Christian, Post-Christian – A book I think you’ll like

Sometime this past April I told you that I can no longer comfortably call myself a Christian. “…I am tired. I am tired of begging for scraps from the table. I am tired of begging to borrow an ounce of grace from the money changers in the temple.  I am tired of being a pawn in the Christian culture wars. I believe in grace and I have faith in the Incarnation but I need to step away from the riot gear clad protectors of the faith who are pretending to be mediators of truth.  It is time.”

Sometime this past June I let you know that, in a crazy twist of the Holy Spirit,  I’ve been called to serve as a minister for an online congregation of The United Church of Christ.

Sometime last month I agreed to read and review Post Christian: What’s left, can we fix it, do we care? by Christian Piatt. 

Let me get straight to the point. If you care about the state of the Church in the world today, especially if you are fed the hell up with the version of Christianity that has “for too long promoted the case God of personal prosperity while ignoring the reality that our lifestyles are build upon the backs and shoulders of those without power” –  AND you want to do something about it – read this book.

Simply put, while reading through this book I started showing up at my local church again. Frequently. While reading this book a little, part of my own “post-Christian” hubris melted away as I recalled some core beauty and truth that The Way still has to offer. While reading this book, I came a little closer, a little more comfortable with maybe, just maybe, reclaiming the label Christian. While reading this book I realized that, like Piatt, I still believe it is possible to claim and live into the Gospel of love and liberation.  

Piatt has rendered a powerful yet easy-to-read book that claims both brokenness and beauty of Christianity and recognizes a remnant that is on the verge of being something new and wonderful. He asks us whether or not we care and if we do, what are we going to do about it.

Other than that, I’m not going to spoil your own experience of the book with a bunch of quotes or over analysis but this quote from the beginning of the book seems like a great place to end where I hope you will pick up…”So call yourself a Christian or not, go to church or don’t. But come to this book with open eyes, an open mind, and a willing heart.”

I’m glad I did and think you just might be too.