CAUTION: This is author is very blunt and funny! He's also very gunhoe about being a manly man...
I've started reading reading "Radical Reformission" by Mark Driscoll. It is hilarious, but very very good (so far). I read the intro and chapter 1 today and I just had to share the following (again, caution - he's blunt) starting paragraphs of chapter 1. Mark is reminding us of how the "beautifully scandalous life and grace of Jesus Christ" started:
"The story begins with God making all things, then creating a man named Adam. Though Adam is technically perfect, it is still not good for him to be alone. The Bible never tells us why, exactly. Perhaps he would have forgotten to pick up the trash around the Garden of Eden, and the place eventually would have looked like an eternal fraternity without a hint of an annual spring cleaning.
Whatever the case, God creates a perfect woman who is beautiful, sinless, and naked - the same kind of woman every guy ever since has been searching for. Adam meets her and, recognizing that his life has just taken a turn for the better, he sings her a song, after which their marriage is consummated. The Bible could end right there, after only two chapters, with the man and woman naked, eating fruit, and trying to fill the earth all by their happy, horny, holy selves.
But every since the dreadful day of the Thud in Eden, we have all been walking around scratching our thick skulls, trying to figure out how to get back to that glorious time. Why? Because our happy, naked first parents sinned against God and brought a curse upon themselves and all creation. They sinned because they believed the lies of a talking serpent who had been an angel until he got kicked out of heaven for his pride."
That's just a glimpse of chapter 1, now go buy the book and read it - it's better than Blue like Jazz.
"Reformation is the continual reforming of the mission of the church to enhance God’s command to reach out to others in a way that acknowledges the unique times and locations of daily life."