Book Review: Blue Like Jazz, Part Two

To begin with, yes, this is two blogs in one day. It may be a record. Not a world record but a record for this blog, especially given my laziness toward blogging.

That said, I realize that I've written about Blue Like Jazz before, but I also realize that I said next to nothing about it. Now, I'm not wanting to spoil it for people, but I do want to talk about what I liked about this book. To begin with, I like its subtitle, "Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality." I know it sounds a little crunchy granola, a little like the book will be some wishy-washy look at Christianity. To be fair, in some ways, it is like that. The author doesn't set out to articulate religious doctrine or lay out a clear cut code of ethics. Personally, I don't think that providing an ethic is the end goal of Christianity, but I do think ethics are a necessary part of really living out the faith. So, why do I like this book?

Well, I mainly like the book because we already know the rules of Christianity. Even those of us who've never gone to church have a pretty good idea what the rules--all the do's and don'ts--are. Well, perhaps we have a much better view of the don'ts than of the do's, but, in any case, we know all of the rules, even if we do a terrible job of following them.

In short, we have a very good idea of religion without much of an idea of spirituality, and it's in understanding the relationship of spirituality to religion that we get a real sense of why we follow the rules. It's that understanding which allows us, even encourages us, to follow those rules out of love and devotion rather than out of duty. To get biblical about it, it's sort of like Paul's letter to the Philippians, when he writes of praying that their "love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." It seems here that it is important, necessary even, that love of God be in communion with knowledge of God.

And, in this knowing of God, we're called beyond just avoiding the don'ts and toward working on the do's. In other words, we become people who are not so concerned with what not to do that we forget the things we need to do; we remember that Christianity is about discipline but that it is about discipline toward holiness, not just discipline away from sin.

And, when we really think of it, most of the Christian disciplines--prayer, Bible reading, fasting, worship--are about doing things that draw us closer to God, not about focusing on acts that take us further from God. It is in understanding those disciplines of devotion that we get a better understanding of a personal relationship to God, of seeing God's place in our lives and ordering our lives in such a way that we can follow that will.

So, why I like Blue Like Jazz is not because it has any clear plan for what any of us should do. Reading this book isn't like reading the writings of someone who has lived out the faith and never strayed or questioned; it's more like reading the writings of someone who also searches even though he has already found his way. I like that the book moves us away from just worrying about rules and toward thinking of God as real. Donald Miller writes, in the beginning of the book,

"I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seemed God was down a dirt road, walking toward me. Years ago He was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear His singing. Soon I will see the lines on His face."

And, I think, when we see God like this, when we know God is real and is love, the rules become easier to follow; they just become a part of love. We realize that by following the rules and through living out the disciplines we come to truly know God.