Medicine For a Numb Soul

book club reminder and preface reflections

We are one week out from beginning Book Club 3!

Starting June 6th, we’ll read a chapter a week of Ray Ortlund’s rally cry to boldly enjoy the life and world God has graced us with in his new book: Eat, Drink & Be Merry.

We ordered sixty copies of Eat, Drink & Be Merry.

We only have 3 copies left (reach out if you or a friend still need one)—which means this should be the most participants we’ve had for a Book Club yet!

If you’re new, here is a little description of how this will go:

• We will read one chapter each week (read it at your convenience throughout the week and take notes if that’s your style)

• Every Saturday a discussion post and personal reflection will be put up here on the Gospel Coffee Club substack (starting with chapter 1 on June 6th)

• If you’d like to participate in the online discussion, that post is where you can share your insights, questions, and engage with the thoughts of other book clubbers.

• If you’re not into online discussion, no worries! We would be stoked to have you simply follow along with the reading, and even more stoked if you invited someone into Book Club to participate together and have your own discussion!

• That form of participation is actually what we see as the ideal: embodied, in-person meetings between friends, spouses, or family. Online community is great and all, but we are human—we are made to Really be together. So if its possible for you, find someone to meet up with weekly to talk through the chapter with. God will use that in ways online discussion posts just can’t.

That’s really it—read the chapter each week, meet with someone to discuss it or interact in the online discussion, and prayerfully receive the insights God graces you with through this book.

We like simple. And we love to see how God uses the simple.

I read through the book’s preface again, and figured I’d throw some reflections on that into this post as a primer for next week’s kickoff. On the first page, he says:

“Here’s why I’ve written it. You and I are being assaulted every day—pressured, even overwhelmed—by our modern culture of soul-numbing distraction.” (p. ix)

soul-numbing

This is a matter of the soul—the soul more valuable than gaining the whole world.

The soul-rest Jesus offers to the weary who come to him, is being stolen by the world.

Not only stolen, but given away as well. We willingly sacrifice our soul-rest on the altar of constant distraction, pseudo-omnipresence, and sensationalism—reaping exhaustion, anxiety, and depression.

This is not unique to the secular, unbelieving world. Much of the Church unknowingly suffers under this soul-numbing tyranny. The first step is to wake up and see the reality—become aware of the soul-toll all these things are having on us.

But then what? How are we to respond? What is the way forward? What medicine will heal this soul-sickness?

Ray’s prescription: enjoyment.

Enjoyment is “a smart strategy both for prevailing over these disastrous times and for building a better future.” (p. x)

He calls this book his “happy protest,” and uses Scripture to build his case for enjoyment being the proper antidote to the afflictions of the soul we are enduring.

God is inviting us to joyfully receive the good gifts He has granted—delicious food shared with friends, beholding the beauty of a painting, meaningful work—all of which are given that we might be drawn to the Source and Fulfillment of all Good gifts.

His assertion is that life is Good, despite being filled with suffering—which is a paradox that the Bible uniquely (and Truly) reconciles.

Taking hold of this Goodness is God’s way to liberty from the soul-numbing ploys of the world.

Quite the claim. Poetic and exciting for sure, but true?

Let’s hear Ray out.

Excited to get into this together, friends.

Read chapter one before Saturday the 6th, and be ready to share your thoughts with us in the comments section of the discussion post if you’d like!

The substack app is a convenient way to keep up with posts and engage as well, and is honestly a much better alternative to instagram and facebook and all those soul-numbing distraction traps. Lots of great writing on there too. Here’s a link to download it if you want to try it out:

Happy reading, and see you next week!