Also, it never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can reach out to people in so many unique ways. Even in our disagreements we find solid, common ground in Christ, and there is nothing more impactful to a hurting and dieing world than a church unitied by Christ’s love, moving forward in our calling to love everyone, despite our differences or opinions.

Whether we agree or disagree as to whether or not Bell did not implement enough Jesus into his presentation matters very little in the end. What matters now and forever is that we continue to pursue Christ with all that we are, regardless if we have a large following with unlimited resources, or we do not. No matter how much you have or do not have, love Christ and love others. Live for him and no other, making idols of no one or no other thing.

First, let’s agree that this wasn’t a church service. Rob Bell wasn’t giving a sermon, but he was speaking to what was understood to be a group of Christ-followers. If you listen to Rob’s church sermons on podcast, they’re very solid and usually straight from the Word. So, I don’t want us to define him by this presentation.

I’ll start with the entrance that Rob made. My initial reaction was similar to yours, seemed a little too rock star-ish. Thinking back though, I don’t know what he could have done to show more humility in his entrance. He didn’t enter to a theme song, fog machine, dim lit lights or anything like that. He entered from the back and said hi to people as he walked down the aisle and some applauded his entrance. Then he got on stage and hammed it up a little bit, trying to excite the crowd. I don’t believe any of this was to accept praise for himself, but just to get his audience fired up and maybe make his tour DVD (being filmed that evening only)look a little better. Because I didn’t get the whole self-promotion vibe, I think your perspective on the entrance alone may have tainted your view of the rest of the evening. What do you think?

Also, while “Jesus is the answer” surely could have been worked into his presentation more, I believe he intended to offer the hope that suffering is necessary and creates beauty and for people to realize that Jesus provides that on their own. I think back to the example he gave that more often than not we are more comforted in our suffering by the person that is there just to listen than the person that offers handfuls of advice and Bible quotes.

There are other things that I would address if I had the time. My favorite part of the evening though was the idea that a lack of suffering creates boredom in our lives. That is why I personally believe so many teenagers and twenty-somethings walk away from their faith. They have learned not to allow suffering into their lives and get bored with Christianity quickly. I know that I desire more challenges and suffering in my life as result of Drops Like Stars.

Where I differ on some of your viewpoints is not in the Christocentric nature of your prose, but rather in your missing that the entirety of Rob Bell’s purpose and presentation Friday night was about Jesus. It was all about the cross. His discussion of comiserating and “knowing how you feel” was to direct our whole attention eventually back to the cross and the fact that “God is screaming with us.” In fact, I believe that kind of fellowship, that comiserating of sorts, “knowing how you feel” is at the core of Christian worldview and lifestyle. It is what in Greek “koininia” – a word I probably horribly misspelled but one which evokes the deepest sort of community. It is the depths through which we go together in our sufferings. And at the end of it all we look up and see the cross and realize that these sufferings are how to be like God!

Your sociological observations are all correct and I appreciate your observations but I think it may be an adventure in missing the point of one of the most poignant messages I personally have received in some time. “God is screaming with me.” And I have done a lot of screaming of late.

Peace and much love,
Josh