The Shack

On Sunday, August 31, I will be using the best-selling book, The Shack, as the basis for my sermon. It's a book that has seemingly come out of nowhere to become, in many ways, a sensation. Amazingly, it's the story of God--a picture of the Trinity and how the Trinity works in relationship and in relationship with us and the world.

Because it has been receiving so much buzz I thought it would be important to talk about it in worship. It's not that the book is controversial, like, say, The DaVinci Code, but it is a book that seems to be shaping the God-views of many people. In that sense it's important to evaluate it, as we should with everything we read, Christian and non-Christian, in the light of Scripture.

But rather than doing that in my message, I want to use the book as a springboard for dealing with one of the ultimate human conditions, suffering. That was really the through line of the book.

Having said that, I want to offer 3 links on this blog for those interested in digging deeper into The Shack and how it's understanding of the Trinity lines up with Scripture. I'll then follow up with a couple of broad-stroke impressions I had of the book.

To truly appreciate The Shack it's important to meet the author.

For those interested in a balanced critique of the book, I recommend Ben Witherington's blog (I really like this guy).

Another good response comes from Christianity Today.

A few personal impressions:

I appreciated much of what The Shack has to say. I thought in many ways the twist on God the Father--i.e., Papa, revealed as a Black Woman for most of the book, was very effective. It helped remind us that God is neither male nor female and yet chose to use Father as the primary way of revealing "himself" to us. For many, the use of Papa will help make more real the affectionate term Jesus invites us to use when addressing God--Abba (daddy).

I found the conversations about suffering and the many responses to be helpful and Bible-based.

I think that for many the appeal of the book is/will be the loving, relational, gracious view of God/the Trinity. All too often God is portrayed as a mean-spirited, judgmental being; unapproachable and quite frankly not one we'd want to approach. Papa/Jesus/the Spirit, in The Shack, is the gracious God Jesus reveals to us.

I also appreciate the fact that the story allows us as humans to ask God the questions we really want to ask. To paraphrase some of the critiques of the book, when the author gets it right, he really gets is right. When he gets it wrong (and there are times he gets is wrong) he really gets it wrong. Most disappointing to me was the very negative tone Papa (God) takes toward the church. The Scriptures are clear that God loves the church. He sees it as his bride. While some may argue that the church and organized religion are not the same, from the early days of the church on there was always an organized facet to it. And it was always imperfect. And yet, it is the vehicle through which God brings his grace to the world. And what better way to demonstrate true grace than through a grace-needy church.

While I appreciate the graciousness of the presentation of God, for me, and this will not be politically-correct, I found God to be a bit too effeminate. And this is not only because Papa, for a time, is portrayed as a black woman. The way the Trinity related demonstrated the more stereotypical feminine ways of relating. For example, Jesus kissing Papa, now a man, on the lips, etc, is not the way guys normally express relationships. In fact, at one point in the book, God comes close to saying that the way women relate is better than the way men relate. The book suggests that if women ran the world we wouldn't have war, violence, etc. Granted, men tend to be more aggressive, but lets not forget the numbers of women who commit violent crimes. God created us male and female. Both ways of relating--male and female, are his gifts full of potential and goodness and full of evil and abuse. I can't really see the average football addicted, beer guzzling guy relating to the way the Trinity is portrayed in this book. But perhaps it's just me.

Jesus, to me, seems like a nice guy. But a bit too nice. I understand the need to break the mean-spirited God image many have, but to make Jesus so nice misses the fact that this is the one who cast out demons, who at times said/did some very challenging things (calling Peter Satan, condemning the actions of the Pharisees, driving crooks out of the temple with a whip). Jesus is far more glorious and complex and dangerous than simply being a nice guy. He's bold. He's reckless. His love creates tsunamis wherever he goes.

I personally find Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia to be a far better expression of Jesus--far more complex, multi-faceted. On the one hand the children are drawn to him--his love, his grace. On the other hand, there is also something awe-inspiring about him that at times creates fear in them--not a fear that keeps them away, but that opens their eyes to how beyond them he is--and this is a good thing. Aslan is described as not being safe, but being good; as being un-tameable. But underlying the fact that Aslan is powerful (and we need a powerful God) he is also loving, gentle, and gracious.

Finally, here is the one danger, if I may call it that, of this book. When the DaVinci Code came out, it caused all kinds of problems because, though it was fiction, it presented its case, so to speak, with facts. It used real places. It used real events. And through fiction, tried to say that this is the truth--Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene. In the end, Christians and non-Christians alike had a hard time separating fiction from non-fiction (or, in the case of the DaVinci Code, lots of twisting of "facts" and turning them into truths).

A similar challenge faces us with this book. In this book, God speaks again and again. The whole book is a conversation between Mack and God. It would be easy to be lulled into believing that what "God" says in this book is what God really says. We need to remember that this is a book of fiction. This is one man's interpretation of what he thinks God might say in response to certain questions. While most of the answers are spot on, and some are way off base, we should take none of these statements as the actual words of God. They must all be weighed in light of Scripture. This book is not the truth. It is one man's interpretation of the truth as revealed in Scriptures and through Jesus.

Again, overall a very good discussion of important questions. Many, many good answers. Let's just make sure we always evaluate what anyone says about God in light of Scripture and in light of Jesus, including reviews of The Shack by guys who write on recklessgrace.blogspot.com.