Review: The Gods Aren't Angry w/Rob Bell
Friday night, Retrophisch and I headed off to the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie to see Rob Bell on his spoken-word tour entitled "The God's Aren't Angry." Retrophisch was a last-minute fill-in as my smokin' hot shutterbug trophy wife was called into emergency mom-assistance for Kid2's ballet performance. The Phisch was an able substitute, but not nearly as easy on the eyes as Tracy.
First a few observations from the crowd in the half-hour before the 8:15PM start:
Parking at Nokia is $15. Really?
There were signs posted at the "merch" table--which, in this case, thankfully, consisted only of Rob Bell's books (could you imagine if there were t-shirts and all that?)--that said the author would be available after the show at that very spot to sign purchases. I wondered if anyone would skip the show & watch on the screens in the lobby just to ensure they'd get an autograph. I also wondered what goes through the mind of someone who wrote something and folks you don't know want you to sign it. I think it'd be a real ego-check with complete strangers coming up and telling you encouraging things constantly (nobody buys a book to come up and say, "This really stunk." Right?).
The Phisch and I were obviously in the older 10% of the crowd. It oozed with twenty-something vibe...which was cool. Helping us bring the average age up a couple of months were my friends Dan & Donna as well as Carter & Jennie. There was a local pastor who knows people who know Rob Bell and I watched him go to his primo seats with some of his staff. It's always good to have connections to score primo seats, man. I love it when that happens! I disguised my jealousy by identifying with the blue-collar common-man diatribe.
There was an inordinate amount of goatees and shaved heads. Despite weather in the 70-degree range, there were lots of knit caps and scarves, too. My recently-purchased glasses were very much the norm in this bunch.
The girl next to me was very friendly. We traded tattoo stories. We were surrounded by college kids who purchased tickets at the group rate, I guess. At one point, the college minister playfully asked for a "hand check" (an old youth ministry bit where, if you're in a situation where your teens could get handsy, you ask the teenagers to hold their hands up to ensure there's no handsy behavior going on) on a couple in his group, to which the girl loudly responded, "You don't need to be hand-checkin' us, you need to be hand-checkin' them." and nodding toward another couple, thereby playfully throwing her friends under the bus. Nice.
Rob Bell came out with minimal fanfare, setting the tone for the night: All-black clothes & sneakers, with only a makeshift altar about 15 feet square and four feet high alongside him. No notes. No obligatory praise songs or anything like that. No power point. No workbook for the crowd. No nothing. This was going to be a night for the intellect and not necessarily the senses. This made me happy beyond words.
Now...a bit about content:
He began with a historical review of gods & goddesses throughout history, leading up to how & why they began offerings on altars. Basically it was to appease angry gods or say thanks to those who found favor with you or your village. Or, working to keep the gods & goddesses happy. An excellent insight: "The problem with altars and offerings is that if things are going well, you have to offer MORE. The problem with altars and offerings is that if things are going poorly, you have to offer MORE. Ultimately, you never really know where you stand with the gods." Nice foreshadowing...because those of us used to Christian ways of doing things know where this is headed, but those outside our tribe are along for the ride, too.
He brought up the societal framework through which Abraham could "leave his father's household" (to which Mr. Bell mentioned meant leaving the entire beliefs/values/worldview of your parents, not merely moving out) and "draw near to God." All previous gods were distant and now this God was one you could relate to...culturally shocking. He mentioned that while the book of Leviticus was bloody and prescriptive looking back on it ("kind of like horror movie blood & gore but without the flimsy plot") it was actually liberating and freeing compared to the other religions.
A couple of quotes I liked: "The Sadducees made lots of money and got lots of power through fear and guilt. Imagine that. Religious leaders using fear and guilt to get money from folks." Also: "Prophets were the ultimate performance artists."
In context, I liked it when Rob Bell said, "If Jesus had overthrown the religious system of that day by violence, it isn't anything new or greater. Hence, the crucifixion and resurrection was the best way to overthrow a violent system protected by violence."
Like I said earlier, the foreshadowing effective. Mr. Bell took the story of the resurrection to show that the old system was now obsolete. "First-century Christians weren't going around creating lists of do's and dont's and other ways to use works to get closer to God...they were living in newfound FREEDOM."
He closed out the show by talking about how freedom in Christ leads to a life lived out in the oxymoron of Romans "living sacrifice." He gave touching stories from his ministry experience about how people living as living sacrifices did absurd things that humans aren't supposed to do because now they were living in the freedom of love instead of lists of do's and dont's and such. Not only did he list them, he used a rhetorical device, repeating them in reverse order to emphasize the point that we should...
...go...
...and do likewise.
Much like at the end of the off-broadway show "Stomp"--where you've spent an hour and a half amazed at the skill and artistry of the performers only to have them engage the audience in some participation, only to walk offstage and leave the audience "making their own music"--the message Mr. Bell gave was that obvious. Stop working to make God happy, and live in love and living sacrifice. Now...GO!
I thought it was brilliantly done and, frankly, an inspiring artistic expression. I came in with a raised eyebrow about how all this would play out, but it was well worth the time spent at the end of a busy week getting bombarded with historical lecture format...but he pulled it off in spades. I now consider myself a big fan. If the show comes back, the next time I'm getting group tickets, man. A large group, too.
