Book Review: My Jesus Year

One of my favorite expressions is “on the outside looking in.” I love this expression because it has so many different things it can mean. One meaning is that of exclusion carrying the idea of one having been ostracized and is now looking in at a situation from the outside. The other idea this euphemism holds is that of being able to get an outside perspective on one’s self. The latter is what I found in “My Jesus Year” by Benyamin Cohen.

Cohen is an Orthodox Jew who began to feel very complacent and uninspired in his faith journey of Judaism. After years of rituals, recitations, and rhetoric he felt his faith had become stagnant. The son of a rabbi with brothers who were rabbis themselves, Cohen felt like the black sheep of the family. This caused him to wrestle with his Jewish faith in a very raw, and authentic way. This led him to the journey which became the premise of the book.

In a quest to get more out of his own faith, Cohen spends one year exploring another faith—Christianity. This book is his memoir. He is up front that he had no intention of converting to Christianity or of turning his back on Judaism. But rather, he wants to find what elements of Christianity could be applied to his Jewish faith and how he could learn from the way others worship and experience God. He attends an Easter service put on by an African-American mega-church at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. He goes to a performance of the UCW (Ultimate Christian Wrestling) where Christians cheer for various heroes and villains then listen to an altar call from the founder and president of the UCW. He goes to confession at a Roman Catholic church and conquers his lifelong fears by attending services at the Cokesbury Methodist Church which was across the street from his home growing up and where he was forbidden to go. He even goes so far as to celebrate Christmas with his in-laws (his wife is the daughter of a Methodist minister but converted to Judaism in her adulthood), keeping kosher, of course.

The result is a delightful and even hilarious read of an outsider’s journey through the channels of Christianity that will challenge and inspire. There was a time when I would have been bothered by the thought of a Christian book written by a non-Christian. But I’ve learned that there is a lot to be learned from people who don’t share my views. And there are some things that Christians have done so long they are just “normal” but to an outsider, these things were so strange, and sometimes even absurd. So here’s what you can take from My Jesus Year.

1. You can see just how odd some things we do in the church look to someone who is not a Christian.
2. You get a good glimpse at the Jewish roots of Christianity and a better understanding of where we’ve come from as Christians.
3. You get to see what value there is to a lot of the things we do in the Christian faith that have just become habitual.

The Staples of Soaps and Spirituality

When I was a kid, I used to spend time in the summer at my aunt's house with my cousins who were a few years older than me and who happened to be female. So, you can imagine the things I "learned" hanging around them. One thing I was introduced to, though, was soap operas. I don't remember much about them, but I do remember a few things about the plots that seemed pretty odd to me. Fast forward about 25 years and as my wife is now a stay-at-home mom, I've come home for lunch at times and found myself watching one of a couple different daytime dramas. So, I thought to myself, "What is it that makes a soap, a soap?" So here are a few character traits of a soap opera.
1. An evil twin with an eye patch
2. Someone everyone thinks is dead but is really alive
3. A rich person who always tries to buy everyone's affections
4. Someone with severe amnesia
5. Someone who is in, about to go in, or has recently been in a mental institution
6. Someone or someones who are still in love with someone who is deceased
7. A money-grubbing floosy who just wants some guy for his money
8. A young person dying

This is by no means an extensive list, but these items, I think, pretty well run true in daytime detergent dramas. As I thought about this, I asked myself, what are the staples of a spiritual life? There was a time when I would have made a list to include the following items and possibly a few others.
1. Regular prayer
2. Regular personal Bible study
3. Regular church attendance
4. Regular group Bible study
5. Regular tithing

But, as I looked back at my own life, I realized, the times where I had the most spiritual growth were times when many items on this list took a backseat to a lot of other pressures, stresses, and issues in my life (maybe during a time of divorce, losing a job, having financial woes). The late Youth Specialties president and founder Mike Yaconelli adresses this in his book, Messy Spirituality. This book breaks down the difference in being religious and being spiritual and looks at several biblical examples. Don't misunderstand me. All 5 items on my previous list are VERY important, however, sometimes we get so caught up in the disciplines of Christianity that we miss the rhuah of God moving in us. The book is a pretty quick read. Check it out! If you feel like you don't pray enough or read the bible enough or don't "have it all together" there is hope for you yet!