Innocence and the Cup of Wonder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's it like to be a person who has never been to church, never been around Christian culture or Christians much, and then begin to experience\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Innocence and the Cup of Wonder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's it like to be a person who has never been to church, never been around Christian culture or Christians much, and then begin to experience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-05T17:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-05T19:09:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2012\/08\/DanKimball.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/\",\"name\":\"Innocence and the Cup of Wonder\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-05T17:15:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-05T19:09:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"What's it like to be a person who has never been to church, never been around Christian culture or Christians much, and then begin to experience\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Innocence and the Cup of Wonder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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{"id":31014,"date":"2012-08-05T12:15:13","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T17:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=31014"},"modified":"2012-08-05T14:09:32","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T19:09:32","slug":"innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2012\/08\/05\/innocence-and-the-cup-of-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Innocence and the Cup of Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>What\u2019s it like to be a person who has never been to church, never been around Christian culture or Christians much, and then begin to experience Churchland? That\u2019s the experience and story of Dan Kimball in his wondrously innocent tale of experiencing the church first hand, made a little more unique because he was (and is) a rockabilly drummer.<\/p>\n

What were some of the odd impressions or experiences you had when you first encountered Christians and the church?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once he and a buddy were attending a church, taking communion for the first time from a man in what appeared to Dan as a superhero robe, a woman had said something to Dan and gave him the cup and bread, and Dan didn\u2019t know what she said, and so he turned to his friend, shrugged and his buddy took the bread and wine and then said to the person next to him, \u201cHere is the Cup of Wonder.\u201d Mercy, that\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s new book,\u00a0Adventures in Churchland<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, is part of his project of giving the church its due without minimizing its problems: it\u2019s messy, and it\u2019s supposed to be. I would call Dan\u2019s book an apologetic for the church for postmoderns. I love this book, and I love Dan, and I hope you get a bundle of these books and give one to those who wonder \u201cWhy church?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan, as a young adult, was on a quest to figure out Christianity and in his quest he met Jesus.\u00a0Adventures in Churchland records Dan\u2019s experience of growing up in New Jersey, attracted to rockabilly bands, and then off to college at Colorado State University, where he encountered a variety of Christians at the extremes, and then to London where he and his brother Tommy and a friend scratched out a living as a rockabilly band\u2026 where Dan encountered Stuart Allen, an 83-yr old humble pastor of a small church where Dan began to study the Bible more seriously with a small group of intelligent, sophisticated elderly folks who loved Dan and who did not judge Dan. And Dan, my friends, is a fine pastor today in part because of these wonderful people.<\/p>\n

The second part of Dan\u2019s book examines problems people have with the church, and the third part sketches the church as \u201cGraceland\u201d for messy, messy people. Graceland is not the same as Churchland, and Christ came to create Graceland.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"