Why should Christian radicals – ordinary and otherwise – read Brennan Manning’s books?

Because if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that many days, our principal efforts lie in one or two good but ultimately idolatrous pursuits: ministry (doing good things for God) or community. Spurred on by the deficit of practical action we’ve seen in our parents’ church, we work tirelessly for any number of worthwhile social causes and busy ourselves with the task of turning our failing neighborhoods around. And rejecting the one-stop-shopping of consumer Christianity and faux community of mega-churchdom, we start our neomonastic communities and house churches, and it’s a full-time job just to keep all the plates spinning. (and everyone happy)

We need to read Brennan Manning — a former Franciscan priest and self-described ragamuffin — because, while affirming both community and action, he calls us back to that which is the universe’s lone life source: intimacy with God. In Manning’s latest release, The Furious Longing of God, he reminds us that ours is not an egotistical deity who sits back and smugly fields the praise of indebted subjects, but one who chases after creation with a fury unlike the universe has ever seen.

Manning continues the project he began in the immensely popular The Ragamuffin Gospel almost 10 years ago, a book that described humanity as poor and needy – yet loved by God nevertheless. Furious serves as a brief (138 pages) yet meaning-packed manifesto for ragamuffins like the former alcoholic who has, without a doubt, experienced the divine love about which he writes.

The wild, unrestricted love of God is not simply an inspiring idea. When it imposes itself on the mind and heart with the stark reality of ontological truth, it determines why and at what time you get up in the morning, how you pass your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, and who you hang with; it affects what breaks your heart, what amazes you, and what makes your heart happy.

That’s the thing about Manning: You believe every word he writes. Perhaps no other Christian author writes with such transparency and yet infuses it with a passion that drips from every page. His book reads like a fresh systematic theology for a lukewarm Bride, though the trappings of typical theology are nowhere to be found.

The book’s concise chapters allow readers to work through it in just a few readings, and the infrequence of Christian jargon makes it accessible to almost anyone. He begins by describing the beauty and mystery of God’s longing for the created order, and continues by diagnosing our propensity to create gods that are quite different from the God of the Bible. And in subsequent chapters about prayer, self-reflection, love for the other, healing, boldness before God, the imitation of Christ, and mission, Manning weaves together a beautiful tapestry of a life that authentically responds to the furious love God has for us.

I loved the following quote from a chapter titled “giving,” in which Manning recalls Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, a story about the relationship a boy has with a life-giving tree and his return to that tree in old age after leaving it for the pleasures of the world:

Ever since hearing that story many years ago, I’ve loved Silverstein’s parable. It reminds me of Jesus, of whom Paul wrote in Philippians, “He emptied himself.” He cried from His heart, nails in his hands, and poured out His blood that we might believe His love for us. Significantly, Jesus chose the giving tree, His cross, as the demonstrative sign of His absolutely furious love for men and women. In the words of one early church father: “the mightiest act of love ever to arise from a human soul.”

How is it that we’ve come to imagine that Christianity consists primarily in what we do for God? How has this come to be the good news of Jesus? Is the kingdom that He proclaimed to be nothing more than a community of men and women who go to church on Sunday, take an annual spiritual retreat, read their Bibles every now and then, vigorously oppose abortion, don’t watch x-rated movies, never use vulgar language, smile a lot, hold doors open for people, root for the favorite team, and get along with everybody? Is this why Jesus went through the bleak and bloody horror of Calvary? Is that why He emerged in shattering glory from the tomb? Is that why He poured out His Holy Spirit on the church? To make nicer men and women with better morals?

Manning goes on to describe that which Christ did come to make:

…a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love.

Yes, we radical, out-of-the-mainstream followers of Jesus would do well to listen to our elder brother, Brennan Manning. He is a prophet and activist himself who is calling us to rediscover – and rest in – the all-encompassing love of God. The best ministry action and community life cannot sustain us through the fire, and indeed may break us. Only the abiding presence of our mysterious Lord, who pursues us furiously, can.

Action and community are not rendered irrelevant by — but perfected in — the love of God.

About smh00a

Seeking joy in East Boston, MA, Steve enjoys gardening, being a husband, community life, and writing. He blogs about spirituality and his garden at http://harvestboston.wordpress.com.