Book Review: Jesus in the Margins

Like most people in their mid-30s I was first introduced to Rick McKinley by Donald Miller in his book Blue Like Jazz. It was here that I first read about Rick’s passion to re-imagine church – to change the image of church for people that feel beyond reach. Pastor Rick and his wife moved to to establish a community “for people to discover the love of Christ in the reality of life,” (taken from his book’s back cover).

In Rick’s book, Jesus in the Margins, he explains how the encompassing love of Jesus reaches down into the margins of society. That He came to Earth for those broken souls that usually go unnoticed by mainstream society. Throughout the book, Rick walks the readers into the margins of life, showing them that it is in the margins that we see the image of God (Imago Dei incidentally is the name of the community started by he and his wife).

How many of you have seen the figurine of Jesus playing soccer, baseball, or football with the kids? This is the culturally agreed upon image of Christ most of us have in our heads – right or wrong. Rick’s description would be a harder sell in the Christian bookstores. He describes Jesus as a misfit in his family, town, and culture He grew up in (Chapters 2 and 3). Jesus grew up in a small, rural town amidst whispers, behind the back accusations, and branded an illegitimate child. He didn’t fit the status quo – he was a “friend of sinners” (p. 51).

Jesus in the Margins opens and closes with chapters devoted to real life stories of people. They share their stories of life: neglect, sexual abuse, growing up fatherless, success-driven personalities, and homelessness. Each story is my story, not because I have gone through each of these circumstances, but because ‘margin dwellers’ feel that they are alone and have no real expectation to be welcomed if someone knew their ‘real story’.

We are not supposed to do life alone. We are supposed to live life in community with other Christ followers – we are “wired” for community. We need each other – without community we cannot become all we were designed to be (we were created on purpose and with a purpose). Just because we are meant to be in community, does not mean community is always neat. Rick says that “community is messy” (p. 162). It is messy because those that live in “community are required to fall at Jesus’ feet and beg him for the love it takes to obey the ‘one another’ commands” (p. 162). We exist for God and for those in our community.

Rick’s life is his book. He writes with an honest voice, accepting that he cannot do anything for God to love him more or less. He accepted many years ago that reality is a tough place to be with or without Jesus – life is not fair, but God is in control. Rick says that “sin is our desire to run our own lives any way we want” (p. 65), and that no matter how many times he fails, that “grace…keeps coming my way…” (p. 68). This is what resonated with me the most – no matter how many times I try to do things my way; I’m going to screw things up; just as much as I make a mess of my life, “You are accepted because of what Christ has done for you, not because of what you can do for Christ” (p. 144).