J. Mark Bertrand, Back on Murder (Bethany House, 2010)

When I first envisioned this section of the website, I didn’t have in mind that it would sit growing cobwebs in the back. And I didn’t have in mind that I would try to blow the dust off with a review/recommendation of a fictional murder mystery. But here we are….

Mark Bertrand, the author of this clever work, is a PCA elder in our Presbytery at one of the churches around Sioux Falls. Mark is bright, eloquent, and this work shows his devotion to writing well and popularly. Good writing is an art, and too often it seems that Christian writing (especially of the fictional sort) has cared too little for the art. The emphasis falls instead either into Christian moralism or “preaching” in narratives, and the art of crafting words and plot become unnecessary. It’s a kind of gnostic fault in writing: the disembodied ideas are of real importance, while the clothing in flesh is dispensable. And the result? The disembodied ideas come across as either lame or sentimentalized. And the reader, moving easily enough through the pages, has to be content with something disappointingly short of beauty. Back on Murder is not one of those books. It is well-written prose, written for everyone. It is easy reading in the sense that you do not feel that you are working, but you are being carried directly into the plot and life of the characters. The “clothing” of the plot, in other words, gives beauty without becoming an end in itself (the flaw of the other end of the spectrum).

Back on Murder is the first of a new series of murder mysteries centered around Roland March, your somewhat familiar tough cop, embittered and disappointed by life. Though at one time a famous homicide detective in Houston, he has fallen out of favor in the department, faces a struggling marriage, and ghosts that (at the outset) only peek out from his past. Mark paints Houston itself almost as a character in the work, making it hard to imagine the plot lifted into another setting. The unsettled, shifting, and divided nature of the city provides a compliment to March’s own life and struggles. The murders driving the narrative are captivating in themselves and well-executed (no pun intended), but the great attraction in the work is Roland March. You read to discover what has shaped March’s life, and why he has become such a man. By the end of the work the murders have the feeling of acting as the backdrop, or the means by which the character of Roland March is allowed to unfold. It’s the sign of a good first work in the series: I won’t read the second simply for the plot, but because I’ve become attached to the character.

I highly recommend the work. It’s smart, well-written, and enjoyable. These days I do not get nearly as much time as I would wish for reading novels, and so I feel even more disappointed with a poor work. But this one did not disappoint: good writing, intricate and thoughtful plot, and “ponderous” material for the reader. (It’s always great to find something like this just before Christmas, when wondering what gifts to buy to fill out Santa’s list....)

I’m told by good sources (i.e. Mark himself) that the second volume is now complete. I can’t wait.

Wright’s commentary on Deuteronomy presents the book’s heart through page after page of his work. The commentary is short (relatively speaking) so many of the details scholars want are missing. But he cannot be blamed for that, and it makes the book far more usable to everyone else. A commentary on Deuteronomy offers Wright the excuse to blend his chief scholarly pursuits and passions: Old Testament ethics and the devotion of the church to the mission of God to the world. What emerges from these interests pondered over the text of Deuteronomy is a commentary rich in insight and clearly devoted to being used in and by the church for the glory of God.

I am often asked about what commentaries I recommend on some particular book of the Bible. Normally I hedge my recommendations with qualifications: “not quite up to date in scholarship,” “rather too critical to be useful for most Christians,” “too little (or too much?) theological reflection.” I have no such qualifications for this work. To anyone who will have one single commentary on Deuteronomy on their shelves, this is the one to own and the one to help grasp this great book, the “heartbeat of the Old Testament.”

Whether we like it or not, our website is the front door of our church to the world around us. When someone wants to find something out about us, they ask that trusted consulted, Google. When they want a PCA church in the area, they ask Google. Again, this is simply the way things are, whether we wish it was the case or not. When people want to find out about Christianity, Presbyterianism, or a host of other things, they go online. Google's "Zeitgeist" findings discovered that the most common "Who is?" question asked of their search engine has been "Who is God?" People ask everything of the internet, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Our website is the front door. But we do not have to see this as a negative. The internet provides a very safe place for a timid person to explore what will happen if they decide to go to "church" (whatever that is or means). People increasingly have on idea what we do at "worship" (whataver that means), why we gather for it, what they will be asked to do, what they should wear, or a thousand other things. They want quick information, but they also want a safe place to find out that information: and a good, useful website is ideal for that situation. No pressure, no awkwardness. There are enough necessary stumbling blocks in coming to Christ. We should be happy to eliminate all the unnecessary barriers we can.

But a new website can also be useful for ourselves. We can have a "blog" like this one, where useful things can be discussed and helps given to members (or that is our hope in this blog!). The calendar of events and email access are now, hopefully, even more user-friendly. The "guts" of this website - the content management - are much easier to use and so will, we trust, be of greater use to us.

A good, useful website can also be a great help in extending our reach as a church. In October, 2007, the website at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tacoma was visited by 9,800 different people in 38 different states and 60 different countries on 6 continents. And the most popular content was the sermons. That was over two years ago and I'm sure the numbers have only increased. A useful, attractive website is an effective way of broadening our potential usefulness for the Church in the world.

So why a new website? Because we want to do all we can to help us in our life and practice of being the church of Jesus Christ. The cost is less than our current advertising in the "Yellow Pages" and the effectiveness far greater. You can send people and friends to the website, or they may get curious simply by your mentioning of the church and ask Google about it. What would you want them to see and find out about us? We hope and trust that a wise use of the website will be a tremendous help to our work, both towards the world and within the body.

If you have questions about the website at any point, please do not hesitate to ask me or any of the elders. Our goal in this, as in all we do, is to glorify God and be more faithful witnesses to the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.