Serve God Save The Planet - A Review

I had the opportunity to hear the author of the book I am about to review speak a few weeks ago. I was down in Houston for a quick in and out planning meeting and decided that I would attend Mercy Street for an opportunity to worship without having to lead worship. Several weeks prior to my trip, I had known that Dr. Sleeth was speaking on Sunday and Monday at Chapelwood UMC (the church where Mercy Street is housed on Saturday evenings) and was saddened that my trip was going to bring me back home prior to being able to hear Dr. Sleeth. What a surprise that is was that he was speaking to the Saturday evening group! It was a huge blessing.

After the service, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat briefly (and now having read the book, I would love the opportunity to do that again!) and he signed my copy of Serve God Save the Planet. Usually books that I acquire in this manner get read right away, but since I was in the middle of finishing a couple of others, it wasn't until this past week that I was able to make my way through the pages of Sleeth's book. Here is what I found:

First, I found a real life human being wrestling with the theological and ethical issues that face our world today regarding our relationship with God, creation, and one another. There was a genuine faith that exuded from the struggles that Matthew and his family went through in discerning where God was calling them in their faith journey. I am appreciative of the authenticity and transparency in the narratives that he shared in his book.

Second, I found more than just a complaint about the way things were. All throughout the book are examples of actions that can be taken to help remedy some of the problems that we face as stewards of creation. While some of the most concise and informative items occur in their fullest glory in the appendices, the work is consistent in offering solutions throughout.

Third, there was a consistent call to action for all Christians to join together. While we were exhorted to do something, I was appreciative of the reality of this being a process rather than an event. The changes that Matthew and his family have implemented have occurred over time and there was grace extended for us to take the time to implement changes in our own lives as well. Grace, however, should not be construed as an excuse for procrastination. Dr. Sleeth is clear in his exhortation.

Fourth, while I wrestled or disagreed with a couple of the ways in which Dr. Sleeth arrived at his conclusions (either of interpretation or implication), on the whole, his premises, logic, and conclusions were well thought out and delineated.

While an energy website and a couple of other sources are alluded to throughout the text, there are places where Dr. Sleeth says things like, "Current public health statistics point to the same conclusion (pg 59)." I say this only to say that the student (and honestly the partial cynic) that rests within me would have like to have seen a complete bibliography in one of the appendices for those of us who may want to do more reading on the subject. Being better resourced may make some of the decisions and changes that we must make about our consumption of energy easier to discern...or put another way, with the rest of the information, we might be better able to discern a starting place...for one family it may be reducing the number of vehicles, while with another family it may mean composting and reducing the amount of weekly trash.

The reader needs to be aware that everything is sacred and nothing is off limits in this book. From our obsession with sports, to our SUVs, to our televisions and computers, to our choices regarding children (even having them); Sleeth touches on it all. If read carefully, it will offend you at the core (and I mean that as a compliment to the author). I think that is because the gospel is presented throughout the text and quite honestly, I have always thought that Jesus desires to radically alter our lives...even our western ideologies based on the old idiom that more is better. Quite honestly, the truth does sometimes hurt.

Perhaps Shane Claiborne said it best when reviewing the book, "Creation is groaning. And Matthew Sleeth has responded. Serve God, Save the Planet is not an alarmist call of despair, but a hopeful invitation to reimagine the way we live..."

In the end I would give this book 3.75 out of 4 stars and encourage everyone that I know to read it!

I invite you to stay tuned for future reviews. Our next book up for review is Reading the Bible with the Damned by Bob Ekblad. I should have that review up in about a week or so!