Mac and his family are on holiday in the American wilderness when their young daughter is kidnapped. They eventually find evidence that she has been brutally murdered in a run down shack in the woods. Many years pass but Mac and his wife are still very much under the cloud of the “great sadness”. Then Mac receives a letter apparently from God. In the letter, God invites him back to the shack. Mac returns to the The Shack and spends two days with God.

William Paul Young, author of The Shack, and I got off on the wrong foot. In an interview Young said this: “The Institutional church doesn’t work for those of us who are hurt and those of us who are damaged. . . . If God is a loving God and there’s grace in this world and it doesn’t work for those of us who didn’t get dealt a very good hand in the deck, then why are we doing this? . . . Legalism within Christian or religious circles doesn’t work very well for people who are good at it. And I wasn’t very good at it.” Young and his two publishing partners (ex pastors) no longer attend church.

I’m sure if I owned the publishing company that printed The Shack I would probably be taking a little holiday as well. Pina colada anyone? But to promote the idea that it is okay to “forsake the meeting of ourselves” (Hebrews 10.25), for Young to proclaim that he has cut himself off from the church completely concerns me more than slightly. It has become a little cliche now but obviously Young needs reminding: The Church is not bricks and mortar! It’s us! It’s you and me and your friends, your pastor and possibly your Mother and Father. I cannot help but take it a little personally when Young says that we do not work for him, or for anyone who is hurt or damaged. I understand that Young had an unpleasant childhood and perhaps he has been hurt by some people in the church but there is no need blame everyone for that. Regardless, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16.18).

The second alarm bell rang when I bought my copy of The Shack. The quote that they had on the front page was from Eugene Peterson “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!“. No it’s not. This is hype at it’s most indulgent. I didn’t really take exception to this statement until I read the book. Then I realised how ludicrous it was. But obviously some people agree according to some Amazon reviews: “The BEST work of Fiction I have read in Years. . . . THE SHACK has changed my life. I don’t want to say it has a power second only to the Bible, but others have said it and I feel that is true. . . . We now buy ‘em by the case, and pass them out, much more fun than tithing . . . Right behind the Bible, this is at the top of my reading list. As soon as I finished, I wanted to read it again. . . .“. I wonder to myself, have these people actually read The Shack? Or have they confused it with some marvelous work of fiction that I haven’t read?

“Fiction” is the key word here. The Shack is a work of fiction. Quite a manipulative one at that. The reader is emotionally softened by the apparent violent murder of little Missy before God is ever encountered. When God is eventually encountered, what a God he is! Or should I say she is. Whoops, I’ve gone and let it slip. The Shack presents the trinity as two parts female. I’m not entirely sure what Young hoped to achieve by presenting the Father God as a rotund, black lady from the deep south. Perhaps he thought that this would be a sort of warm and cosy image of God. I found it contrived and uncomfortable, I never got used to it for the duration of the book especially since Mac insists on calling her/him “Papa”. Not because I have a problem with the term “Papa” per se (Paul uses it in Romans 8.15) I have a problem with the fact that it was used to refer to a woman. It just felt awkward.

The book itself is actually really dull. Imagine the sort of questions you might ask God if you met him: “What really happened to the dinosaurs?“, “How old is the earth?“, “Is Elvis in heaven?” these are just some of the questions Mac does not ask God while spending two days with him I mean her…..I mean….ah. The fact is, the events in this book never happened, they only happened in William P Young’s head. Missy wasn’t brutally murdered, Mac didn’t receive a letter from God, God is not a rotund black woman from the deep south. It takes a bold man to put as many words in God’s mouth as Young has done in the The Shack. But I’ll repeat this, it’s dull reading. Young’s descriptive abilities are lacking somewhat. I struggled to finish the book because it was so boring. I could go on and criticise more but why give it more attention than it deserves?

