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Yearning: Living Between How It Is How It Ought to Be
Does God want us fulfilled? Popular psychology says we should be fulfilled. Advertisements tease us with dozens of ways we can be fulfilled. Many preachers and book promise Christian fulfillment. But in this surprising (and surprisingly liberating) book, Craig Barnes suggests we weren't created to be whole or complete. With a fresh reading of the early chapters of Genesis, he says that much of our pain and disillusionment arises from wrong expectations of the gospel and of life. Echoing comedian Bob Newhart, Barnes "would like to make a motion that we face reality." He candidly draws from his own experience as a son, a student, a husband, a father and a pastor to help us see what we all know but are so reluctant to say aloud--that biblical living will not save us from crises or unfulfillment. Barnes writes for anyone who knows that faith must be tough enough to "hold up in the emergency rooms of life." But he doesn't merely help us face reality. He helps us see how our needs and limitations are gifts, the best opportunities we have to receive God's grace. Because of that, Yearning may be the most honest and the most helpful book you'll read this year.
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 10, 2014
Having read some of his more recent works, I have picked up this book, one of his earliest from his days in Madison WI. Still, the same great writing and insight as his later works. In a series of reflections on sections of Genesis 2 and 3, he thoughtfully address the questions of our human yearning - living between how life is, and how it ought to be.
As one who has recently stepped back from a formal leadership capacity within the church, some of his insights about Christian life struck me as being 'spot on' and truths that the larger church must take to heart if it is to continue to be relevant into the 21st century.
Being a PK himself, he had wonderful insights about life within the Pastor's family. About being honest with ourselves as leaders, and the struggle for most pastors to do so, Barnes notes: "It is unthinkable for pastors to simply confess to our families and congregations that we aren't very good models of the Christian life. not if we want to keep our jobs." Sad, but true.
About the false hopes that parents seems to try and fulfill through their children Barnes notes: "having grown discouraged with the search for their own fulfillment, often parents believe they'll be happy if their children grow up to be fulfilled. This hope is doomed from the start, since we are always raising needy children." [Through much of the book Barnes challenges the very notion that the purpose of the Christian life is to help us find fulfillment.]
About the pace of 21st century family life, Barnes observes: "Psychologist Rollo May claims we are the strangest of all animals because we run fastest when we have lost our way. We are manic about appearing busy. The trick is to dance on the edges of burnout without actually crossing over into being used up. We teach this to our children, and we enforce it among ourselves. our kids have to juggle school, music lessons, athletics, youth group, chair and homework in order to remain competitive with their peers."
Of the self-righteousness of many contemporary fundamentalist Christians Barnes uses the story of John 8 to conclude: "There is no sin greater than the arrogance of those who think they are only partially in need of the grace of God. When we demand that God do something to punish the 'real sinners,' we always encounter his silence. During those prayers of judgment, God just doodles in the sand, waiting for us to either hang up or catch on to our need for grace."
About the reality of daily life for followers of Jesus, Barnes pushes back the 'fulfillment' notion and observes: "Since the hope of our salvation lies only in God's search for the lost, it follows that true spirituality must always exist within the ordinary and the profane. in God's search to find us, he enters every dark corner of life. Thus, our saving hope is not to be rescued from the dark world but to live in the darkness by the light of Christ."
I think one of his great insights was the fact that Donatism has returned to contemporary Christianity as we seek to form our communities of like-minded righteous people. "Purity was the theological hallmark of the Donatists. The symbol of the church they embraced was not the cross but the ark - the vessel that had kept the pure safe from the judgment of God upon the world. Ordination by one who was not pure meant that guilt, not purity, was passed on. Thus, for the Donatists, guilt was received by association. The holiness of the church was determined, then, by the holiness of its members. Donatists rebaptized converts from the Roman church, because no one outside of their own pure church was considered Christian." Now, compare this attitude with traditions today who limit who may take Communion, or who may serve as Ordained leaders.
Continuing on this theme, Barnes later in the book would note, "This is the difference between unity and cultic sameness. In seeking unity, the church is held together only by it common Lord, never by the uniformity of its members."
Later in the book, Barnes does a beautiful job of expanding and sharing insight upon Karl Rahner's description of two forms of Spirituality - summery or wintery. More than I can begin to convey here, the reflection is very helpful in understanding some of the tensions within the larger Body of Christ today. Well worth the reading.
Barnes concludes his book by making very cutting, yet I believe accurate, assessments and observations about the modern church as it relates to mission in a broken world. I think he hits the nail on the head. So I close by sharing these words from the book's final pages: "Our mission to the world cannot make creation whole again, any more than we can create wholeness in ourselves or our churches. We offer the world only the grace of God, and that can never be confused with problem solving. it is high time we let go of all mission strategies that offer optimistic social agendas for the world. instead, our mission is to live in the midst of brokenness that we cannot fix with a vision of god's healing - healing from the damage people have wrought by playing God in the world. Christians do not fulfill this vision by grand schemes that re-create the world, but by their faithfulness in going into all the world as the Christian community of hope.....When the apostles left Jerusalem to fulfill their great commission, they did not immediately lobby Rome for a better social policy, nor did they invest their mission dollars in a task force that would write position papers or call for candlelight vigils on the steps of Caesar's home. What they did was plant communities of hope wherever they could. Granted, these hopeful churches were in fact subversive to the oppressive political order, but only because they were effective in transforming the part of the world in which they lived......Seldom has the world found hope when Christians have adopted its strategies for effecting change."
