This book has the potential to change everything.

I have to give Rob Bell a lot of credit. It's a risky book for him. It's one thing to write books and preach sermons that are geared at bringing people into (or back to) the church. People will call you emergent and say you don't talk about Jesus enough (both erroneous accusations). But it's a whole new ballgame when you start talking about empire in the Biblical narrative, and how American Christians are power players in the empire. Then people start calling you unAmerican, and level the most popular slur around these days: socialist.

That's clearly a risk that Bell is willing to take with this book. He takes on how much money we spend on military expenditures. He takes on the question of how well people of power can really get at the heart of what a lot of the Biblical narrative is addressing. He takes on the paradigm of loving your enemy.

All of that got me pumped up. There were points where my dog started looking at me funny because I was pumping my fist in the living room. But it was just so exciting to see these ideas go mainstream. I was thrilled that one of the most popular voices in Christian writing right now chose to tackle the difficult subject matter.

Now it will be interesting to see what the reaction is.

Some people will be ticked. And I think a lot of people will agree in principle, but not allow the book to penetrate them to the point where it changes what they do in practice. But I'm convinced that there will be a few who will hear and they will act and it will be powerful. And if an entire group or an entire congregation were to engage with the book and allow it to change how they as a community engage with those around them, it could change everything.

Renew and Restore