Don't Give Me No Blue-Eyed Wimpy Jesus

Tea: Chinese Melon Seed

Music: King Crimson, "Elephant Talk"

Time: Late afternoon.

One thing about being ill is that it's let me catch up on my reading. (Small blessings must be taken where found.)

I finished Christopher Moore's "Lamb" this week. This may get me in trouble in Sunday School, but I liked a good deal of the book.

As a history? Not so much, but it doesn't aim to be a history. It's a story -- funny in some parts, touching in others and surprisingly more reverent than ir. Joshua (that's Jesus to you and me) is presented as more human than He is in the Gospels -- but no less divine, to my eyes.

(And I'm not saying that humanizing Jesus is a bad thing. Too often, He's portrayed as overly soft and serene, not to mention Caucasian-- what I call "Blue-eyed Wimpy Jesus." No, thanks.)

Don't read "Lamb" if you're easily swayed from beliefs. It's not theological truth. And don't read it if the idea of Jesus doing anything but looking tranquil (even while kicking moneychanger butt and/or being crucified) makes you break out in hives.

But if you can take what you know and believe, and sift through a work of fiction to find the truths in it ... well, then, happy reading.