A Review of "The Gospel of John: Church and Culture in Conflict"

The Gospel of John: Church and Culture in Conflict by Gregg Knepp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Five Big Stars!!!
Disclaimer—I served under Pastor Gregg as a Vicar at St. John’s Pimlico, so I’m biased.
I can’t say enough good things about Pastor Gregg’s book “The Gospel of John: Church and Culture in Conflict”.
This book reads the Gospel of John in light of Pastor Gregg’s experiences as, essentially, a Lutheran Human Shield in El Salvador, his time serving at St. John’s in NW Baltimore, and his experience as a parent of both biological and adopted kids. This book will give you an “in” into the head and heart of a very faithful Pastor.
I first read it devotionally, it reminded me of why I got into this business in the first place, the nuances of faith lived in the world as it is, it both convicted me and convinced me to be a better Pastor of the congregation I serve.
I am now using it as the main resource for a bible study on the Gospel of John. It is really helpful. I’ve been looking at scripture with this same crew of people every Thursday for 6 years, and Pastor Gregg’s book has brought us to a much deeper place of discussion than we’ve ever been at!
So, if you are clergy in need of a rerooting of your ministry, buy this book. If you are leading a Bible Study or book club, or want to, buy this book. For that matter, if you’re a skeptic or burnt out on church and church folk—this book is the real deal, not going to say it’ll convert you, but it’ll remind you why Christianity and Christian ain’t all bad, in fact at our best we’re pretty damn good!


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On Being Sami (part 1)

            So, a while back my parents took at DNA test through 23 and me. My dad’s results were kinda surprising. He’s genetically on the Asian/Native American end of things. So, they looked at the fine print and it essentially said, “If you appear European, but get this result, you might be Sami.”

            The Sami are Reindeer Herders who live in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Check outthis video to get a sense of their life. I love the point where they’re describing their cuisine—it reminds me of “the shrimp scene” in Forest Gump—Reindeer stew, Reindeer steak, Reindeer blood pancakes… traditionally the only vegetables in their diet is lichen!

           

            The natural question was, “Why didn’t we know about this?” Well, our best guess is when great-grandma ran off to Canada she didn’t advertise that she was Sami, because back in the old country Sami women were sterilized (in some countries up untilthe 1970’s)! Dad vaguely remembers someone once calling her “a Finnish gypsy.”

            The second question is, “Wait… Asian/Native American?” One common theory is that a group of Mongolian nomads were following their animals north. When they got to the Artic some turned right, crossed a land bridge, and ended up in America. Others turned left, wandered into Scandinavia, becoming its first inhabitants, the Sami. There are other theories about the origins of the Sami. Most of the evidence about the Sami’s origins is linguistic and genetic, so innately a little fuzzy.

            Not that genetics is destiny or anything, but the fact that some of my ancestors were nomadic carnivores… will surprise no one who knows me well. Staying in one place isn’t my forte and most of the recipes in my recipe box begin with “Obtain 1lb Meat.”

A music video by my dad's cousin.