Friday night, Retrophisch and I headed off to the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie to see Rob Bell on his spoken-word tour entitled "The God's Aren't Angry." Retrophisch was a last-minute fill-in as my smokin' hot shutterbug trophy wife was called into emergency mom-assistance for Kid2's ballet performance. The Phisch was an able substitute, but not nearly as easy on the eyes as Tracy.
First a few observations from the crowd in the half-hour before the 8:15PM start:
Parking at Nokia is $15. Really?
There were signs posted at the "merch" table--which, in this case, thankfully, consisted only of Rob Bell's books (could you imagine if there were t-shirts and all that?)--that said the author would be available after the show at that very spot to sign purchases. I wondered if anyone would skip the show & watch on the screens in the lobby just to ensure they'd get an autograph. I also wondered what goes through the mind of someone who wrote something and folks you don't know want you to sign it. I think it'd be a real ego-check with complete strangers coming up and telling you encouraging things constantly (nobody buys a book to come up and say, "This really stunk." Right?).
The Phisch and I were obviously in the older 10% of the crowd. It oozed with twenty-something vibe...which was cool. Helping us bring the average age up a couple of months were my friends Dan & Donna as well as Carter & Jennie. There was a local pastor who knows people who know Rob Bell and I watched him go to his primo seats with some of his staff. It's always good to have connections to score primo seats, man. I love it when that happens! I disguised my jealousy by identifying with the blue-collar common-man diatribe.
There was an inordinate amount of goatees and shaved heads. Despite weather in the 70-degree range, there were lots of knit caps and scarves, too. My recently-purchased glasses were very much the norm in this bunch.
The girl next to me was very friendly. We traded tattoo stories. We were surrounded by college kids who purchased tickets at the group rate, I guess. At one point, the college minister playfully asked for a "hand check" (an old youth ministry bit where, if you're in a situation where your teens could get handsy, you ask the teenagers to hold their hands up to ensure there's no handsy behavior going on) on a couple in his group, to which the girl loudly responded, "You don't need to be hand-checkin' us, you need to be hand-checkin' them." and nodding toward another couple, thereby playfully throwing her friends under the bus. Nice.
Rob Bell came out with minimal fanfare, setting the tone for the night: All-black clothes & sneakers, with only a makeshift altar about 15 feet square and four feet high alongside him. No notes. No obligatory praise songs or anything like that. No power point. No workbook for the crowd. No nothing. This was going to be a night for the intellect and not necessarily the senses. This made me happy beyond words.
Now...a bit about content:
He began with a historical review of gods & goddesses throughout history, leading up to how & why they began offerings on altars. Basically it was to appease angry gods or say thanks to those who found favor with you or your village. Or, working to keep the gods & goddesses happy. An excellent insight: "The problem with altars and offerings is that if things are going well, you have to offer MORE. The problem with altars and offerings is that if things are going poorly, you have to offer MORE. Ultimately, you never really know where you stand with the gods." Nice foreshadowing...because those of us used to Christian ways of doing things know where this is headed, but those outside our tribe are along for the ride, too.
He brought up the societal framework through which Abraham could "leave his father's household" (to which Mr. Bell mentioned meant leaving the entire beliefs/values/worldview of your parents, not merely moving out) and "draw near to God." All previous gods were distant and now this God was one you could relate to...culturally shocking. He mentioned that while the book of Leviticus was bloody and prescriptive looking back on it ("kind of like horror movie blood & gore but without the flimsy plot") it was actually liberating and freeing compared to the other religions.
A couple of quotes I liked: "The Sadducees made lots of money and got lots of power through fear and guilt. Imagine that. Religious leaders using fear and guilt to get money from folks." Also: "Prophets were the ultimate performance artists."
In context, I liked it when Rob Bell said, "If Jesus had overthrown the religious system of that day by violence, it isn't anything new or greater. Hence, the crucifixion and resurrection was the best way to overthrow a violent system protected by violence."
Like I said earlier, the foreshadowing effective. Mr. Bell took the story of the resurrection to show that the old system was now obsolete. "First-century Christians weren't going around creating lists of do's and dont's and other ways to use works to get closer to God...they were living in newfound FREEDOM."
He closed out the show by talking about how freedom in Christ leads to a life lived out in the oxymoron of Romans "living sacrifice." He gave touching stories from his ministry experience about how people living as living sacrifices did absurd things that humans aren't supposed to do because now they were living in the freedom of love instead of lists of do's and dont's and such. Not only did he list them, he used a rhetorical device, repeating them in reverse order to emphasize the point that we should...
...go...
...and do likewise.
Much like at the end of the off-broadway show "Stomp"--where you've spent an hour and a half amazed at the skill and artistry of the performers only to have them engage the audience in some participation, only to walk offstage and leave the audience "making their own music"--the message Mr. Bell gave was that obvious. Stop working to make God happy, and live in love and living sacrifice. Now...GO!
I thought it was brilliantly done and, frankly, an inspiring artistic expression. I came in with a raised eyebrow about how all this would play out, but it was well worth the time spent at the end of a busy week getting bombarded with historical lecture format...but he pulled it off in spades. I now consider myself a big fan. If the show comes back, the next time I'm getting group tickets, man. A large group, too.
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