There in Print

I have just finished reading a book by a writer named Susan Isaacs. The name of the book is Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir. A recommendation came from Cathleen Falsani in the Chicago paper. Falsani also recommended The Help which I found to be wonderful.

Susan Isaacs must represent all of the people who have been screwed up by religion. She tries almost every form of church and it misled, misunderstood, and made miserable by almost all of them. She is a devout seeker after God and it seems everybody has a wrong answer for her. She has a nice wit about her and her writing is clever and sharp. She finds some balance and hope at the end of her story, but she has still not found that sense that she is in and doing the "will of God" for her life. I ended the book with a great sadness for her that the church and the people of God have so tormented her.

There was one passage in the book that I was very surprised to see. It is an observation that I have been making and feeling for a long time. It is perhaps the reason why Susan never got any good help in her quest to know God. It is the reason why Bible studies in churches are never about the Bible.

The person Susan talks with about her problems, a man named Rudy says to Susan, "It is not you, Susan. The American Church is messed up. Of course, there are millions of loving Christians with real, honest faith. But the American church on a whole has become more concerned with the American dream than with Christ's dream for us. We've been selling programs and products aimed at self-improvement and personal fulfillment. Yes, Jesus came to give us abundant life. But he didn't come to sell stuff. The church sold you stuff, Susan. You got robbed."

One has to wonder why, if even Susan Isaacs can see the problem with our churches, we can not find the will to become what we are called to be, a community of people seeking to live in the goodness and kindness of God.