There are so many more profound insights in this book. Give it a read - you will come forth thinking, and perhaps even acting, differently.
As one who has recently stepped back from a formal leadership capacity within the church, some of his insights about Christian life struck me as being 'spot on' and truths that the larger church must take to heart if it is to continue to be relevant into the 21st century.
Being a PK himself, he had wonderful insights about life within the Pastor's family. About being honest with ourselves as leaders, and the struggle for most pastors to do so, Barnes notes: "It is unthinkable for pastors to simply confess to our families and congregations that we aren't very good models of the Christian life. not if we want to keep our jobs." Sad, but true.
About the false hopes that parents seems to try and fulfill through their children Barnes notes: "having grown discouraged with the search for their own fulfillment, often parents believe they'll be happy if their children grow up to be fulfilled. This hope is doomed from the start, since we are always raising needy children." [Through much of the book Barnes challenges the very notion that the purpose of the Christian life is to help us find fulfillment.]
About the pace of 21st century family life, Barnes observes: "Psychologist Rollo May claims we are the strangest of all animals because we run fastest when we have lost our way. We are manic about appearing busy. The trick is to dance on the edges of burnout without actually crossing over into being used up. We teach this to our children, and we enforce it among ourselves. our kids have to juggle school, music lessons, athletics, youth group, chair and homework in order to remain competitive with their peers."
Of the self-righteousness of many contemporary fundamentalist Christians Barnes uses the story of John 8 to conclude: "There is no sin greater than the arrogance of those who think they are only partially in need of the grace of God. When we demand that God do something to punish the 'real sinners,' we always encounter his silence. During those prayers of judgment, God just doodles in the sand, waiting for us to either hang up or catch on to our need for grace."
About the reality of daily life for followers of Jesus, Barnes pushes back the 'fulfillment' notion and observes: "Since the hope of our salvation lies only in God's search for the lost, it follows that true spirituality must always exist within the ordinary and the profane. in God's search to find us, he enters every dark corner of life. Thus, our saving hope is not to be rescued from the dark world but to live in the darkness by the light of Christ."
I think one of his great insights was the fact that Donatism has returned to contemporary Christianity as we seek to form our communities of like-minded righteous people. "Purity was the theological hallmark of the Donatists. The symbol of the church they embraced was not the cross but the ark - the vessel that had kept the pure safe from the judgment of God upon the world. Ordination by one who was not pure meant that guilt, not purity, was passed on. Thus, for the Donatists, guilt was received by association. The holiness of the church was determined, then, by the holiness of its members. Donatists rebaptized converts from the Roman church, because no one outside of their own pure church was considered Christian." Now, compare this attitude with traditions today who limit who may take Communion, or who may serve as Ordained leaders.
Continuing on this theme, Barnes later in the book would note, "This is the difference between unity and cultic sameness. In seeking unity, the church is held together only by it common Lord, never by the uniformity of its members."
Later in the book, Barnes does a beautiful job of expanding and sharing insight upon Karl Rahner's description of two forms of Spirituality - summery or wintery. More than I can begin to convey here, the reflection is very helpful in understanding some of the tensions within the larger Body of Christ today. Well worth the reading.
Barnes concludes his book by making very cutting, yet I believe accurate, assessments and observations about the modern church as it relates to mission in a broken world. I think he hits the nail on the head. So I close by sharing these words from the book's final pages: "Our mission to the world cannot make creation whole again, any more than we can create wholeness in ourselves or our churches. We offer the world only the grace of God, and that can never be confused with problem solving. it is high time we let go of all mission strategies that offer optimistic social agendas for the world. instead, our mission is to live in the midst of brokenness that we cannot fix with a vision of god's healing - healing from the damage people have wrought by playing God in the world. Christians do not fulfill this vision by grand schemes that re-create the world, but by their faithfulness in going into all the world as the Christian community of hope.....When the apostles left Jerusalem to fulfill their great commission, they did not immediately lobby Rome for a better social policy, nor did they invest their mission dollars in a task force that would write position papers or call for candlelight vigils on the steps of Caesar's home. What they did was plant communities of hope wherever they could. Granted, these hopeful churches were in fact subversive to the oppressive political order, but only because they were effective in transforming the part of the world in which they lived......Seldom has the world found hope when Christians have adopted its strategies for effecting change."
There are so many more profound insights in this book. Give it a read - you will come forth thinking, and perhaps even acting, differently.
August 17, 2023
Such a beautiful book to slowly read and ponder. It was like a gentle rain on parched ground. Everyday I was able to soak up a little more. I will definitely be rereading.
Read
August 29, 2012Fascinating, and I like a lot of the ideas, but Barnes is a very non-linear thinker and writer. Not very rigorous logic or flow. I really resonate with the idea that we are not meant to be fulfilled. In my mind, we were created to be fulfilled but ruined that at the Fall. Now we have to wait until Christ's return. Barnes has a bit of a twist that he thinks we were created and meant to have needs so that we are dependent on God. I think that we were created to be fulfilled with God, but that we have corrupted our needs and got them very confused, looking for their fulfillment in the wrong places![return]
December 5, 2011
This book took me a long time to complete, partly because I didn't make much progress until I put the highlighter down. In a way, it's The Allure of Hope, Part 2 - a lot of the same themes are addressed, but more deeply and less optimistically. However, the hopefulness increases as the book goes on. These are good, solid thoughts. Another book to revisit in the future.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews