Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Paul Nulton’s notes
Christian Spirituality

p. 21 “The problem of the universe lies within me. I can’t think of anything more progressive than the embrace of this fundamental idea.”

p.30 I wished I could have subscribed to certain aspects of Christianity but not the whole thing.”

Story needs setting, conflict, climax, resolution 31
Setting is our place in culture
Conflict is between good and evil or between selfish and selfless egos or between flesh and spirit.
Climax means there is a decision the human heart needs to make. P.33 Navy Seals story.
Resolution forgiveness and a place in heaven is the classic Christian offering
My reaction: Re-soul-ution might be a good definition

P 83 Rick was too proud to receive free grace from God. (food stamp illustration) I love to give charity, but I don’t want to be charity. This is why I have so much trouble with grace.
p. 85 You are not above the charity of God.
By accepting God’s love for us, we fall in love with Him, and only then do we have the fuel we need to obey.

94 “I realized in an instant that I desired false gods because Jesus wouldn’t jump through my hoops…It was the beginning of my authentic Christianity.”

My reaction – It was a step to the next stage, not completeness. It was going on to perfection, not getting there.

P 104 Belief in god is more like falling in love than making a decision.
belief is something that happens to us, not just something we make happen

my response - how to fall in love. Look for the loving things the other is doing for you.

106 Ghandi believed Jesus when he said to turn the other cheek and got the British out of India and crippled the caste system. Mother Teresa believed Jesus when he said everyone was valuable and she changed many people by demonstrating faith could be selfless. 107 the trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. 110 I like Andrew because he believes in things that cost him something.
111 The first thing I believe is that I am the most important person in the world. I care more about my food and my shelter and my happiness than about anybody else.
112 I am learning to believe better things. I am learning to believe that other people exist, that fashion is not truth; rather, Jesus is the most important figure in history, and the gospel is the most powerful force in the universe. I am learning not to be passionate about empty things, but to cultivate passion for justice, grace, truth, and communicate the idea that Jesus likes people and even loves them.
113 The confessional booth is chapter 11
my reaction What would I confess? Operating out of fear of loss.

129 Doesn’t like institutions. Doesn’t like church as a concept for the same reason he doesn’t like corporations as a concept: institutionalism. It threatens his individualism.
Good formula on how to go to church without getting angry on p. 138

140 Pride and Prejudice tells the heart of a woman.
p. 148 “I am not scared of you, my love. I am scared of me.” Are we just here to use each other as tools for our own redemption? “I want to be known and loved anyway.”

P 151 Love is a bit of heaven because we are not about ourselves, we are about the other. Love is not the opposite of loneliness.
My reaction This is a self indulgent, well written account of a cultural left white collar person’s faith journey. Blue collars can’t afford this kind of introspection. One has to be fairly well off financially to afford the kind of reclusiveness described on p. 152.

Chapter 15 The world exists for me. Community teaches me otherwise.

P 188 money determines worth
p. 192 technology is what we use to supplant the desire for wonder
tithing

Chapter 17 on Worship
Reason suggests God would have to be greater than our reality, or the idea of God would not be reasonable. We worship a being we do not have the tools to understand.

We believe things we cannot explain. When we reduce Christian spirituality to math we defile the Holy.
My reaction the more we understand God, the further we are.
The wonder of God happens above our formula. The more I get outside my answers, the more my heart can worship.
My reaction: this is true for people with stable, structured senses of self but an ungodly construct for those who need a structured identity from God. It is fine for white collars but not what blue collars need.
No better worship than wonder.

Chapter 18
Reaction against conditional Christianity in the conservative churches. Liberals were not evil but he didn’t want to endorse their lack of commitment to the Truth of scripture in the name of tolerance. P. 217 the power of metaphor. The “war” metaphor makes cancer seem worse than it is. Economic metaphors for relationships show we treat love like a commodity, like money. Give it or withhold it to get people to do what we like.
Free love is no discipline, no judgment. Treat everyone as though they were my best friend. Let them know I like them.

Chapter 19 A place where you matter no matter what you do.
Don can’t accept affection and affirmation because he doesn’t like himself. He was getting his value from his girlfriend instead of God.
p. 54 Laura was looking for something rational because she believed that all things that were true were rational. But that is not the case. Love is true but not rational. Neither is beauty. Light. Plenty of things are true but don’t make sense. She wanted God to make sense, but He doesn’t. He will make no more sense to me than I do to an ant.

The most important thing that happens in Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus. P 237 I need to be connected to something bigger than me. I need to come in second to someone who has everything figured out.

P 238 Jesus would ask me my story. He would take the time to listen to my fears and my anger until I could calm down, and then He would look me directly in the eye, and He would speak to me; He would tell me the truth, and I would sense in his voice and in the lines on His face that he liked me. He would tell me that I have prejudices that I need to do something about. He would tell me about the poor people in the world. I need to feed them, which would make me happier. He would tell me what my gifts are and why I have them, and He would give me ideas on how to use them. He would tell me why my father left, and all the ways God has taken care of me and all the stuff God has protected me from.

Jazz music was invented by the first generation out of slavery. It is not something you can put on paper because it is a language of the soul. Christian spirituality is like a music birthed out of freedom.

My reaction: Very well written story of a typical thoughtful spiritual journey, going from stage to stage of moral and spiritual development. Only conceptually thoughtful people do it. It is typical, and profound.