Update: Burnside Collective Reading: Round Two

The ballots have been cast and a voice vote would have been fine, because “This Beautiful Mess” stomped the competition. Rick McKinley’s latest book received, no kidding, ten times as many votes as the other books combined.

To the McKinley supporters, I say: Congratulations. Your “get out the vote” campaign was impressive. But now the pressure is on. It’s on you and it’s on me. We owe it to the rest of the Collective community to have a vigorous discussion about “This Beautiful Mess.” I’ll return next week with a short essay and some questions to get the conversation going. But I’m relying on you to be engaged.

To everyone else, I say: The book got 1000% more votes than the other books. It must be good. Won’t you join us in reading and discussing “This Beautiful Mess”?

Here is the publisher’s summary:

This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God, by Rick McKinley: “Already Not Yet.” When Jesus announced, “the kingdom of God is at hand,” what did He mean? Uncover the reality of the kingdom of God and what it might look like if followers of Christ practiced its in-breaking presence. What happens when we view life through the lens of the kingdom? How does the beauty of Jesus’ reign break into the mess of our broken lives and world? What if we lived as though a world other than this one was here today? This Beautiful Mess launches a paradigm-shifting journey inviting us to experience the kingdom of God in the ordinary miracle of our everyday lives.

And here is Rick’s website:

Rick McKinley website

See you next week.

Previous entry:

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first round of the Burnside Collective Reading. This includes the several people who commented on the book at our site, those who read What is the What as part of book clubs that met in their homes and in coffee shops, as well as those who read the book by yourself and kept it close to your heart. The comments, as well as the introductory essay by Dave Johnson, will remain on our site indefinitely, maybe even centuries. Let’s give our great-great-great-grandchildren something to talk about by continuing the conversation here.

In the meantime, we’re moving on to the next phase of our book club discussion. Like a political hack of old, sitting in a back room somewhere picking the next candidates for the president, I have autocratically chosen three books which I think are sure to make for lively discussion. The books are: Sex God, by Rob Bell; The Secret Message of Jesus, by Brian McLaren; and This Beautiful Mess, by Rick McKinley. Before I give the book summaries, let me remind everyone how this works.

You can vote for the book of your choice in one of three ways.

1. You can send a MySpace message to the Burnside Writers Collective MySpace page.

2. You can send an e-mail to bwcbooks@gmail.com.

3. Or you can leave a comment on this page.

I will tally up all the votes and announce the book on May 28. One week later, on June 4, I will post a short introductory essay plus a list of possible conversation questions.

But in the spirit of democracy, I am taking necessary steps to end one-party rule. Along with your votes for this month’s selection, I’m inviting you to include your ideas for the future. You might include a book you’d like to nominate for upcoming discussion. Or you can suggest that we discuss a certain genre or time period or author. You can also offer ways to improve the Burnside Collective Reading, ways to enhance community, spur on discussion, etc.

I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Here are the publishers’ summaries (and impressive subtitles) of the books currently under consideration:

Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality, by Rob Bell - God and sex go together. You can’t separate the two, says Rob Bell, because this physical world is intimately linked to deeper spiritual realities. And so, in order to make sense of sexuality, at some point you have to talk about God. With beauty and unusual insight, Sex God explores this connection.

First Chapter: Sex God (PDF)

The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything, by Brian McLaren - McLaren invites you to discover afresh the transforming message of Jesus - an open invitation to radical change, an enlightening revelation that exposes sham and ignites hope, an epic story that is good news for everyone, whatever their gender, race, class, politics, or religion.

Brian McLaren website

The polls are open. Vote now.