Bible

Your Opinion Please.

/ Erin Kirk / 19 Comments

IMG_2476If you’re much of a reader, you know back cover copy is often what prompts a book purchase.

Do you know who writes that copy? The author does, or at least takes a crack at it, and it’s torture….

In 300 words or less, explain your 60,000 word manuscript. Exhibit all your marketing savvy but don’t be cheesy – be compelling, clever and original.

So here’s the shot I took in the proposal I’m sending out this week for Going to the Sea: A Sassy Liberal Wades in with Jesus. Since you’re my tribe, I want your opinion.

Would you pick it up? Comments welcomed and appreciated.

When outspoken, West Coast, liberal feminist Erin Kirk quit corporate America and moved to Texas to farm organic vegetables and beef cattle, she thought she had it all figured out.

But Texas ripped away her Whole Foods-hip exterior like an old house dress, revealing decades of loneliness, anxiety and fear. Desperate, Kirk looked for a remedy in the one place Liberals in America supposedly never look: The Bible.

Thus began a fiery, yearlong experiment.

Rather than shouting, “WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE” every day into dust devils of bone-colored sand, Kirk read The Bible – the whole thing – and attempted to do as it says.

Irate at the church but weary of freewheeling theology, Kirk excused everyone from the discussion and gave The Bible one year to convince her the transformative power of God is available to anyone who will seek it. She asks:

  • Must I be a pious, well coiffed, sweetie pie to follow Jesus? Or can I just be myself?
  • Am I short-changing my life, just to avoid obeying God?
  • Why bother with Jesus in a culture that often doesn’t, or worse, pretends to?
  • Is there value in…gulp…submitting to my husband?
  • Can God tame my smart mouth and the angry voice in my head?

With rangy, open prose rooted in her wild and willful past, and a journalist’s eye for detail, Kirk drifts from Northern California, through the Colorado Rockies to conservative West Texas, landing firmly on both sides of America’s religious culture wars.

 Speaking gently to those outside the church gates, and boldly to those within them, Kirk explains with kindness and heart why Jesus still matters.

 

Some Thoughts on Love

/ Erin Kirk / 2 Comments

IMG_2042At the Angelus Temple last fall, Pastor Matthew made a remark that lodged in my brain.

“Turn off your tv, it’s prophesying doom over your life,” he said.

It’s true. Facebook does it too and here’s how you can tell: As you watch or read news feeds, consider the imaginary arguments you’re having with someone over something they said. Feel the churning in your gut, the shaking of your head and the pejoratives you attach to that person. Doom!

Here’s how it’s supposed to be:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

That’s why I pray and read The Bible every day now. It is one thing to dump the cold, nasty stuff out of yesterday’s cup, it’s another to scrub it clean and refill it with fresh Dunkin’ Donuts dark roast with vanilla cream and sugar. Thank God Lent is nearly over.

Sailing

(Photo credit: possumgirl2)

Often, goosebumps rise on my arms as I praise God for the sunrise and pray for people I love. Joy swells in my chest and blows away negative thought loops, sending me on a different heading. This is the present-tense value of following Jesus Christ – you learn to quit seeing things like the world does and begin seeing them like God does. Go ahead and try it, your life and circumstances can’t resist.

“Well, what about all the __________ I am doing? What about all the _______I have done? What about the scriptures on __________I disagree with? What about all the __________Christians on tv?”

For a moment, please set it aside and listen to the gospel: God is holy and we’re not, so we’re separate. Jesus was tortured and died to bridge that separation. It’s a gift.

So it doesn’t really matter what you are doing right now or what you think, if you bring it to Jesus and hand it over, he will teach what love really is and then drown you in it. Out of that love you become a new creature, utilizing the purest, most creative parts of yourself – often in service of other people.

I’m hardly breaking theological ground here, people have been saying this for centuries. But when you strip away the acrimony that’s built up around the gospel, and try it for yourself, it proves to be awfully good news.

How?

As the sun comes up, grab a cup of coffee and read the Gospel of John. It was written by a man who understood, perhaps better than the rest, how much Jesus loved him.

Then let Jesus love you like that.

I’m Going To Africa.

/ Erin Kirk / 18 Comments

Three years ago, I decided to quit living my life theoretically. I knew probably half of it was over, and while it had been amusing, the impact I grew up wanting to make on the world, was negligible.

So I picked up The Bible and read it, twice, and began doing what it says. The book changed me.

DSC06746 - Version 2As such, I’m going to Chongwe, Zambia, in July, to work with SCRUBS Medical Mission in a school with 100 children, bad plumbing, a failing well and five unpaid staff.

On top of feeding and educating 100 kids, from their own shallow pockets, Founding Pastors Jasper and Zion Mutale are raising ten orphans. When SCRUBS shows up, pregnant women and new mothers walk for miles for well baby care and health education. There are chicken coops to build, plumbing to fix, kids to hug and medical needs beyond counting.

I grew up wanting to be a person like Jasper and Zion, but at home in Texas, I think about it, get overwhelmed and then go shopping. So I’m going to Zambia for two weeks to learn what faith in action looks like from people who pray “give us this day our daily bread” and mean it literally.

I’m so far outside my comfort zone, I can’t even see it anymore. The Africa part doesn’t scare me. I’m overwhelmed that I have to raise $4200 by April. I’m overwhelmed by the medical, construction and agricultural support this little community is pleading for. I’m overwhelmed that I may be the one to shepherd 20 Texans, some on their first trip out of the United States, through Zambian customs.

So I just keep saying this:

I am determined and confident! I am not afraid or discouraged, for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go. Joshua 1:9 (adapted from GNT)

Maybe you’re looking for something too. Are you looking…

…to do, not everything, but something to bless people who need it?
…to sow into proven, fertile soil?
…to love, as Jesus said, not with words and speech but action and truth?
…to support someone you know whose hands will be dirty on your behalf?

If so, will you help me? Will you consider sending a check (tax-deductible) to:

IMG_0325

SCRUBS Medical Mission
15434 Brittain Court
Lindale, Texas 75771

Please make sure to write the check to SCRUBS and put Erin Kirk in the memo line.

SCRUBS is a registered 501c3 Non-Profit. You can check them out at scrubsmedicalmission.org. Sam and I know them. They are good eggs, doing it right: Board, independent accountant, etc.

I’m taking an iPad to Zambia because you all know I’ll have plenty to say about this. Though we’ll be in a bush village, we are only 45 miles outside of the capital city of Lusaka. We can connect there, so I can introduce you to our new friends.

Thank you for considering this. The rest is up to God.