I just finished Green by Ted Dekker.  Seemingly the last of Dekker’s “The Circle” books, it’s been packaged as book Zero of the Black, Red and White series.  In the introduction, Dekker offers the book as a book that “both begins… and ends the series…  The story works seamlessly either way, like a circle or zero.”  Dekker’s Circle mythology has expanded beyond the four to include three “Paradise” novels and six “Lost Books”.  Dekker doesn’t mention if these are required reading or not; when I started Green, I had read the other three “Circle” books and Showdown, the last of the “Paradise” novels.

Bottom line: Green is the final chapter in The Circle, an ambitious project remaniscent of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series that is definitely worth the read.  And yes, I do mean ‘final chapter’.  In this, I have to disagree with Mr. Dekker on a minor point – I don’t think Green works as book zero.

For those not in the know, the Circle takes place 2,000 years further into the future than our own time (something that I did not pick up on when reading the first three books – was this Dekker’s plan all along, or an idea that developed later?).  In this world, all of human history from Eden to the Revelation (well, about chapter 17 anyway) is played out again in the space of about 30 years.

We jump into Green to find the Circle (Dekker’s post-apocalyptic Church) fractured, dividing along doctrinal lines as some begin to question their leader, Thomas Hunter and his commitment to non-violence as the way of Elyon (God).  In fact, this seems to be the main conflict that drives the characters in Green.  Do we resist the Horde (non-Christians) and the Eramites (Jews) with violence the way we used to (back in the days before Justin/in the Old Testament before Jesus) or must we continue to suffer and die and not resist violently?

Here I do wish Dekker had taken some time to flesh out this picture of the Circle better.  He seems to fall into a false dichotomy between the Circle running for its life and outwitting the slower, less crafty Horde and violent opposition.  Dekker does not present a Third Way of creative non-violence, nor does he devote any time to discussing how the Circle’s non-violent ways have impacted the Horde.  For the Circle, the choice becomes fight or “die while we wait for God to show up”.

That said, Dekker does a great job of moving characters around in his books.  Their motives are clear if not always entirely compelling.  (And this is my main problem with Green serving as a prequel: If I didn’t already know Thomas, Kara, Monique, Chalise, even Qurong, from the other books, I doubt I would’ve cared about them at all. In fact, I did not connect with the two main antagonists Billy and Janae – I found them the least believable or compelling, and I believe they were introduced in some of the “Paradise” and “Lost Books” novels.)  Each character moves on a journey (usually both physical and spiritual) toward the redemption of some other character (or, in the cases of the antagonists, to corrupt other characters).

Overall, the story moves well.  The characters are interesting.  And the plot devices are pretty tight.  Dekker closes his circle with only one or two open questions (again, unless I missed the answers by not reading the rest of the Circle tie-ins).

All-in-all, I would highly recommend Green to anyone who enjoys thrillers and/or fantasy, but only after reading at least the other Black, Red and White first.

And after the trainwreck that is the Left Behind books, Dekker's take on Revelation was refreshing to say the least. :)

Our Father in Heaven, You are holy.  You created all things by the command of your Word, and yet you yourself are uncreated.  You are in all things, and everything that is, exists because you continue to sustain it. 

We have come together this morning as your children, as recipients of your good gifts,

to acknowledge that the Earth is yours, and everything in it.

We acknowledge that you are the giver of all good gifts, that everything that is good and perfect comes from you.

We acknowledge that you put your glory in everything you create, that all things might point us back to you.

You have given us Hearts with which to love as you have loved us.

You have given us Souls that seek and dream and aspire to be more than we can dream - to be what you dream us to be.

You have given us Minds to ponder, explore and question the good world you have given us.

And you have given us Strength to run and play and hug and smell and hear and so much more - to enjoy creation with you.

You have given us all this and more, and we gratefully receive these gifts from you.

We confess that we are not always wise stewards of your gifts.  We confess that we are easily distracted, that we often allow our lives to become cluttered.

Our hearts often wander, and we fill them with lusts and longings for that which you have taught us will poison us.

We squander our souls, too often settling for so much less than you created us to be.

We sully our minds with trivial matters and our tongues become spears that pierce our brothers and sisters.

And we turn our bodies over to the peculiar gluttonies of our culture.  We indulge ourselves in our works or our foods or our drive to buy, buy, buy.

We allow ourselves to be formed in the image of the consumer, the taker…

…Rather than in the image of the giver of all good things.

Forgive us for our foolishness.  Forgive us for becoming enamored by the glory you've placed in this beautiful world you created, for cluttering our very Selves with that which is not you. 

Forgive us for worshiping our families, our country, our jobs, our friends and spouses and significant others.  Forgive us for worshiping our electronics and homes and cars and

schedules and pets and diets and every other good thing we place between our hearts and your throne.

Forgive us for serving far too often the created rather than the Creator.

Remind us in our time together that You sit on the throne at the center of creation. 

Teach us to love as you do, give ourselves for the redemption of our brothers and sisters even as you gave yourself to us.

Teach us to dream God-sized dreams, to see our selves and our potential with YOUR eyes, not our own.

