| Title | : | Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1590523873 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781590523872 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published January 20, 2005 |
Jesus is our ultimate model for finding identity, acceptance, and legitimacy from the Father. As we pull back the curtain on His life, we discover that Jesus knows what it’s like to be marginalized. He understands how it feels to have society shove you to the side, to not really be accepted, and in the end to be totally rejected. He can identify with life in the margins because when God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, He landed in the margins. On purpose. And He chose to land there because it’s in the margins that broken lives get mended, prisoners are set free, and the poor hear the Good News.
Reimagine Your Life
Welcome to the crowded margins of life. It’s a place where normal people don’t feel normal. Where the daily grind drowns out the soft cry within that says, “I do not have it together.” Where just beneath the surface we long for meaning and—dare we hope?—wholeness.
Rick McKinley writes from Only God can rescue a person from the margins. Why? Because when He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, in the margins is where he landed. On purpose. To find you.
Don’t wait till you get yourself together. Meet Jesus in the margins just as you are, and reimagine your life through the lens of His transforming love.
Story Behind the Book
This book was birthed out of Rick’s ministry at Imago Dei Community Church. Rick’s heart is to communicate God’s Word in an understandable way to those who are outside the reach of traditional churches. He often calls this “unpacking the gospel”—a gospel he sees as the predominant theme in all of Scripture. Rick says the kind of people he ministers to “are not afraid of the language of theology, but the theological ideas need to be brought down from the mountain.”
Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore Reviews
-
Truly, truly, truly a great book. Rick McKinley is the lead pastor of Imago Dei, a community of faith in Portland, OR. This is the church where Donald Miller, the author of numerous books including the phenomenally successful book Blue Like Jazz attends and helps out at. This book is about how do we see ourselves, how do we let other people, how do we let other things, and circumstances define us. Much of the time we can be defined by others in loser type categories. We aren’t this or that. And because of this we are pushed towards the gutters, the margins of life.
McKinley says…don’t let these things define you because that is not who we are. First Jesus came and he came to the margins and he spent time there and hung out with people who felt alienated and out of place with the rest of society. In the words of the old Steve Taylor song, Jesus was for losers. And then he says let God define you. God sees us so much differently then we see ourselves or how others see us. We are his creation, we are his possession, we are his treasure. Reimagine life defined by how God views us rather than how we view, or how others view, ourself.
Jesus came to the margins, to redefine our view of ourselves. But he came to the margins not to leave us there but to pull us from there and then to help others escape the margins of life.
The book is a great read, moves, at times, a tad slow but is filled with good stuff. If you are caught in the margins you can escape. If you are out of the margins you don’t have to ever go back. Allow God to define you, not others. -
This was a birthday present, and was much appreciated. I'm still trying to figure out what (if anything) I believe, and this was a really interesting book and not unlike Blue Like Jazz.
The idea is that a lot of times, people feel like they need to be perfect to be sort of accepted by God and Jesus, and that sometimes they won't start going to church until they feel ready to get their lives together. But Rick McKinley posits that it isn't necessary to do that, because Jesus has never been about only being around the "good" people. He befriended a prostitute, remember?
So the idea is that Jesus' whole point, almost, was to reach out to the people who needed Him and not just the people who were the best people around.
Very interesting; I'd like to read more of his books. -
Good book and easy read. Probably would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could (which is what it is averaging) but I can't and I would rather give it higher than lower. Good thoughts. I'm glad I read it but I probably won't read it again (which for me is the typical standard for higher than 4 stars). I would probably give it to a friend who was wondering about coming to faith in Jesus without having a church background.
-
My husband got this book at the library. I started to read it before him but didn't have time to finish it before it was due again. It was written by the pastor of my church. Of what I read, I found it was all ideas that I have heard from him in his sermons already. I don't plan to finish it at this point.
-
I'm not very fond of this book. The guy might be an incredible paster (I haven't heard him preach), but he's not a very grand writer. His ideas were good, but his elaboration was thin to none. Like my friend said, "It was like a piece of chicken with very little fat on it for me to chew on."
-
While I enjoy Rick McKinley's preaching quite a bit, this book was in sore need of a good editor. The themes are good but the execution left a lot to be desired.
-
own
-
Written by the pastor at Imago Dei Community Church in Portland, Oregon where Kirsten attended during college. A good book for seekers or new believers.
-
Very interesting observation of how to make Jesus and his principles more evident and personal in your life.
-
Not just marginally good...
I've had this book in my library for a number of years, but just recently had the opportunity to read through it...and I'm sorry I did not do that sooner.
I felt uplifted by the stories shared, and could relate feelings of isolation, rejection, and judgement...but was also heartened by the reminder that through a vital connection with God and others, we can move forward and find the joy we desperately
Those looking for theories and best practices may be disappointed in its lack of either, but I don't think that's what the author was going for. The shared experiences, hope lined stories, and honest reflection are enough to cause the reader to take pause and begin to determine their own course of action to move from the margins of life into the life with Jesus. -
This was a quick read. I really enjoyed the beginning but started getting bored toward the end. While the points are good, by the end it felt repetitive and a bit stale.
