What Hank Says . . . About Leaving the Pew (Reluctant Prophet Trilogy Giveaway!)

Hello, fellow Nudgees. As we’ve been exploring the wisdom
character Hank D’Angelo imparts in The Reluctant Prophet trilogy, it keeps
occurring to me that God cuts me no slack.

Seriously.

I’m not
nudged to write novels that soothe (and I love novels that soothe – L.M.
Montgomery anyone? Jane Austen?) Or books that allow readers to escape for a
while (and I am all about escaping –
I’ve lost myself in every Harry Bosch story Michael Connelly ever wrote). Or
even Christian fiction that reinforces the basics we all need to live by (and
heaven knows I need that too.)

No, I get
to write the ones that challenge me with the tough questions – that hard stuff
that try as we might we can’t really, seriously find a simple answer for. God
asks me to address the questions that require wrestling and may result in
bruising. Or worse.

That
doesn’t make me noble. I’m as reluctant as Allison herself. But like her, I
pretty much have to do it. Which is why, when the opportunity came up to do a
“blog hop” – which you’ll hear more about below – I couldn’t do anything except
pose those questions, one each day of the “hop.” (And can I just say I can’t
type that without thinking of the “sock hops” we used to have in the gym when I
was in high school. Remember those? If you don’t because you’re too young, I
don’t want to hear about it.)

The first
question the trilogy puts out there is “How far out of the pew do we need to go
to do the Jesus thing?”

Allison
runs into that dilemma in The Reluctant
Prophet when she goes to her small group, which she fondly refers to in her
mind as “The Wednesday Night Watchdogs”, and asks for their help with the
troubled people she’s taken in off the street. Their responses range from, “The icing has slipped off your cupcakes,”
to “These people have deep-seated
problems and I just think you’re being naïve to think we can save them.”

They voice
concerns about her safety.

They tell
her that to take this risk is irresponsible.They don’t
want to see her heart broken when it doesn’t work out.

Allison’s
answer?

“So that’s what we’re about then. Staying
safe in our gated-community faith, where we make room for God. Well, you know
what? That’s a fantasy and a lie.”

I’ve always wanted to say that.

I guess now
I have.

Allison
goes on to speak the first prophecy God gives her, which you can find on p. 181
of The Reluctant Prophet. She’s very
sure that what she’s said is right. But that doesn’t mean she knows what to do
now. Haven’t we all been there?

So she seeks Hank’s wisdom, and the
conversation goes like this:

“All
right,” (Hank) said, “we’ve established that God is behind all this, yes?”

“Yes.”

“It
hasn’t been my experience that God gives an assignment and then leaves you to
figure out how to carry it out by yourself.”

“He’s
not saying anything.”

“Maybe
he doesn’t have to. Maybe you already know.”

 That, I believe, is the answer to
“How far out of the pew do we need to go?” We already know. Why wouldn’t we? That’s
just about all Jesus talks about in the Gospels. It’s everything we see him do.
He spends almost no time sitting in the synagogue. He’s out there, on the
hillsides, on the streets, at the tables with the lowlifes. Even his disciples
are not what you would call the cream of the crop. We know how far we have to
go. We know.

And we know ourselves, too. As that
conversation between Hank and Allison goes on, Allison speaks of what she knows
about herself as an individual. Her experience taking care of her nanny Sylvia
gave her the experience she needs to take care of Geneveve.

So perhaps the question isn’t
really ‘How far out of the pew do I need to go?’ but rather, ‘What do I already
know how to do that I can do if I get my hind parts off this pew and my nose
out of this Bible study and my head out of what I shouldn’t do because I’m a
Christian.’

Before we hop ahead here, I want to
make sure you understand, none of this is an indictment of the church or of
small groups, Bible study, or fellowship with the body of Christ.  We absolutely don’t know what to do if we don’t have all of that as a foundation.
But it should never hold us back from putting ourselves out there the way Jesus
did, and still does.

I know how to write and I know how
to teach and I know how to bring people together. And I make a pretty mean
lasagna. I have no other choice but to take those things outside the pew (who
eats lasagna in the sanctuary?) and go with those strengths.

Instead of answering that question,
I guess I’ve only raised two more.

What do you already know about
where God wants you to go? What do you already know about yourself that could
take you there?

So what do you say we explore that
together?

 

 

Now what you have probably been
waiting for…winning books!  My
publisher, David C. Cook is giving away:

Reluctant
Prophet series (3 books) to 10 winners,
PLUS 10
copies of Reluctant Prophet to each winner’s recipient of choice.

I will personally sign each
book as well as include a letter with Reluctant Prophet to your person of
choice. 

Visit here
for the Rafflecopter entry form and official rules.

If you are joining the hop
mid-way through and not sure where to go, here are all the stops for each day.  That way you are able to maximize your
entries into the giveaway, as well as capture Nancy’s heart as she wrote this
series:

Monday: Nancy
Rue,
The Nudge “What Hank Says . . . About Leaving the Pew”

Tuesday: Mocha With Linda “Will
the “Real” Christians Please Stand Up?”

Wednesday: Jen Hatmaker “When the
Nudge Drives a Wedge”

Thursday: Julie Cantrell
“That Whole ‘Unequally Yoked’ Thing

Friday: Far From Perfect
MaMMa “Is It Worth Having a Record?”