyone who wants to talk to them about sex.

Give teenagers a book that says, "God created you in His image and is, therefore, a part of you" and they will think twice about having sex with the first person they get alone with.

Bell doesn't throw theology down your throat and expect you to swallow. He simply puts it in front of you and says, "take what you want." And that's what gets through to people.