Out of the Depths: Sermons and Essays by Kenneth E. Kovacs  is one of those amazing books that the reader does not want to put down, but knows he or she must, to have some time to reflect on what’s just been read. From the very first pages, I found myself nodding in vigorous agreement, poignant concurrence or dark assent.

I need to disclose that I am disposed to the formation of positive opinions of books that echo my own points of view. Some of Kovacs’ material could just as easily fallen off my pen as his. I’ve long advocated translating telos as the “end” of transformation in Christ rather than as “perfect,” meaning “flawless performance.” Ask me about alethia and arche sometime!

As a devotee of Carl Jung, Kovacs has a deep appreciation of the value of Christian contemplative practice. The experience of God is so much more valuable than mere knowledge about God can ever be. Although many people, he believes, either distrust or devalue personal experience in this regard, it remains a truism that to grow up we must grow down. Ask any plant. I loved his expression “what matters most is the connection, the fluid movement between heaven and earth.…”

Kovacs takes issue with literalism; fundamentalism of any kind. It is, in my own experience as well, a frightened person’s response to the confusion, paradox and general messiness of life. Inimical to truth (alethia, awareness of the transcendence of God and acceptance of God’s invitation to intimacy) fundamentalism and it’s first cousin, literalism, are indeed sin because sin is separation from God and rejection of God’s offer of love. We might agree that this is one of this age’s deadliest sins, right up there with the Big Seven!

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read the chapter entitled Love the One You’re With. I’ve very often asked congregations and gatherings of people, by a show of hands, whether they love themselves. Of the thousands of folks who’ve been asked, only handfuls have ever raised their hands. They laugh when they do so, because they know the punch line to the joke that no one else is getting.

Right up there with the sin of fundamentalism, this inability to love is among the saddest hallmarks of our age. If a person cannot and does not love himself or herself, then why bother living? What’s the attraction anyway – idle curiosity? Or do we want to hide even more from the complex reality of the human condition (apologies to John Dewey – there is very much so such a thing), while passively moving towards global annihilation? Maybe Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death) was right after all! I do not actually believe he was (100%, anyway) but churches, governments and economic powers would do well to address this issue before there are no more churches, government or economies with which to be concerned.

I found the chapter on predeterminism and predestination a tad tedious, compared to the exhilaration of many of the other chapters’ insights. It’s even simpler than proposed: the reason anyone pr anything’s around is to manifest God’s creative love. We have bodies, and limited knowledge of each other’s innards (including our own), so that we can grow into relation, each one to something else it’s connected to, but is not. In doing so we discover more deeply more dimensions of our panentheistic God. To complete the discovery would require, as Psalm 139 points out, that we be eternal, which is precisely the offer God presents to us. Infinitely simple, nicht war?

 I wonder if Mr. Kovacs is a fan of Thomas Merton or is involved in any way with Fr. Thomas Keating’s Contemplative Outreach organization. The chapter Seeking After Jesus mentions “surrender” as Fr. Keating describes it. Far from being mere submission, surrender requires the “death” of the False Self (ego, with a very small “e”). The similarities are striking.

As I read the chapter And Jesus Wept, particularly the end, where he quotes from the end of the Lord of the Rings, I was put in mind of my years as a volunteer chaplain at an 800+ bed hospital near where I live, From time to time I was “it” – the only chaplain on duty for 16 straight hours. It was a privileged experience, to be sure, and I got to see many things I would never have seen had I not done that kind of duty. 

Sometimes I would be the one to meet and deal with families after the death of a loved one. Generally, after expressing condolences, I’d gently invite them to tell me a story of two about their loved one as we walked together through the first moments after death. I was always looking for laughter and tears, because that meant that there had been love. With a few chilling exceptions, that’s what I usually found. The blessing within the sorrow of death was awareness of love, the experience of compassion, and a deep sense of the precious gift of companionship.

Kovacs addresses several monitory passages to his church which could as readily be addressed to mine as well. Our churches are not museums They are gathering places for those whose personal experience of the Risen Lord has compelled them to meet together for praise and worship, and to realize the Gospel in every minute of their lives. Our church organizations, creeds, ordinances, theologies, constitutions and such like are there only to guide and support that effort – they are NOT substitutes for the personal encounter with the Risen Lord. Frankly, no one care what you or I believe – the operative question is whether we are lovers or haters – people of the gospel, people whose faith is the faith that Jesus had in his Father – or not.

I was delighted to hear that Mr. Kovacs had left someone behind, and was man enough to take responsibility for it! Being left behind’s something of a tradition in our family – everybody gets left behind at some point in their trajectory towards adulthood. Beyond that, there’s a deeper meaning to being lost, left behind or wandering. Quoting Tolkien’s observation that “All who wander are not lost,” the point is made that no only is that perhaps necessary, but God never leaves us behind permanently.

In A World of Distractions we find once again that sense of Kovacs’ appreciation of contemplative prayer and the value of silence. I was put in mind of Fr. Anthony deMello’s definition of silence, not as the absence of sound, but as the absence of ego. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Superbowl halftime show that was nothing but 30 minutes of silence, uninterrupted by commercials?

There is so much more to this book that I would like to write about, but then I’d be writing my own book. I have in fact written Tales for the Masses, which I would like to share with Mr. Kovacs at some point after it’s published. I would heartily recommend this book to any and every person who takes his or her Christian faith seriously.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.