Teach us to speak gentle words that heal, and to consider our world and our culture with wisdom

Teach us to be good stewards of our gifts, to discipline our bodies and our time.

Teach us again what it means to center our Selves on you and you alone, to make you the only Person on the throne of who we are

And to understand that all we have flows from you, our good and gracious king.

We thank you most of all for the gift of our salvation and redemption, given to us in the person of your Son Jesus.  We pray all these things in his name, and in his name we now declare ourselves your faithful children.

The Earth is Yahweh's, and everything in it!

He shall reign forever

Yahweh is the King over all kings.

He shall reign forever

Yahweh is the Lord over all lords.

He shall reign forever

Yahweh is the Ruler over all presidents and prime ministers.

He shall reign forever and ever.

We are Yahweh's children.  He is our good and gracious Father.

We look to Yahweh.

We are Yahweh's subjects.  He is our strong and powerful King.

Our hope is Yahweh.

Hurricanes strike.  Economies collapse.  Wars are raged.

We look to Yahweh.

Nations rise and nations fall.  But our hope is not in nations.

Our hope is Yahweh.

Our families and our jobs, our belongings and our being belong to Yahweh.

He shall reign forever.

The desires of our hearts, our deepest dreams and aspirations belong to Yahweh.

He shall reign forever.

Our tongues and our thoughts, our struggles and successes belong to Yahweh.

He shall reign forever.

Our hearts, our souls, our minds and our strength belong to Yahweh.

He shall reign forever and ever.

In our blackest nights, when we despair of hope, Yahweh is our light.

We look to Yahweh.

In our greatest accomplishments, when we achieve more than we ever thought we could, still then

Our hope is in Yahweh.

With every piece of who we are, we serve the first and last, A and Z, the origin and goal of our very lives.

We look to Yahweh.

He is our great king and we gladly, gratefully kneel at his throne, which sits at the center of creation and the center of our hearts.

Our hope is in Yahweh.

He shall reign forever!

He shall reign forever and ever!

We look to Yahweh!

Our hope is in Yahweh!

Our hope is in Yahweh!

Our hope is in Yahweh!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole Healthcare uproar.  I confess that I haven’t been following it very closely, because I’m just not sure that it’s going to end up that big a deal.  I doubt that – should we adopt Universal Healthcare – either 1. the world will end as we know it (as the Republicans would seem to want us to think) or 2. we will attain a new level of peace and justice heretofore unknown in America (as the Democrats want to believe).  No, I think that whatever happens will be for both better and worse.

What I find so interesting is the discourse that I’m hearing, not only at the official level, but everywhere else.  I’m coming to believe that what’s at stake is not so much who gets to see doctors, but the American Identity.  Allow me to explain:

Traditionally, America has conceived of herself as a place where anyone – because all men are created equal – can – with enough hard work - ‘pull themselves up by their own bootstraps’ to achieve economic and social success.  I’ve heard a lot of critics of Universal Healthcare (and all sorts of welfare) cry that it’s ‘unAmerican’ – that it’s giving handouts, that it encourages people not to work, not to ‘earn it for themselves’.  And I can see where they’re coming from.  From within the ‘American Dream’ meta-narrative – if we all really are equal and all really do have the same chances – then those who have not don’t have because they simply aren’t trying as hard as the haves.  And in that story, they don’t deserve to be given handouts or hand-ups.  They just need to work harder.  If this story is true, then Obama is unAmerican.

The real problem is that the story of the American Dream has never been true.  Our nation has not for one moment been a place where every single man (and woman!) was equal to every other man (and woman!).  We’ve certainly taken great strides in that direction, but we would do well to heed the words of Dr. King’s famous speech: equality in America is an unrealized DREAM.  A great dream, to be sure, but a dream nonetheless.  The Great American Experiment is has been a success so long as we have been white (and often male).  Of course this isn’t true across the board – plenty of white Americans struggle and non-white Americans have succeeded.  But as a rule, it’s much more difficult for non-whites to succeed in the job market or even in the educational system (hence the abundance of minority-based scholarships and programs like Affirmative Action).

And I think this is why Obama’s healthcare bill is striking such a divisive chord: Obama comes from a people that has found itself beneath the American dream; blacks (along with other minorities – Amerindians, Hispanics and others) have been exploited to consolidate our success stories.  They have not had the same opportunities to pull themselves up by anyone’s bootstraps; in fact, cultural and social forces have historically been leveraged against their success.

I believe that Obama sees the issue with minority eyes; to him, this is a means by which to continue to level the playing field, to work towards Dr. King’s dream.  Obama represents the peoples who know that America is not the land of opportunity for everyone, but it could be.  Universal healthcare is – hopefully – one more step along that journey.

This is, I think, the real debate: is America the Land of Opportunity, or is she only on her way to becoming that?  The answer is yes, depending on who you are and where you’re coming from.  Is Universal Healthcare a wise and prudent step for our country to take?  I don’t know.  But I think that until we recognize that our very identity as a country is what we’re debating, and recast the debate accordingly, we’re not going to arrive at any helpful answers (though we’ll no doubt continue to generate ratings for FOXNews and CNN).

What do you think?