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).

Compassion Bloggers Trip #2 (Dominican Republic)

Man - I would love to go on this trip! Go and check out the new web site for Compassionbloggers.com, while you are there pick up a widget, put one on your site and select the child or children that will be ever changed because of your love!

It only took 3-4 weeks

We have finally decided on which child we are going to sponsor through Compassion! Everyone meet the newest addition to our family!

We can't wait to get to know Olupot Najin from Uganda! We will introduce Morgan to Olupot (well at least to his picture - maybe one day we'll actually all get to meet each other face to face!) and get her to color some pictures for him.

We are so excited to be able to share our blessings with Olupot, and expect to be blessed by his letters, pictures, stories, and prayers.

Please add him to your prayers. If you are looking for a way to add to your life, while helping a child receive the assistance to reach their full potential please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion!

Prayer

Seeing that today is the National Day of Prayer, I thought that I would share my new quote of the day.

Your prayer life is more important that you think, and is weaker than you think!

Prayer is our vertical connection with God and connects our souls. Stop and pray today. Say a short prayer in your cubicle; when you are stopped in traffic; as you walk to lunch or the bathroom. Pray for wisdom and strength; your community, city and state; world affairs and social justice (poverty, hunger, AIDS, malaria, and other conflicts)!

What sort of impact can you make with prayer?

If you have a prayer request, you can contact pinkhairedgirl.net via the button on the right side of the page.

Book Review: Consuming Jesus

Totally challenging and rewarding!

It was an interesting read for me because of the timing of it - the
US in the midst of a political cycle that has two very similar groups of people (conservatives and liberals) vying for the seat of the
presidency telling us how different they are; at the same time, personally I am in the midst of some self
review. In the midst (I just like saying that word) of it all, this book was dropped at my front door.

This book has probably had more of an impact on how I look at my community than any other book on my bedside table. I struggled initially with the book because it slammed up against much of my previous notions (politically, culturally, and religiously). By the last chapter, my definition of community had changed from the limited view of community - the people in the area you live in that look like you, live like you, sound like you, and smell like you, to a new view of community that encompassed all people (no matter their social standings and their religious beliefs).

My favorite part of the book was the conclusion, A Nobler Vision of Patchwork Quilts and Church Potlucks. The chapter provided a vision for how the church the active part of the community, networking to serve and strengthen each piece.

Chinese poem

The following Chinese poem was attributed to John M. Perkins in "Consuming Jesus" by Paul Metzger.

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have:
But of the best leaders
When their task is done
The people will remark
"We have done it ourselves."

The book took more time to finish than I had expected. I will try to get a review/quotes out by Monday (April 21). Although, I am planning another technology free weekend. We'll see how everything goes!