Need a suggestion for a Christmas Gift? Pick up the Bad Habits of Jesus by Leonard Sweet

The first time I heard the phrase, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” I was around 10 years old. I was in my local library looking for adventure books; the librarian wanted me to read a certain novel and I didn’t like how the front cover looked. She gave me a stern lecture on how book covers are chosen and why it is unhelpful to evaluate a book solely on how it looks. I’ve tried to follow her advice ever since.

Judging by the image above, I can imagine some people seeing the cover of “the Bad Habits of Jesus” by Leonard Sweet and refusing to read it either because of the title or the “biker” image on the front. However in the words of my childhood librarian, save the judgement until after reading.

The Bad Habits of Jesus starts with a premise that is sure to raise a question or two. Bad habits? How could Jesus have any bad habits? He’s Jesus after all. Son of God, sinless, perfect, healed people, great teacher; the thought that he did anything untoward goes against all that is taught in Sunday school. And yet, when Sweet put out a request on his Facebook page as a way of crowdsourcing his followers to list any bad habits they thought Jesus had, the page was flooded with comments. Apparently, when people think about it, there are a number of things that Jesus said or did that were outside the cultural norm of 1st Century Judaism, or ‘bad habits’. Among the many who had something to say were Sweet’s current Tabor College Ministry Entrepreneurship and Innovation students. A few of their “bad habit” observations made it into the book.

In the 2000+ years since Jesus left this earth, many ideas have sprung up about who he was and what he did. Over the centuries the Church has often removed the radical, scandalous nature of Jesus of Nazareth, especially as the institution became more and more connected with the powerful and elite in society. Christian faith was reduced to a ticket to heaven, and the life and teachings of Jesus relegated to a backstory for what was ‘really’ important: Jesus’ death and resurrection. What I love about Leonard Sweet, and this book specifically, is that the author reminds his readers that who Jesus was and what he did matters, and for those who claim to carry his name, ‘Christian’, there is an expectation that his life be taken seriously.

In the Apostles Creed there is a significant comma. In the second stanza the creed states,

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Did you see it?

The comma after ‘born of the Virgin Mary’ and before ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate.’ What goes in this space? The entire life and teachings of Jesus; unfortunately, this comma removes the entire life of Jesus and renders it irrelevant.

Throughout history, Christians have been so caught up in proving the significance of the death of Jesus, or his Divinity, that His humanity has been removed. What Sweet’s book attempts is to remind readers that Jesus was human as well as divine and that his life and teachings matter a great deal to his followers today. In this way, as Sweet points out on page 191, this is a book about the Incarnation. While Jesus walked this earth, what were some of these bad habits? Here’s a list of some of the chapters: Jesus Spit, Jesus Appeared Wasteful, Jesus was Constantly Disappearing, Jesus Hung out with Bad People, and others.

My favorite was Chapter 10: Jesus Spent Too Much Time with Children. As someone who has worked with children and youth for 30+ years, I found much in this chapter to rejoice over. This quote stood out particularly, “Jesus treated children as if their relationship with God was an important as any adult relationships. Jesus constantly sacrificed his rabbinic dignity to reduce the distance between himself and a child. Jesus preached to the children, hoping the adults would get it. That’s one reason he told stories.” (pg. 116-117) As I get older and more “dignified”, I need to continually remind myself that Jesus sacrificed his rabbinic dignity to bless children.

My devotional reading this week has focused on Luke 6:46-49. In verse 46 Jesus states, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” Notice the focus is on doing, not believing, trusting, or holding onto a golden ticket, but doing what Jesus says. What I loved about The Bad Habits of Jesus was the reintroduction of how truly radical and life changing putting Jesus words into practice really is as a follower.

I read this book and highly recommend it. If you’re still thinking of a gift for someone on your Christmas list, this would be an excellent choice.

Reflections on Tabor e-Lab

“How was the e-Lab event last week?” The questioner looked at me intently, wondering how I would respond. I think I confused him with my reply, because at that moment “I heard it was good,” was about all I could say.

