Miller - Blue Like Jazz

Miller's life seems to confirm both the randomness and God's direction to the universe. Jazz is an appropriate metaphor in that we see some forms, some phrases that repeat, a conversational arc but also life and reflections that strain our ability to anticipate his motivations and where he might head next. Miller is very much someone in search of "authentic" faith and his searching leads to some interesting encounters and observations. One of the tensions in his book is that his "search" for the authentic is an almost individualistic search while he seems to find what is most authentic in the midst of community. Some quotes/points worth noting:

p77 "the things we want most will kill us." Miller reflects about the innate and overwhelming "love of darkness" and finds it impossible to love the right things without God's help.

p79 "I believed if word got out about grace, the whole church was going to turn into a brothel."

p86 "The ability to accept God's unconditional grace and ferocious love is all the fuel we need to obey Him in return...God woos us with kindness, He changes our character with the passion of His love.

p130 "There was room at the table for me, but I wasn't in the family."

p182 "No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction."

p215 "The problem with Christian community was that we had ethics, we had rules and laws and principles to judge each other against."