Sunday, March 20, 2011

Love Wins

I've been trying to process my weekend into a reasonably readable post, but I am struggling, so bear with me.

First, on the way down, I read a book on the plane called Love Wins (by Rob Bell). This book is rather controversial as it suggests that our conceptions of Heaven and Hell are wrong. It helped me think through a lot of my theology of heaven and hell and more importantly, why I think that they are the least important reasons to convert or not convert to Christianity. I think Jesus was radical. I think that Christianity (the religion as it is commonly manifested in modern life) is rarely radical. I think it is way too comfortable. And, I think that Christianity thinks way too much about issues on the fringe - the ones that Jesus spent very little time talking about - and not nearly enough time thinking what it was that Jesus was really advocating - which, to be clear was a radical shift in our hearts, away from the sinful nature that causes us to gossip, to fixate on our own needs over others, to be greedy and always want more than we have. That was the real heart of the book and I am still thinking through the implications, what it means to my life and faith and what I will possibly teach my children about heaven and hell.

Along with reading a lot and thinking about heaven and hell, I was able to enjoy some time with great friends. Emily, Michelle and I met for breakfast on Friday morning and ended up spending 2 hours talking and catching up. I am so grateful that we had the time together.

I was also able to spend a good amount of time with Joanne and with Toben and their girls. It was amazing to see how far Joanne has come in the 2 months since I saw her last. She still has a ways to go, but she is getting her bone flap put back in next week (the bone flap is a piece of her skull they removed to relieve swelling in her brain). Replacing the bone flap often accompanies a jump in recovery for stroke patients, so it will be great to see her get that back in. Even without it, she managed to take some steps on Friday and that is one of the major milestones on her way to recovery.

This morning, I have been hanging out with my kids. Josh is playing bass in church this morning, so he left early. I decided to keep Charlotte home from church today because her nose was running and I hate to leave her in the nursery where she would easily pass on whatever she has to other kids. It is possible that all she has is teeth coming in, in which case the best thing for me to do for her was to put her down for a nap. I did that shortly after my parents picked up Thomas. Hope your Sundays are as lovely and sunny as mine is turning out. :)

2 comments:

Joanne said...

Interesting. Sounds like my kind of book!

jangram said...

Sarah - this pix is so great - wonderful to see you three beauties together! I agree with your thoughts re: our easy Christianity. Glad you got to to come out and be in the midst of this miracle. Sorry I was flaky - hope to see you next week!!! Hugs j