Books I Read in 2022, Vol. IV

 

THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World
Richard Stearns (President, World Vision U. S.

Is our faith just about going to church, studying the Bible, and avoiding the most serious sins  -  or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?

[This book] is the compelling true story of a corporate CEO who set aside worldly success for something far more significant, and discovered the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change his own life. He uses his journey to demonstrate how the gospel  -  the whole gospel  - was always meant to be a world-changing social revolution, a revolution that begins with us.

I am WAY late to the party in terms of coming to terms with this book (published in 2009). And the thing is, I'm not sure what I'm going to do as a result of reading it. I was certainly shocked and moved by the way Stearns brought the reality of poverty and its effect on the planet into crystal clear focus. But I admit to being guilty of feeling so small in the face of such a huge problem.

The encouragement that hit home toward the end of the book is that God has equipped each person to contribute to the cure in his or her own way. What do I do best, and how can that be useful to the poor, the starving, and the subjugated? Lead on, O King Eternal.

First Line: His name was Richard, the same as mine.

Page 56 / Line 5: This sounds a lot like what I described earlier as the "whole gospel," the good news inherent in a kingdom based on the character of God rather than of men.

Last Line: We have work to do, and it's urgent. Join Me...

The Adam Project: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

 

There's plenty to enjoy in the Netflix Original movie, The Adam Project, starring Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, and Mark Ruffalo: Flying time machines, thrilling sky battles, fast and furious hand-to-hand combat, and the clever quips of Ryan Reynolds.

Netflix describes it thusly: "After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future."

I watched it by myself because that description would have totally turned off Beloved. However, that description isn't totally accurate. Yeah sure, that's the plot...that's what happens in the movie, but The Adam Project isn't just a sci-fi action comedy. In fact, to get the most out of it, don't waste too much energy trying to keep all the time travel stuff straight in your head.

What the movie is really about is the relationship between Ryan Reynolds' character and each of his parents.

A scene close to the end had me sobbing, when Mark Ruffalo, playing Reynolds' dad (don't worry, the time travel aspect makes it make sense), declares his utter love to his son.

Yes, they used enough four-letter words to earn its PG-13 rating, but if that doesn't bother you too much, this flick is a fun hour and a half with a deeply satisfying emotional payoff.

1883: The Wild West Through the Eyes of a Poet

 

I finished watching the Paramount+ series, 1883, last night. It didn't bring me to tears, but a deep sense of life, liberty, and the acceptance of bad things happening to good people.

It's the story of a just-entering-adulthood young woman and a group of people heading to Oregon in a wagon train. The series had me interested when I saw Sam Elliot was in the cast, but it set the hook with the opening scene's narration, spoken in a soft Tennesee drawl:

I remember the first time I saw it. Tried to find words to describe it... but I couldn't. Nothing had prepared me... no books, no teachers, not even my parents. I heard a thousand stories but none could describe this place. It must be witnessed to be understood. And yet... I've seen it, and understand it even less than before I first cast eyes on this place. Some call it the American Desert, others, the Great Plains. But those phrases were invented by professors at universities surrounded by the illusion of order and the fantasy of right and wrong. To know it, you must walk it. Bleed into its dirt. Drown in its rivers. Then its name becomes clear. It is hell, and there are demons everywhere.

Don't want to spoil anything by saying more, but if you can put up with some harsh-but-not-overwhelming language, I recommend 1883 with as many thumbs up as I can round up.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. III

 

THE BOYS: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family
Ron Howard & Clint Howard

In [this book], for the first time, Ron and Clint Howard tell the story of their childhoods as two of the busiest child actors of the 1960s and '70s. Their father and mother were not typical stage parents. Rance and Jean Howard, farm-belt Oklahomans who bucked family tradition, moved to California to make a go at show business. While pursuing their own dreams could prove frustrating at times, they happily adjusted their lives to also become mentors and managers to their sons  -  a tremendous act of love and sacrifice. The Boys is the surprising, funny, and heartwarming story of an all-American family whose kids just happened to grow up on TV.

If I could give this book more than two thumbs up, I would. The way the two authors weave their separate-yet-connected stories is perfect, and the tale of a sacrificially-loving set of parents who kept their could-have-been-messed-up sons on an even keel is heartwarming. Yes, Clint went through several rough years of substance abuse, but he came out on the other side with an appreciation for all that his folks did for him.  In addition, it's an informative behind-the-scenes look at the acting process and the business of show business. Per Tom Hanks: "This extraordinary book is not only a chronicle of Ron's and Clint's early careers, and their wild adventures, but also a primer on so many topics: how an actor prepares, how to survive as a kid working in Hollywood, and how to be the best parents in the world! The Boys will surprise every reader with its humanity."

