Chaplain's Corner

By now many of you will have heard of or read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young.  It is a #1 New York Times Bestseller.  There are over three million copies in print many of which have fond their way into our homes.  In all honesty, I had resisted reading it for some months until just recently.  I received a copy as a gift from a family whose auntie I had cared for, I promised to read it and well, when I make a promise, I feel compelled to keep it.  

I just finished it not five minutes before I started this article.  I started reading the book last week (February 20th) and finished it this morning (February 27, 2009).  I’ll be honest, I regarded the book with some pretty stiff suspicion, you know the judgements you develop from hearing what others who read it say.  I am all too quick to develop this kind of judgement.  This is one of my many sins.

But as I read something began to happen.  The book is a theological allegory; you know something like C. S. Lewis’ the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  As I kept that in mind, the pictures of God painted by the writer’s words, although somewhat startling at first, began to speak to me.  Don’t get me wrong, The Shack certainly is not inspired in the same way the Scriptures are, but something about the words moved me in a way I haven’t been moved in a very long time, even by the Scriptures. Sadly, I think this reveals the depth of my own woundedness.  But somehow, as I joined Mack (he’s the main character in the book) on his journey, as I related to his experience with “The Great Sadness” (depression), I was carried along with him into an experience with God that was nothing short of transforming.

I am not given to crying, haven’t been for a very long time – a very long time.  Although I live and work in a world of pain and loss and death and disease; although there is so much in my own life that hurts so deeply, I have developed a Stoicism, that allows be to stand beside the pain without becoming overwhelmed by it.  This is another of my many sins.

But somehow, as I read the dialogue between Mack and the three persons of the Trinity that he encountered on his return to “the Shack” I was overcome five or six times. When I say “overcome” I don’t mean I broke down and cried like a baby; although something within me wanted to.  But as I read, there were moments when my eyes welled with tears, my throat tightened to restrain a sob and my chest ached, for as I read, it was if God was calling out to me, as if God was trying to reach me, to let me know that I am loved and oh how I need to know that I am loved.

As I read, transfixed on the dialogue and movement of the exchanges between Mack and the Three yet One, my understanding of Christian theology was not offended but deepened, enriched, expanded.  The way the relationship of the Three yet One was pictured was, I’m sure,  a “looking through the glass darkly”(1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV) but it was a look that helped me understand this mystery in a way I have never understood it, despite my many years of theological education.  It provided a glimpse into this ultimate relationship that heightened my hope, that stirred joy, that brought rest to my soul and that stirred a hunger within me to live with God in a very different way.  The way the Three yet One’s love for Mack, for the world for that matter, was described, not the absurdity of modern theological universalism that is so prevalent all around us; nor was it the cold, sterile, matter of fact, thing we hear in many churches and from many Christian’s lips.  Instead it was a love that knew the depth of my sin, the pervasiveness of my limitation and the struggle I have to grasp, to understand, to trust – yet a love  that is undeterred, undiluted, unhindered by any of this.  The love pictured is a large, warm, love full of fondness, enjoyment , yet fully aware and deeply patient with my struggles to understand, to let go of the illusions I hang onto in an absurd attempt to feel deceptively secure.

At times the relating between the Three yet One and between the Three and Mac seemed a bit irreverent, too common, not “holy” enough, but the more I read the more I felt that the irreverence that I at first was taken back by may not be irreverence at all but simply the loving condescension of the Infinite One to meeting us where we are.  In just a short time, the relating described ceased to be “put-offing” and became strangely and wonderfully moving and appealing.

I hesitate at this point to even go on.  I hesitate because when encouraging another to read a book, one opens oneself up to judgement and I fear judgement (another of my sins).  Some will read the book and hate it, even writing “Heresy” over the front cover and discouraging anyone from opening their hearts to “such deception”.  These may develop suspicion about me that may close their heart to me.  That would be sad but I know it may happen.  Other’s will read the book and will attribute theological concepts to it that I would never in my life willingly embrace.  I fear that these will attribute spiritual dispositions to me that are not mine at all and this too frightens me.  I take a certain pride in standing firmly in a particular “theological stream” and would be offended if others placed me in some other “stream”.  (My, aren’t my sins popping out all over in this article.)

Yet, despite these fears I feel compelled to reflect on this book and to do it as widely as I am able.  I guess variable interpretation is the nature and danger of allegory of any kind and especially theological allegory.  Whenever we attempts to talk or write about God, to describe the reality of the Ultimate Reality, it is risky business.  Yet we do it because we have this deep and unquenchable desire to be known by God and to know God, to be loved by God and to love God, to be forgiven By God and to know that we too can forgive as we have been forgiven.

Forgiveness is a sizable theme in the experience of Mack in this story.  The writer deals with forgiveness in a way I have only encountered in these pages.  I haven’t yet determined how thoroughly I agree with his understanding of forgiveness but it was wonderfully enticing and closer to what I believe the Bible teaches about forgiveness than anything I have ever read.  It grappled with the hard realities of forgiveness and I will be going back to his words to work my way through the concept of forgiveness he presents again and again.  Some of you may know that I am deeply saddened by what I see as the sloppy and base concepts of forgiveness that many within the church hold today and that I have been working to come to grips with this most important biblical concept for a few years now.

Well, here goes…I want to encourage you to read The Shack.  It will challenge the image of God your hold.  It will challenge your understanding of how a loving God permits unspeakable evil to take place in this world.  It will challenge you to think differently about the business of forgiveness, about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, about the church and many other important spiritual matters.  You may love the book, you may hate the book, or you may walk away from the book wondering, “What in the world is that chaplain all fired up about anyway?”  But regardless, it will stimulate you to think and thinking is a good thing.  If you have thoughts about the book after you read it and want to think together about it, send me an email at lhirst@sehealth.mb.ca  I promise I will respond to your emails, regardless of your opinion of the book or me.  Happy reading!