It is always true: some things will never be the same and some things will never change.  

It is certainly true of WorshipInstitute.com, this website, and our attitude toward you.  Some things have changed irrevocably and forever.  Other realities remain fixed and firm.  

First, we at WI.com are firmly fixed on the Presence of God.  The Lord is the Center; we orbit. He leads; we follow. He is the Power and the Glory; His completeness flows out through our weakness. He is everything. We look to Him.

Second, life is relational.  None of us are complete by ourselves.  We are all cells in His body, molecules of water in His river.  Like birds coalescing into a clearly defined and oscillating circle, we are mysteriously linked into a unified whole being.  We are all “called” to lose ourselves in the beauty of His created order.

We understand that all we write or say or sing or think is only part of the story.  You bring an essential dimension to the circle.  So, we invite you to join with us in exploring and embracing His Presence. 

Despite our name, our ministry (including this website) is not about worship.  It is about Him.  Worship describes the creature’s relationship to the Creator.  Yes, we will get to that.  But, fixating on worship (or anything else) creates a sub-culture which inevitably becomes “God and…”  As such, it competes with His centrality.  That is not who we are.

We look forward to walking in relationship with you.  Please let us know what that means to you and how we can work together to lose ourselves in the larger beauty of His creation.

Yes, I know that 4 million+ people have now read The Shack.  So, maybe you’ve already read a dozen reviews.  But, I’m continually amazed that many have not read, or even heard of, this book.

Eugene Peterson says this new novel “has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress did for his.  It’s that good.”  At least one other prominent Christian leader is warning people to run far away from this fiction.

So, what’s behind this polarity of views?

The Shack (Windblown Media, 2007) is the story of an Oregon father who experienced the most horrifying tragedy imaginable to parents.  An old mountain shack was the site of the horror.  Now, a surreal invitation calls him back to the shack.  

To tell anything more would spoil it.  But, I will tell you this is a story you’ve not read before.  Young does take his readers to a new place in fiction (at least new to me).  I suspect that anyone who has ever suffered a life-numbing loss will find enormous comfort in The Shack.  Some will undoubtedly find a breakthrough which reboots life.  

The story is so bizarre that it cannot be told without unleashing controversy.  Pivotal works of art always do that.  And, The Shack certainly follows in that tradition.  The theological backdrop for the story will surprise, challenge, disappoint, enrage, delight, and perhaps enlighten.  

This novel is at least a page-turner.  I could hardly do anything else until I finished it.

And, yes, I do believe the book reveals a glimpse of God.  But, it is like gazing at Him through the blades of a turning windmill.  If you focus at the horizon beyond the blades, you will see Him.  If you get pulled into a head-rolling stare, you will lose Him.  

Some of the criticism of The Shack has focused on what Young does not say about God.  But, art always presents a limited view.  The artist has no other option.  I mean, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa doesn’t portray her parents or pets.  And Arlo Guthrie’s City of New Orleans doesn’t lament the slow death of ship travel.  

But, if you just let Young tell this fantastic story his way and let him paint what he sees in the Lord, this book could deeply affect you and pull you to a higher view.  

Go ahead.  Take a chance.  Be dangerous.   Read The Shack.

- Ed Chinn

December 18, 2008