Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller)

from an email November 19, 2006

It's a been a while since I've sat down and typed one of these up. But a good relaxing Sunday afternoon at home is always a great opportunity to reflect on two books I've recently finished reading. One of the books I read [Blue Like Jazz] was out of curiousity (because I'd heard lots of people talk about it when it was "big" back last year). The other one [Gripped by the Greatness of God] I read as a supplement to a brief study I did through the book of Isaiah.

Here are my thoughts on Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.

On the cover it says:

Nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality

And that's what he tries to do. It was an "interesting" book I'll say. He said some Biblically sound stuff but he said some Biblically unsound stuff too. Here's just a couple I thought I'd point out.

I started to sin about the time I turned ten. (pg 5)

No you didn't. You were sinful from the time you were conceived (Psalm 51:5)

[My friend] Andrew is the one who taught me that what I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do. I used to say that I believe it is important to tell people about Jesus, but I never did. Andrew very kindly explained that if I do not introduce people to Jesus, then I don't believe Jesus is an important person. It doesn't matter what I say. (pg 110)

Good point eh? What we believe is really what we do. We can say we "believe in evangelism" but unless we really do it, does it matter what we believe we "should" do?

Then Donald Miller explained one of the "outreach events" he was a part of... I'll say this... it's interesting....

"We are going to confess to them. We are going to confess that, as followers of Jesus, we have not been very loving; we have been bitter, and for that we are sorry. We will apologize for the Crusades, we will apologize for televangelists, we will apologize for neglecting the poor and the lonely, we will ask them to forgive us, and we will tell them that in our selfishness, we have misrepresented Jesus on this campus. We will tell people who come into the booth that Jesus loves them." (pg 118)

Miller also mentioned some interesting things about how welcoming different churches and communities can be....

I began to attend a Unitarian church. All Souls Unitarian Church in Colorado Springs was wonderful. The people were wonderful. They freely and openly accepted everybody the church didn't seem to accept. I don't suppose they accepted fundamentalists, but neither did I at that time. I was comfortable there. Everybody was comfortable there. I did not like their flaky theology though. I did not like the way they changed words in the hymns, and I did not like the fact they ignored the Bible, but I loved them, and they really liked me. (pg 215)

Then he asks a good question...

How could I merge the culture of the Unitarian church with Christian culture and yet not abandon the truth of Scripture?

He also said this:

I wondered whether any human being could be an enemy of God. (pg 216)

To which I will reply with Romans 5:10 which says "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son" and with Philippians 3:18 "Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ." Um... so ya... unsaved human beings are enemies of God.

The last quote I'll mention leads nicely into the topic of the second book I read... I like to figure stuff out and know the answers, but this quote says it pretty plain and simple! SO GOOD!

I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me. (pg 202)