Shacked Up

    I'm not one of those people to run out and buy a best seller. I'm cheap. So I didn't read "The Shack" when it was a best seller, I read it when I found it at a garage sale for 50 cents.  I found the book delightful for many reasons, one of which being that I like allegories:  "Pilgrim's Progress", "Chronicles of Mansoul", "Hind's Feet in High Places", and especially children's allegories like "Riddle of the Outlaw Bear".  Allegories, like parables, present truth in a simple, understandable form. One of the reasons I liked "The Shack" is that it shook up my stereotypes by presenting God, the Father, in the first part of the book as a black woman.  This was for the benefit of the main character Mack, who had been abused by his father and did not relate well to the fatherhood of God until he had forgiven his own.  That idea forced me to remember that, although God is always represented as He in the Bible, God is a spirit.  He is as much an anthropomorphism as saying God has arms or eyes.  This is God's way of helping material man relate to an immaterial, spirit being.  I found the idea comforting because, though I knew I would feel no disappointment in heaven, I thought my need for a mother might go forever unfulfilled.  Releasing God from the limitation of masculinity gives me hope that He will fulfill that role in my life.
     "The Shack" presents the trinity in relateable, human form. Those who are offended by that should remember that "The Shack" is not a theology book and that presenting Himself in terms we can relate to was God's idea in the first place. The book made me realize my high view of God was making Him so distant from me that I was not devoting much time to thinking about Him, much less like Him. What Christians often settle for is a grand concept of God but a small reality, "The Shack" turns that around. I was faithfully performing according to my preconceptions of Christian devotion, but I wasn't seeking more intimacy with God and that is the devotion He wants. I have been a Christian for decades and somewhere along the way began to canonize my preconceptions--to write holy on the lid and put God in a box. The book contains a lot of deep understanding, simply presented. I happen to be fluent in Simple. I was especially convicted by the chapter about judging. However lofty our theology, judging God by human standards, even to justify Him, demeans Him. I got shook up in "The Shack" and I plan to come back.