Blue Like Jazz: Laura at Reed College

I started rereading Don Miller's classic book Blue Like Jazz (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003) a couple of days ago. I found my first reading of it in December 2005 to be enjoyable and stimulating. I saw it prominently placed in a bookstore at Washington Dulles Airport 2 weeks ago, so I figured that it must be popular among travelers.

I came across chapters 4 and 5, which tell of Miller's involvement at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The Pacific Northwest is known as being one of the most unchurched regions of the U.S. In this way, it is like France and a lot of Western Europe.

Miller describes Reed College in the following way: "Some of the Christians in Portland talk about Reed College as if it is hades. They say the students at Reed are pagans, heathens in heart. Reed was recently selected by the Princeton Review as the college where students are most likely to ignore God. It is true. It is a godless place, known for existential experimentation of all sorts. There are no rules at Reed, and many of the students there have issues with authority. Reed students, however, are also brilliant. Loren Pope, former education editor for the New York Times, calls Reed 'the most intellectual college in the country.' Reed receives more awards and fellowships, per capita, than any other American college and has entertained more than thirty Rhodes scholars." (p. 17)

He then tells of his taking courses there, making friends there, and even of some people finding Christ there. I appreciate how he sees people there as people, rather than simply evangelism targets. Concerning a classmate named Laura, he writes: "Laura and I didn't talk much about religion after that. She had dreams of becoming a writer, so we talked about literature. She would give me articles or essays she had written. I ate them. They were terrific. It was very much an honor to even know her. I could sense very deeply that God wanted a relationship with every human being, but with Laura I could feel God's urgency. Laura, however, wanted little to do with it. She never brought up the idea of God, so I didn't either." (p. 41)

Miller was stimulated by this environment. He writes: "I felt alive at Reed...As odd as it sounds, having grown up in church, I fell in love with the campus. The students were brilliant and engaged. I was fed there, stimulated, and impassioned. I felt connected to the raging current of thoughts and ideas. And what's more, I had more significant spiritual experiences at Reed College than I ever had at church....Interacting with these guys showed me how shallow and self-centered my Christian faith had bcome. Many of the students hated the very idea of God, and yet they cared about people more than I did." (pp. 41-42)

Later on in the story, Laura mentions that "I feel like God is after me Don." (p. 52) She says, "I want to believe, but I can't. I hate this." (p. 54)

Miller writes: "I had no explanation for Laura. I don't think there is an explanation. My belief in Jesus did not seem rational or scientific and yet there was nothing I could do to separate myself from this belief. I think Laura was looking for something rational, because she believed that all things that were true were rational. But that isn't the case. Love, for example, is a true emotion, but it is not rational. What I mean is, people actually feel it. I have been in love, plenty of people have been in love, yet love cannot be proved scientifically. Neither can beauty. Light cannot be proved scientifically, and yet we all believe in light and by light see all things. There are plenty of things that are true that don't make sense. I think that one of the problems Laura was having was that she wanted God to make sense. He doesn't. He will make no more sense to me than I will make sense to an ant." (p. 54)

The chapter ends with the following e-mail that Laura sends him:
Dearest friend Don,

I read through the book of Matthew this evening. I was up all night. I couldn't stop reading so I read through Mark. This Jesus of yours is either a madman or the Son of God. Somewhere in the middle of Mark I realized He was the Son of God. I suppose this makes me a Christian. I feel much better now. Come to campus tonight and let's get coffee.

Much love,
Laura (p. 58)

During my lifetime, I've been a part of the chain of contacts that is a part of some people coming to faith in Christ, or coming back to Him. This is great. But I want to see much more of this during this current chapter of ministry here.