Last week I ordered the latest book by author, pastor and emergent leader Brian McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus. Lauren and I decided we would read the book together just to spend quality time together and also to have another person to discuss the things we would be reading. Usually when one of us starts a book, the one reading wants to discuss the content of the book and the other is left wondering what the heck is going on or just not wanting to hear it in fear of knowing too much before getting the chance to read it.
Anyway, all that to say we are delving into our first McLaren book together curious to see what he thinks this "Secret Message" really is. I have printed off a study guide for the book that I found on McLaren's website, so we will be using those questions to discuss the chapters.
So Wednesday night we read the introduction and first chapter of the book.
Immediately I found myself relating to McLaren as he spoke about his own spiritual journey. One interesting thing from the introduction was his mentioning of The Da Vinci Code, and his question of why the vision of Jesus that Dan Brown creates is more interesting, attractive and intriguing than the typical version of Jesus we hear about in many churches. I felt this way as I read Brown's book, just thinking to myself of how well I really knew or understood the person of Jesus. By the way, just in case anyone was wondering, I don't accept Brown's writing as fact...it is fiction and those who are threatened by fiction need to reevaluate their faith, but I still came away from that book thinking that perhaps my understanding of the person of Jesus was just as inaccurate as the depiction in The Da Vinci Code.
Next post will cover Chapter 1
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