Lake Neuron

I had two good reasons to get to sleep early last night — I’ve been suffering through a cold, and I had to come in to work an hour early this morning. But I could not put down what I think is easily the best book I’ve read in quite some time, “Culture Makng: Recovering Our Creative Calling,” by Andy Crouch. I had to stay up and finish it.

The book is so ambitious and far-ranging that a paragraph or two of summary won’t do it justice. But I’m a blogger, and thus accustomed to over-simplistic blithering. So I will try to summarize a few of the important themes that I took away from the book:

The author must first explain what culture is, and notes that cultural artifacts can range from an omelet to a opera, from computers to the interstate system. He shows the way in which God gives humankind the foundations of culture and a mandate to create and to cultivate. He shows how, throughout the Biblical narrative, God interacts with history and culture to fulfill divine purposes.

He explains the difference between “gestures” and “postures” as they relate to our Christian response to the cultural artifacts around us. Something that may be useful as a gesture in responding to one particular cultural artifact may be completely inappropriate as a full-time posture. Some branches of the church have turned negative gestures into a negative posture and are known more for what they oppose than for what they propose. Others have turned gestures of imitation or cooperation into a full-time posture of cultural accomodation which renders their faith impotent.

He shows that deliberate attempts to force cultural change are fraught with problems. Even major movie studios, with all their testing and marketing, can’t guarantee whether the movie they just spent millions making will be a blockbuster or a flop. Christians who believe that a gimmicky approach will produce instant cultural transformation are fooling themselves.

Even when a culture shift is achieved, its long-term impact is hard to predict; the inventors of the television, or the interstate system, could scarcely have imagined some of the consequences of those artifacts, positive or negative.

Nevertheless, it’s the responsibility of Christians to express their creativity and their compassion, to become both creators and cultivators, and to trust in God to use their simple efforts in unexpected ways.

There’s also an answer to the question I don’t recall anyone asking: Will there be Mini Coopers in our eternal home?

Please don’t let my rambling and incomplete synopsis keep you from reading this book. I highly, highly recommend it.

The other day, Newscoma posted about “My Beautiful Mommy,” a new book which attempts to explain to children about Mommy’s tummy tuck (or whatever). I didn’t post about it at the time, but I did forward the link to my California sister-in-law, who I thought would be amused and/or horrified. She was.

Anyway, I bring it all up to note that “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” pokes fun at the book this week. If you listen to the show on the online player, and want to jump to that segment, it’s in the “Listener Limerick Challenge.” (But why wouldn’t you want to listen to the whole show? Jane Curtin is this week’s guest for the “Not My Job” segment, and she’s quite funny.)

I guess it’s a little unusual to receive a book on Christmas morning and finish it before going to bed Christmas night — and I promise you it was not at the cost of being antisocial — but I just closed “Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life,” by Steve Martin.

For someone like me who adored Steve’s standup comedy as a high school student in the late 1970s, this was a terrific gift choice. It’s well known, of course, that Martin is a fine writer — not only some of his own screenplays but plays and novels as well. But this is different, a surprisingly frank and relevatory memoir of his days as a stage performer, from being a teenager at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm to quitting the standup game at a time when he was performing in arenas. There are plenty of fun celebrity stories, but this is not a seamy tell-all book. Instead, it’s a memoir of how Steve crafted a new kind of comedy — with influences as wide-ranging as vaudeville and his studies in philosophy.

When I was in Christian college, one of the leading names in Christian (and secular) music was Michael Omartian. As a secular record producer, he was the driving force behind Christopher Cross’s success. But he and his wife Stormie also released Christian albums as performers, and Stormie went on to success as an author of religious books. I had no idea that Stormie had once dated Steve Martin, with whom she worked at Knott’s Berry Farm. He speaks fondly of her, refers to her autobiography, and includes her in the acknowledgments of people who helped him gather photos and what have you for the book. I’m guessing that he doesn’t share her faith, but neither does he disparage it or disrespect it.

I also appreciated Martin’s remembrance of a crucial week performing at the Exit/In in Nashville, the legendary nightclub where I attended BarCamp last summer.

I have a CD, purchased a year or two ago, of “A Wild And Crazy Guy,” which I owned on vinyl as a teenager. I’ll have to listen to it again after work tomorrow. (The same hazy photo of Steve wearing bunny ears appears on the new book and the old album.)

This is definitely a recommended read.

Humorist and novelist Bunkie Lynn of Hendersonville was the guest speaker at the annual author’s luncheon sponsored by the friends of the library here. She gave a terrific talk. She was also kind enough to forward me some of the photos from her camera tonight, because I managed to make it to the Celebration grounds with my camera but without the battery to said camera.

The church I attend has been blessed with an unusually smart and nice pastoral spouse. Clare and Lloyd Doyle met in seminary, and although she didn’t follow him into the pulpit she displays her own spiritual leadership. Her latest project is that she wrote all of the November devotions for a new book, 365 Meditations for Mothers by Mothers. If you’re a mother, please check it out. I am certain it will be worth your time.

The Door has posted the links to both of its Madeleine L’Engle interviews, so here — as promised — are the links to them:

• 1986 interview
• 2000 interview

The Wittenburg Door interviewed Madeleine L’Engle twice, once in 1986 and again in 2000. Neither interview seems to be online at the moment; I will try to keep an eye on the site and if they post one of the interviews in recognition of her passing, I will link to it here.

I hadn’t written anything for the Door in quite a while, due in part to a big misunderstanding, but I’m back in the mix now and reading a book by a potential interview subject. I’ll let you know if something develops.