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NT Wright for Lent

I've been hearing some odd things bandied about regarding NT Wright lately, mostly by people who haven't read him. I have my own opinions, and they vary, and they're personal. But regardless, I find the best thing to do whenever anyone has an Opinion that is being Bandied regarding a particular writer or thinker is to read the person for yourself, to get to know them and their ideas. Bandy about your own opinions for a change, and be right to do so.

There's nothing to opinion regarding NT Wright's Lent for Everyone. The title is right - the book is for everyone, whether you observe Lent or not. It's a perfect way to walk through the season if you do, and a wonderful resource of thoughts on the Gospel of Mark when the season is through.

The words for Ash Wednesday are (suitably) a good starting off point. "We sometimes think of 'repentance,'" he writes, "as being about going back: going back, wearily, to the place you went wrong, finally making a clean breast of it, and then hoping you can start again.... But John [the Baptist]'s message of repentance was essentially forward-looking."

There follows a darling metaphor involving the Queen and Victoria Beckham, but I will save you the details for your own reading. Only let me finish with this:

"But the point, of course - this is Ash Wednesday, after all - is that you need to get ready. When God arrives; when the king knocks on your door; when you're about to be plunged in the holy spirit - what is there in your life that most embarrasses you? What are you ashamed of?... Mark is taking us on a pilgrimage this Lent, to the place where, he believes, God has come into our very midst - that is, to the cross of the Messiah. It's time to get ready."


Read my brief review of the book over at Goodreads.

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