IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BOOKS
A couple of my latest reads were The Very Worst Missionary by Jamie Wright and Where the Colors Blend by Stephen Copeland.
These two books have some comparable ideas and some stark differences. To me, however, they seem to land in the same sacred space – like opposite sides of the same coin.
One is about a missionary whose experiences challenge her faith and cause her to reevaluate and reconstruct. The other is about a crisis of faith and how the writer is drawn back to a real, deeper, truer faith by his experiences writing about a mission.
One is blatantly honest about the pitfalls and problems of missions and missions systems.
The other tells the story of missionary work done well.
The Very Worst Missionary is a snarky, brash*, transparent look at life as a missionary in Costa Rica – the good, the bad, and the lizard (Sorry, you’ll just have to read the book to understand.).
With humor and complete honesty, Wright shares the pitfalls of the systems that often drive missions work which, too often, embraces the trope “God doesn’t send the equipped but equips the sent”. Anyone who has been on a mission trip or spent time working in local missions will likely agree that this is not only illogical and potentially harmful, it isn’t actually biblical. Jesus spent time training the disciples before sending them out.
Wright’s story is one of learning, in the midst of difficult circumstances, what faith beyond “following the rules” looks like and what real missionary work should probably be about.
Being a true friend
Without an agenda
Doing life together
And just loving people.
When a natural group formed around football and friendship, it was unthinkable for Wright and her husband to view it as “a missions goldmine” like others suggested.
“These were our friends, and whether or not they wanted or needed to know Jesus was not something we were going to exploit for a paycheck or a newsletter. No way. The details of our personal relationships would not find their way onto the Internet or into a newsletter, couched in the mystery language of missions.”
*read this as R rated language
Where the Colors Blend is a present tense account of the author learning about a mission in order to write about it and how that, over a number of years, changes him and grows his faith.
Copeland, who was raised in church and attended a Christian college, struggles with the dissonance he sees and feels within what he has been taught. He begins seeing how the guilt inducing, never question concepts of his experience within Catholicism and Evangelicalism are anything but the freedom the Gospel supposedly offers or shows any sign of the passion the early church seemed to have.
“I want to be so convinced that something is true, or perhaps so captivated by the pursuit of truth, that I would give my life or sacrifice my comfort for that thing. For Christ. For faith. For love.”
There are nuggets like this throughout the book – inspiring, challenging, convicting, and encouraging.
While at times I found the book to be unnecessarily wordy, it is well worth the time to read.
Both stories have a sports connection.
Both writers draw the reader in with their authenticity to the point that you almost feel like you know them.
Both come to similar conclusions about what real faith looks like.
Both offer worthwhile insights about missions, faith, and following Jesus well.
“But to love others well, we have to see them as whole people in a big picture, not just cute little vignettes to be used in our own narrative. We have to remember that no matter how rich, poor, foreign, different, or messed up they might seem, they are as called by God and as rich in love as we are.”
“Show up as needed to love your neighbor with your eyes wide open and your arms outstretched. Start by doing your best … and the, tomorrow, do better.”
– Jamie Wright, The Very Worst Missionary
“It is what Christianity is at its finest: serving those on the margins and gravitating toward suffering, narrowing the gap, affirming the value and worth of all people.”
“My mentality must shift from looking out for myself to looking out for others; from obsessing over the American Dream to helping others attain their own dreams; from entitlement to generosity, from privilege to focusing my gaze on the alienated and marginalized; from ignorance to awareness.”
-Stephen Copeland, Where the Colors Blend
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Where the Colors Blend free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.
Porch Time Ponderings 