Conversation around the book “The Shack”
Read pages 1-66 “The Great Sadness”
Forward: Type of story- Parable written for his children.
“Mack is not very religious. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with Religion, and maybe even with the God that he suspects is brooding distant, and aloof” (page 10) What words would you use to describe God?
“He wanted a narrative to help him express to them (his wife and children) understand what has been going on in his inside world. You know that place: where there is just you alone- and maybe God, if you believe in him. Of course, God might be there even if you don’t believe in him. That would be just like him. He hasn’t been called the Grand Interferer for nothing.” (page 12) What are names that you use to describe God? What are names or images that are comfortable for you in expressing who God is? Have you ever heard of or thought of God as the “Grand Interferer”? What are the implications of that name for God?
Chapter 1 A Confluence of Paths
“There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules.” (page 15) What about interruptions in your life? Mack receives a note signed Papa (God) but he doesn’t tell anyone. Why not? Have you ever received a message that you suspected might be from God and not told anyone?
Chapter 2 The Gathering Dark
Context of the story- Oregon’s Gorge and Multnoma Falls, Columbia River Gorge. What about the redemption story of the Indian princess? How do you think the exchange between Missy and Mack anticipates Mack’s conversations with Jesus? “Daddy, how come she had to die?...Honey, she didn’t have to die. She chose to die to save her people. They were very sick and she wanted them to be healed.” (page 30)
”Is the Great Spirit another name for God- you know Jesus’ papa?...Then how come he is so mean…making the princess jump off the cliff and Jesus die on the cross.” …”Sweetheart, Jesus didn’t think his daddy was mean. He thought his daddy was full of love and loved him very much. His daddy didn’t make him die. Jesus chose to die because he and his daddy loved you and me and everyone in the world. He saved us from our sickness, just like the princess.” Mack is offering an explanation for the atonement here. What do you think of this explanation? Does Mack really believe it?
“Will God ever ask me to jump off a cliff? No, Missy. He would never ask you to do anything like that.” Here Mack is talking about the reality of evil and the sovereignty of God.
Chapter 3 The Tipping Point
Mack describes Nan’s job “She helps people think through their relationship with God in the face of their own death…Nan’s a lot better than I am. I guess she thinks about God differently than most folks. She even calls him Papa because of the closeness of their relationship, if that makes sense….I’m not comfortable with it (referring to God as Papa). It’s just seems a little too familiar for me. Anyway, Nan has a wonderful father, so I think it’s easier for her”. This statement foreshadows Mack’s conversation with God later in the parable and his struggle with language for God and openness to God.
In the incident with the canoe tipping how many people felt guilty? Mack’s words to Emil “This wasn’t your fault and everyone’s ok”. What about Mack guilt when he discovers that everyone wasn’t ok?
Chapter 4 The Great Sadness
“It is so easy to get sucked into the if-only game and playing it is a short slippery slide into despair. If only he had decided not to take the kids on that trip; if only he had said no when they asked to use the canoe; if only he had left the day before; , if only, if only, if only.” And then to have it all end with nothing. The fact that he was unable to bury Missy’s body magnified his failure as her daddy.” (page 65) Have you ever played the “if only game”? What are other options
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