Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Rob Bell part I

I do believe I have a non-sexual crush on Rob Bell.

He wrote Velvet Elvis which I enjoyed a lot. He is sort of in the vein of Donald Miller (Blue like Jazz) and Anne Lamot (Traveling Mercies and more...)

His newest is SexGod: Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality.

OH!

MY!

LANDS!

He is amazing and so dead on in his writing. Brad put it well when he said, " You cant read it all at once because its so rich you'll miss it!" (Actually he said its a great bathroom book)

Let me share two things that struck a cord with me today. More to follow no doubt.

In talking about slavery to things he says this: " _______________ (fill in whatever you'd like) is slavery. If you want something to the point that you cant conceive of being content without it, then it owns you... ....Freedom is going without whatever we crave and being fine with it."

WOW!! Isnt that just dead on??!


The other thing that really struck a chord with me was when he was talking about what sexuality is and what it involves. I loved this..."Sexuality has two dimensions, First, our sexuality is our awareness of how profoundly we're severed and cut off and disconnected. Second, our sexuality is all of the ways we go about trying to reconnect."

He then goes on to share about a friend of his who has chosen celibacy but who is very much not without love. She is, rather, very connected. He says, "There is a certain potency to her presence that is hard to describe. She owns no property and she lives as simply as she possibly can because she committed early in her life to give everything she had to making the world the kind of place God dreams it could be. It is a joy to be with her because everything matters in her life. nothing is shallow or trite or superficial. She is very funny and smart and compassionate...a magnificent human being. Because shes been exploring her own soul for so long she knows herself inside and out. She's at peace and its contagious..."

He continues...

"You cant be connected with God until you're at peace with who you are. if youre still upset with that God gave you this body or this life or this family or these circumstances, you will never be able to connect with God in a healthy thriving sustainable sort of way. Youll be at odds with your maker. And if you cant come to terms with who you are and the life youve been give, youll never be able to accept others and how they were made and the lives theyve been given. And until youre at peace with God and those around you, you will continue to struggle with your role on the planet, your part to play in the ongoing creation of the universe. You will continue to struggle and resist and fail to connect. "

I think Im going to chew on that for a week or so.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm..quite interesting. I'll have to chew on that one too!

Anonymous said...

I was tracking with you, then they got to the celibacy part and you LOST me! Have you seen my super HOT husband?!?!