This last Sunday, our friend Samir Selmanovic, delivered an amazing sermon at Revolution. Unfortunately, our MP3 player freaked out and the sermon was not recorded. We are really bummed about this. The good news is that Samir has a new book out and much of the sermon was based on it. So, give your IPOD a rest this week and order Samir’s new book here. You can also check out his website at www.itsreallyallaboutgod.com.
Here’s a little blurb about the book:
Many of us say “Religion? No thanks. I’d rather be spiritual than religious.”
But our departure from religion is at the very same time a departure from its rich treasures of community, insight, art, practice, organized action, and hard lessons. Without religion, we find ourselves isolated, incoherent, and naïve on our spiritual journeys.
It’s Really All About God is Samir Selmanovic’s personal and moving exploration of a very different way of seeing religion. Selmanovic—who grew up a in a culturally Muslim family in Croatia, converted to Christianity as a soldier in the then-Yugoslavian army, and went on to become a Christian pastor in Manhattan and in Southern California—looks at how our ongoing and sometimes violent power struggles over who owns God and what God wants for the world and its peoples are serving neither God, humanity, nor our planet. Our religions have become self-serving God management systems. Yet—as Selmanovic contends—change is possible. To learn to live together on this fragile earth, authentic believers of all traditions need to see that it’s really not about their religion —it’s really all about God—God who is about all of us and cannot be owned by any of us.
This book is an attempt to look at our religions not merely as adherents but as human beings. Selmanovic believes that love for one’s religion is meant to be as dynamic as any love relationship. There must be distance as well as embrace. It’s Really All About God is an invitation to acknowledge this tension and serves as a guide to a safe, honest, and hopeful relational place where wholesome love for our religions can thrive.
It’s Really All About God is a very personal story and a thrilling exploration of a redeeming, dynamic, and radically different way of treasuring one’s own religion while discovering God, goodness, and grace in others and in their traditions.
Our assistant pastor, Vince Anderson wrote this endorsement of the book;
“This is a solidly researched book that reads like a love song. My inner mystic jumped and leaped and shouted for joy. I found myself less lonely in this big old world. I felt like I was at a really good party, each paragraph a song, each page another glass of wine, each chapter the prospect of another dance with a beautiful woman. At this party, nobody got mad at me for letting my hair down. In fact, everyone, including God, encouraged me to go a little crazy.”
We encourage you to go buy this book today!
Also, if you were at the REVOLUTION on Sunday, please post your notes and/or thoughts here!
