Jair and Rob Bell

JAIR

Tola was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.  Judges 10:3-5

Love the random detail in each of these short descriptions – to be known as the father of thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys who controlled thirty towns…….is that Jair’s greatest achievement?

ROB BELL

The next influence on my life has a little more to his name than thirty sons with thirty donkeys. Here is what Wikipedia has to say –

Rob Bell (born August 23, 1970) is an American author and pastor. Bell was the founder of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan, which he pastored until 2012. Under his leadership Mars Hill was one of the fastest-growing churches in America. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Love Wins and the writer and narrator of a series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. In 2011 Time Magazine named Bell on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

I first came across Rob Bell when I saw the first ever Nooma film ‘Rhythm’ in the Big Top at Spring Harvest. It blew me away. It was relevant, honest, brave, creative and thought-provoking – just like all the Nooma films I have seen since. Rob Bell’s first book ‘Velvet Elvis’ was published in 2005 and I loved it. The book’s strapline was ‘Repainting the Christian Faith’ and this is exactly what it did for me. I felt like I had come home – many conclusions I had been working towards though reflection and experience in my own life were being put into words in a way I could never express by someone who really knew what they were talking about. Rob Bell is a Bible scholar. He knows his Bible. He studies and thinks – really thinks. He’s prepared to challenge any accepted Christian view – not to attract controversy or pick a fight but to ‘blow the conversation wide open’.

The Christian faith is a wide, diverse stream that’s been flowing for thousands of years, carrying a staggering variety of voices, perspectives and experiences.  Rob Bell, Love Wins

Many Christians are uncomfortable with this, of course. This approach challenges everything they have always believed to be black and white. It muddies the waters. When I attended an Alpha course with a friend and mentioned Rob Bell, I was taken to one side afterwards and told not to mention him again as he ‘confuses people’. Maybe. Maybe he causes people to really think something through and this can be a bit of a struggle and take time and effort……but in my experience, the writings and DVDs and sermons of Rob Bell reignited my faith to be real and authentic and creative and alive at a time when I had fallen into a bit of a rut.

My Dad is uncomfortable with my obsession with Rob Bell, as he perceives it. He thinks I would swallow every he says, hook, line and sinker, just because it is him that is saying it. That isn’t true. Some things he’s written go further than I am prepared to go. ‘Love Wins’ was deeply provocative and I still haven’t got my head round some of his thinking. But this was also the book that touched my life the most because it spoke into the reality of how I live and think and love. Love is at the heart of everything. God is love. So God is present in authentic love wherever and however it is expressed. I responded to the inclusivity of this book’s message, because I believe God is in everyone – He created everyone in His image – and we can look for the good and the God in everyone and find God there – and help others recognise the divine within themselves (actually this overlaps with the writing in ‘What we talk about when we talk about God’).

God’s love is a stunning, beautiful, expansive love and it is for everybody, everywhere.  Rob Bell, Love Wins

‘Love Wins’ has become a motto for our lives over recent years – something to hang onto when love really did not feel like it was winning at all. In fact, a book on Attachment Disorder that we were encouraged to read is entitled ‘When love is not enough’ and that was the reality we felt we lived with day after day. In the end, love will win though, I firmly believe that. That is the hope I will always cling onto.

I love Rob Bell’s writing style. It’s so fresh and deep and yet humorous….it draws on a wealth of knowledge and everyday experiences. It has no agenda….it does not try to persuade or convince…..it just throws into the mix a fresh perspective to consider…..

I saw Rob Bell in Edinburgh a few years ago and yes, I was pretty starstruck. He was every bit as good in person as on paper. I got to ask a question – the first question of the evening, no less! I was so impressed with how he handled the questions – the people who were deliberately trying to catch him out and make him look stupid….he displayed such wisdom and calm and humility. Yup, I’m a fan!

And so yes, Rob Bell inspires me and challenges me (most recently about marriage with the whole ‘zimzum’ thing). He challenges me to think and grow and develop and never stand still in my faith –

Jesus’ intention is for us to be growing progressively in generosity, forgiveness, honesty, courage, truth telling, and responsibility, so that as these things take over our lives we are taking part more and more in life in the age to come, now.  Rob Bell, Love Wins

And a final word for all of you –

May you experience this vast, expansive, infinite, indestructible love that has been yours all along.

May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about.

And may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.