markdroberts: guest bloggers

Amazing Grace, Part 2

A week ago I put up a blog entry entitled: Finding God in Amazing Grace. In this post I recommended the film Amazing Grace even though I hadn't yet seen it. Now I've seen it. And now my recommendation is even more emphatic.

Amazing Grace is a wonderful movie. Even if you have no particular interest in Christianity or in history, you'll enjoy the story of William Wilberforce and his amazing life. But if you're a Christian, you'll see in Wilberforce a model to be emulated. As much as any person in recent history, Wilberforce lived out his faith with integrity in the complicated and often compromised world of politics.

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog series entitled: Evangelical Christians and Social Activism. In this series I used William Wilberforce as an example. Let me reproduce here what I wrote earlier:

Born into wealth and privilege in 1759, William Wilberforce was known in his early years only for his love of socializing and his several physical infirmities. He had no guiding purpose for his well-to-do yet meaningless existence. When he was elected to the British Parliament as a young man, he sought nothing more than his own fame.

But when a Christian friend shared the good news of Christ with him, Wilberforce realized the emptiness of his life. He considered withdrawing from politics altogether. But, as he trusted Christ for salvation on Easter Sunday, 1786, Wilberforce sensed a new zeal to serve the Lord within the sphere of government. Ultimately he seized upon the abolition of slavery as the focus of his Christian and political energies. Though discouraged by many Christian leaders because of the impossibility of the mission, Wilberforce believed that God had sent him into politics to fight against the evils of slavery.

William Wilberforce struggled his entire life with various physical ailments and handicaps.
In 1788 he introduced a measure in the British Parliament to indict the slave trade, and was resoundingly defeated. Similar measures were defeated in 1791, 1792, 1793, 1797, 1798, 1799, 1804, and 1805. Finally, in 1807 Parliament voted to abolish the slave trade, though leaving the institution of slavery untouched.

Wilberforce was not satisfied, however. For the next 26 years he continued his crusade against slavery. Finally, on July 26, 1833, the emancipation of slaves was insured when a committee of the House of Commons ironed out the details of Wilberforce's bill. Three days later, after 45 years of tireless, God-honoring effort, William Wilberforce died, leaving an unsurpassed legacy of Christian concern for justice. His efforts encouraged many American evangelicals who worked tirelessly for the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Amazing Grace focuses on the life of Wilberforce through 1807. The film will entertain you and, perhaps more importantly, challenge you to find true purpose in living.

In my post Finding God in Amazing Grace I also recommend a fine new book by Jim Ware and Kurt Bruner, called, appropriately enough, Finding God in the Story of Amazing Grace. Let me encourage you, once again, to buy this book. It's a wonderful historical and devotional telling of the lives of William Wilberforce and John Newton (who played a key role in Wilberforce's life, and is best known as the writer of the hymn "Amazing Grace").

Praying with the Church: A Brief Review

I want to interrupt today's blogging plans to put up a brief review of Praying with the Church by Scot McKnight. I had expected to put up a more extensive review next month, and I may still do so. But I became aware of a "blogger's promotional" for this book, and wanted to pass on this opportunity to my readers. (Note: I do not accept paid advertising of any kind. I did receive a complementary review copy of this book. I receive many of these, but tend to review only those I like.)

Who is Scot McKnight?

First, a bit about the author. I don't know Scot McKnight personally, though I've held him in high esteem for years. I first got to know Scot in the late 1980s through his writings. Introducing New Testament Interpretation, in particular, impressed me as an outstanding primer, and I used it as a required book in my seminary exegesis courses. Then, in the early 1990s, Scot was a co-editor of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, which was (and still is) one of the finest pieces of evangelical biblical scholarship I know.

But Scot is not merely a top-notch academic with strong Christian convictions. He's also able to communicate with non-specialists, something many academics simply cannot do. In 2004 Scot published The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others. This fine book, intended for lay Christian audiences, won the 2005 Christianity Today Book Award in the Christian Living Category. Then, in 2005, Scot began his blog, www.jesuscreed.org, which I consider to be one of the most informative (and sometimes entertaining) blogs in existence. One of the things I appreciate about Scot McKnight is his commitment to engaging contemporary cultural and church issues (like the emerging movement, for example) from a solidly biblical perspective.

As I said before, I don't know Scot personally. But it's obvious from his writings that he is a deeply committed Christian who seeks to use his many gifts for the sake of God's kingdom. He is also eager to grow in his relationship with the Lord. Praying with the Church is a result of Scot's effort in this regard.

A Brief Review of Praying with the Church

I own a couple dozen books on prayer. Praying with the Church is unlike any other. Most books on prayer cover more or less the same ground in more or less the same ways. Praying with the Church focuses on topics that are almost completely ignored in most evangelical books on prayer. I read books on prayer largely for inspiration, rarely with the expectation of learning new things. Praying with the Church taught me lots that I didn't know before.

Here's how the book begins:

Most Christians are not happy with their prayer life – they either don't pray often enough or well enough. This book is written to help such Christians – and for those who do pray often, this book might also bring a welcoming word. (p. 1)

Okay, so far so good, but nothing especially new here. In fact, this sounds a whole lot like things I said in the introduction to my own book on prayer, No Holds Barred.

So what makes Praying with the Church unusual? It seeks to help evangelical Christians (and others, but especially evangelicals) discover the benefits of praying with the church through using "liturgical prayer, fixed-hour prayers, the Divine Office, the divine hours, the hours of prayer, or the Opus Dei ('the work of God')." No, this is not a book about the Catholic order Opus Dei, made famous (or infamous) by The Da Vinci Code.

My guess is that this last paragraph didn't make you want to buy Praying with the Church. Why should you care about liturgical prayer, fixed-hour prayers, the Divine Office, and the like? Isn't this just high-church stuff, the tired traditions of days gone by? Well, in a word, no. These expressions of prayer have given life to millions of Christians for centuries, and they still do. They are, as Scot McKnight shows, rooted in Scripture and in the prayer life of Jesus Himself. They are a potential source of living water for those of us who are very unfamiliar with or uninterested in what we would consider "churchy" prayer.

Let me quote another bit from Praying with the Church:

Praying with the Church involves allowing our own prayer lives to be adjusted to the sacred rhythms of the Church's prayer tradition and invites us to use the words of the Bible and the Church. This book will focus on learning to pray with the Church, and it is an invitation for all Christians to learn to pray not just alone in the church but also together with the Church. (p. 10)

Praying with the Church does not get lost in lofty theologizing. It's very down to earth. Though exploring serious issues, it does so in a very available and, dare I say, "user-friendly" way. It explains things I have often wondered about, and does so with brevity and clarity.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to grow in his or her relationship with God. Praying with the Church would make a wonderful curriculum for adult study groups. I plan to use it in my church in contexts where people can discuss and put into practice the wisdom of the ages concerning prayer.

The Blogger's Special

This is the special deal I mentioned earlier. From now until June 30th, that's only five days, you can buy a copy of Praying with the Church from the publisher (Paraclete Press), and they'll give you a free copy of Scot McKnight's award winning The Jesus Creed. This is a great deal!

Here's what you must to do get the special:

1. Visit the Paraclete Press website. Order a copy of Praying with the Church and a copy of The Jesus Creed. Then, in the coupon blank, enter the coupon code: PRBLOG. Then update your order. It should show that you're getting a free book. (Note: I did this twice before it worked. So you may want to use option #2.)

2. Call Paraclete Press at 1-800-451-5006 and order both books with the PRBLOG special code.