Why would I, the facilitator and planner of this event give an answer like this? Because, as I've learned by planning and running numerous big events over the years, when I’m in charge I’m unable to fully participate in the spirit and flow of the event. Maybe I'm unique and other event planners/organizers can be more present in the sessions, but I’ve found that my mind is too focused on what’s coming next to really engage as I would if I was just attending.

Since the event happened just over a week ago, I now have a different answer to the question. I'm very pleased with the day and I know it was a valuable contribution to the Wichita community. I’ve read over the evaluations, I’ve spoken to participants, and I participated in a panel discussion in the Tabor College chapel where I heard from students the impact of the event. The overall message I’m hearing is very positive, often capped with, “When are you doing it again?”

What was e-Lab? The quick answer is a day-long event with a wonderful mix of speakers, music, drama, and art. The event was filmed for later playback and was live tweeted throughout the day. However, for a complete picture, more info is needed.

When I was hired at Tabor College, I was tasked with creating an online MA degree in Entrepreneurial Ministry Leadership. I worked for a year writing the proposal, courses, outcomes and program and I’m excited to say the program will start with it’s first cohort in the fall (there is still room to apply if interested). As part of the course creation I was also asked to “make it free” a clear nod to the book by Chris Anderson - Free- The Future of a Radical Price.

I racked my brain through a year of MA program preparation trying to think of how a college could give away free courses when they don’t have the resources to offer MOOC’s. (I did find a way to give courses away, more on that coming in future blogs). However, one idea that lept to the front was to offer a TED-style event in the city of Wichita. I’m sure most readers of this blog have heard of TED and have watched at least one of the talks online. I looked into sponsoring a TEDX-event in Wichita, but in my research I discovered TED leadership have decided not to allow any religious-themed events and that is what I wanted to do. So the decision was made by Tabor College to sponsor our own event.

e-Lab emerged as an event focused around this central theme: “Conversations from the Intersection of Faith and Human Need.” Speakers came from a variety of expertise: church leadership, author, CEO, and mission director. They all had a common thread, they saw a need and filled a need within their sphere of influence.

As someone who has organized and run numerous camps and events over the years, the timing of e-Lab provides one unique benefit for helping me feel more connected to what happened on the day. Because we're in 2014 this event happened within the hyper-connected world of social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Through the technology of hashtags (#TaborELab) I am now able to reenter the event through reading the tweets of those who were able to engage fully in the content. For me, it’s the next best thing to participating as a guest.

Here are some of the tweets that jumped out at me.

Amazing insights from amazing individuals at #TaborELab today. Blessed to be there behind the scenes. Wisdom. Creativity. Courage.@lensweet
— Jeremy Johnson (@Jeremy_1COR3) April 25, 2014

Families..when you gather around your table, eat together and tell your faith story. @lensweet #TaborELab
— Dave Buller (@davebuller) April 24, 2014

Our story and identity is found when we find ourself in the Jesus story. #wheredoIfindmyself #soulseaching #TaborELab @TaborCollege
— Elizabeth Nesser (@bethh_nesser) April 24, 2014

Thank you @usmbchurches for making the #TaborElab event possible. @lensweet @joeskillen @monicaepperson @mbmission Bill Vann
— Brett Andrews (@drbrettandrews) April 24, 2014

The religious quest is hospitable to questions. Bring 'em on. Dialog about the story. @lensweet #TaborELab
— JulesGlanzer (@presglanzer) April 24, 2014

This culture has got to have a soundtrack, this culture is a story wrapped around an image without words. #TaborELab
— Tabor College (@TaborCollege) April 24, 2014

Jesus is not our meal ticket. He is the bread of life. - Randy Friesen @MBMission #TaborELab pic.twitter.com/oqu8nMBRGK
— Kim Bontrager (@kimbontrager) April 24, 2014

@MonicaEpperson saw a need and filled a need with her firm, The Child of Divorce #TaborElab. @rbb2nd
— Brett Andrews (@drbrettandrews) April 24, 2014

"The resurrection surely must have greater implications than how many people we can pack into a room 1 day a week." @joeskillen19 #TaborELab
— Aaron James Coleman (@aaronjcoleman) April 24, 2014

There were many other informative tweets out there at #TaborELab I encourage readers to check them out. Will we do this again? We'll see...  