Every cloud has a silver lining though. I walked past Waterstones the other day and saw two or three copies of The Shack in the window display. For any “christian” book to be promoted that much in a secular book shop is something and if The Shack can move someone a notch or two up the Engel’s Scale then it might not be a complete waste of time.

See Pastor Graham’s review of the book here.

Have you been watching the BBC’s series, ‘The Passion’?

Go to TheMorningFlight and see what Graham says.

England’s Messiah by Martin Saunders - A Book Review

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

(Bill Shankly, Liverpool Manager 1959-1974)

This is a Christian novel for anyone who loves football, although it is probably best suited for 15-18 year olds. Having said that it was a book I really enjoyed. It’s a fairly easy read and follows the progress of the two main characters in a way that draws you in. By the end of the book you really feel that you are sharing in their lives. Harry Foster is a bitter and cynical football reporter whose own career as a player was cut short by injury. He has all but lost faith in football until he sees a young man, John Christie, playing football at the local park. Thanks to his intervention John’s life changes forever. The rest of the book follows his rise to prominence and the trials and tribulations that come with that rise. This book is designed simply to entertain, however the behaviour of John Christie, a devout Christian, draws parallels with the life of Jesus and offers us insight in how we can behave at work and in the world in a way that is different and that makes a difference.

- This review was written by Hamish.

Jack, a member of the congregation, read this news article out in a prayer meeting recently.

“A woman who claims she was healed by prayer had to battle the benefits system to stop her disability payments. Officials said the computer did not “have a button for miracles”. June Clarke, 56, from Plymouth, Devon, slipped on a wet canteen floor at work in January 2000 and badly damaged her hip, pelvis and lower spine.” Read the whole article on the BBC website Computer Says No to a Miracle 

When you look at Alister’s McGrath’s performance here, the phrase “doesn’t give an inch” comes to mind. This interview, that was filmed for the documentary “The Root Of All Evil” starring Richard Dawkins, didn’t make the final cut. I wonder why? Perhaps for the same reason Alister’s books are not mentioned in the God Delusion.

See this very British, very civilised and very frank exchange of opinions here. It’s thrilling stuff!

Graham and his family were recently elfed, click here to see the results.

You can listen again to Graham reviewing the papers at the BBC Radio York website. In order to listen again you need to go to the BBC Radio York website and click “listen again” anywhere you see it. Then when the listen again player pops up you can scroll through the different radio shows within the pop up. Graham was on “Julia Booth’s Sunday Breakfast” from 9am so you might have to skip forward a bit, the listen again player allows you to do that.

Steve Redman did such a good job at reviewing this event on the One Voice website I won’t bother reinventing the wheel and just redirect you there! I have added some text from the City Council website here just to give you a bit of info about the office of Lord Mayor. Enjoy!

“The Lord Mayor is Chairman of City of York Council and the first citizen of the city. It’s an appointment made by the council each year in May, at the same time appointing a Sheriff, the city’s other civic head. York’s Lord Mayor is second only to the Lord Mayor of London in precedence and its Sheriff holds the oldest office of Sheriff in England and Wales.

The Lord Mayor chairs meetings of full council and together with the Sheriff, represents the city on ceremonial occasions, welcomes international visitors and attends events organised by local people and community groups.

The Lord Mayor also hosts formal and informal functions at the Mansion House which is the Lord Mayor’s residence during their year of office. The Mansion House is also available for tours and private hire.”

Praise God for another fantastic International Church Lunch! I think I speak for all who were there when I say I was blown away by the quality and variety of Indian Cuisine provided by our Indian brothers and sisters. Perhaps we could ask them to do us an Indian Church Lunch every month?? Well maybe not but we’ll look forward to next month’s theme scheduled for the 2nd December, East Asia.

Thank the Lord for providing Soul and Bissy with a new job in Clyde Bank, Glasgow. We pray that He will watch over and bless them both.

On the 3rd of November a few of us got together in St Laurence’s for some toasted marshmallows and bit of a riot with sparklers. What will it be like next year, when we have fireworks?!