First Line: Look him in the eyes and really listen to what he's saying, Ronny.

Page 56, Line 5: But in the '60s, that little complex was a hive of popular television: we coexisted there with, to name just a few shows, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Jack Benny Program, Hogan's Heroes, That Girl, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and I Spy.

Last Line: He's on the floor in front of my fireplace, Opie Cunningham.

News of "News of the World"

 

I've been slightly miffed at Tom Hanks because of the two recent movies of his that were only on Amazon Prime or Apple Plus or HBOhmygosh. I mean...how rude! I got over it, though, when I was able to use a free rental code at Redbox to watch News of the World last night.

Directed by the same guy that did the Bourne trilogy and Captain Phillips, News is the story of a war-weary widower wending his way across Texas reading the news to the plain folks of the plains at ten cents a seat. He ends up accepting the task of taking a girl, who was being raised by the tribe of Native Americans (accurately-for-the-time-period, called Indians) who had killed her parents, to her only known relatives.

Hanks is flawless, as always, but the big news is Helena Zengel, who embodies the young girl with energy and pathos. The relationship between Johanna and Captain Kidd that slowly develops over the course of their travels feels real and redemptive...for both of them.

And the cool thing was watching a couple "making of" special features afterward and learning that not only did the relationship feel real to this audience member, but it WAS real for the actors.

Being a semi-fan of Westerns, News of the World did not disappoint. It had a shootout and a standoff and a runaway buckboard and all the beautiful vistas and campfires a person could ever want.

Both my thumbs are up. Thanks, Redbox!

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. II

 

THE GODSPELL EXPERIENCE: Inside a Transformative Musical
Carol de Giere

Day by day for more than 40 years, the musical Godspell has delighted countless performers and audience members around the world. Here, for the first time, is a comprehensive account of the show's creative journey and how it became a theatrical classic. "Fans of the musical will find a treasure trove of information that is nothing short of inspirational." (Peggy Gordon, composer of "By My Side" and original Godspell cast member)

I have been both an audience member and performer of Godspell (First Presbyterian Theater's 1978 production [Fort Wayne, IN] is where Beloved and I met) and this book both informed me and transported me. The inside stories of its creation and creators really are wonderful. If you have any connection to the musical at all, I invite you to pick up a copy, read it, and then write Carol de Giere a thank-you note. Fun fact: I found and purchased this book while doing a little research in preparation for an episode of the podcast, Dewey's Jukebox, that featured the song that I sang when in the show: "We Beseech Thee." You can listen to that podcast episode by CLICKING HERE.

First Line: On opening night, May 17, 1971, a curtain could only metaphorically rise on the new Off-Broadway musical, Godspell, playing in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Page 56, Line 5: After a couple of years at Carnegie, she dropped out to work at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, which she found more fruitful than finishing her B.F.A. degree.

Last Line: It will go on transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, the mundane into the meaningful, for generations to come.

Books I Read in 2022, Vol. I

 

GUERRILLAS OF GRACE: Prayers for the Battle
Ted Loder

An embarrassingly beautiful collection of prayers that compels readers to level with themselves about some of the most intimately delicate areas of human life. To read Loder's writing is to look with penetrating honesty into one's own personality, relationship with God, and need for neighbor. (Dr. William Muehl, Professor Emeritus, Yale University Divinity School)
       [This book] puts into words so much of what [we've] longed to say. It is Loder's creativity, blended with penetrating honesty and unexpected humor, that lifts these prayers out of the ordinary, making them experiences to be savored and shared. (St. Anthony Messenger)

Somewhere in early-to-mid-2020, I started hosting an online time of prayer on Valley Christian Church's private Facebook page. It is structured by using the acronym CHAT, which stands for Confess, Honor, Ask, and Thank. I've been using a selection from this book to either confess to God or honor Him almost every week. These prayers are everything they are said to be in the above quotes...at the very least. I am so grateful to Brad Dewing for gifting me this book. Methinks I may need to track down the other two books of prayer by Loder as well.

First Line: Why would anyone call a book of prayers Guerrillas of Grace?

Page 56/Line 5: Release me from the dangerous illusions of independence when the human family summons me to the realities and promises of interdependence among races, sexes, nations.

Last Line: In the darkness I see the light and find in it comfort, confidence, cause for celebration, for the darkness cannot overcome it; and I rejoice to nourish it in myself, in other people, in the world for the sake of him in whom it was born and shines forever, even Jesus the Christ.