The Well-Played Life book review

Prolific author Leonard Sweet has hit another one out of the park with his book, “The Well-Played Life.” I was sent an advanced copy by the author to read and review prior to the book’s release next year.

Sweet’s strength is his ability to cause people to stop and rethink words, ideas, and concepts that have been held onto without processing. By giving us a “Wack On the Side of the Head” (see the book by Roger von Oech), Sweet takes “work,” a concept often accepted without conscious thought, and moves it into direct reflection. By taking the twin themes of work and play, Sweet gives readers a “wack” with The Well-Played Life.

The subtitle of this book is “Why pleasing God doesn’t have to be such hard work.” I was drawn in by the refreshing and life-affirming message. Having a strong work-ethic passed down from generations in my family I can struggle at times with seeing my relationship with God as making sure I work hard enough. The Well-Played Life reads like a breath of fresh air to me by statements like, “you don’t work a violin.” I came away more convinced like any relationship, walking with God isn’t something I “work at” but rather a joy to “play at”.

On every page I can see Sweet's goal for readers to deepen a personal walk and relationship with Jesus. From the start- where he encourages readers to evaluate their quality of life by their quality of play, to a larger call for a theology of play; Sweet encourages his readers to dive deeper into a walk with God that is beyond rules and work to one of rest and play.

Sweet also finds space in this book to coin two new words, Godplay and Simplexity.

Godplay refers to people who make the world better simply by being in it. Used throughout the book, Godplay is a challenge to those who call themselves followers of Jesus: are we willing to enter into a life of play with God?

Simplexity is the combination of “simplicity” and “complexity.” Sweet attributes this to systems theory and states, “The term simplexity derives from systems theory, where simplicity is complex, and complexity simple. The more complex a system becomes the more simple it’s platform must be.” (pg. 193) Comparing this to Godplayers he states, “In discipleship, the more the soul grows, and grows up in the knowledge of God, the more simple our faith becomes.” (pg. 193)

In the main section of the book Sweet identifies three “ages” of humanity and encourages reflection and growth in each age. These ages aren’t necessarily genealogical rather they can be thought of as stages of play that can happen at any actual age of life. For the remainder of this review I will define these three ages and provide a quote from the book for each.

The First Age is made up of “Novice Players” (0-30)

Obviously, we start as a beginner, and like one learning to play the violin, novices take time to learn the basics of their craft. Similarly, Godplayers spend time learning their call and following Jesus in his mission.

To summarize this section, “The prevalence of love signals the presence of play. When faith becomes all about beliefs and works instead of relationships, then what we’re really in love with is our own thoughts and opinions and doings- not an image of God, but an image of ourselves.” (pg. 43)

Those in the Second Age are called “Real Players” (30-60)

The major role for this section is participation, living and playing out the call and mission to which God has called.

“Love is not work. Love is play… that requires a lot of practice. Now replace the word love with God in that sentence (because God is Love- 1 John 4:8)... and there you have this book in a nutshell.” (pg. 150)

The Third Age is called “Master Player and Game Changer” (60-90+)

This is the season of maturity, of fruit-bearing and legacy passing. This isn’t a time to sit in a rocking chair, but to continue with Godplay as a follower of Jesus.

“In a sense, Third-Age disciples are chaos chasers, because to trust the Holy Spirit is to expect anything and plan nothing. The Holy Spirit is anything but predictable.” (pg. 194)

This book also includes a study guide which would make this easily accessible for small groups.

I found a lot of personal life and joy in this work and would encourage anyone to pick up a copy when it comes out in early 2014.