I grew up in a Christian home. Until a few years ago I think the only place I thought God did his thing was at church. In the last few years I have been more and more challenged to sort of live as a Christian outside the Christian box. What I surprisingly found was that Jesus was there too, exactly where I didn't expect him to be.

A couple of weeks ago I got my hands on a book that described what I have often found difficulty describing to others. It is written by a guy named Rick McKinley, whose name I recognized from another book I liked a lot called “Blue Like Jazz” where he is referred as, “pastor Rick.” Pastor Rick, in Jesus in the Margins, says that God is somebody who likes to hang out with people who don't really fit the status quo.

Until recently, church for me was a lot of pressure. Every time I went I felt all these expectations from people. I needed to dress a certain way. Say the right things, like “I'm doing good, how are you?” And of course I needed to sing really loud whether I felt like it or not. Church felt like so much work, like there were so many expectations I had to meet if anyone there was going to like me.

The weird thing was that I kind of felt more normal when I wasn't at church or with church people, like, then I could be real. I work at a record store now and though sometimes I feel like I'm an undercover cop because I am a Christian, I usually feel like I can just be myself with those people. They all know that I am a Christian, I don't really try and hide it or anything. But sometimes I think they know more about who I really am, what I like and don't like and how I really live my life, than my Christian friends do.

Rick McKinley in Jesus in the Margins says that there are all kinds of people in the margins. He writes, “Society--our world, our culture--has margins just like this page does. They're places occupied by people who go unnoticed, misfits who seldom figure in when the mainline world defines itself and esteems itself. But they're there. The margins are where I find people like me.”

The truth is I have always sort of felt like I am on the outside looking in. I always kind of feel out of place like I don't quite fit. The people that like most of the things I like are not Christians and so though we are alike in a lot of ways I always feel different from them too. This book has helped me to see that maybe that is okay. Rick McKinley is the Pastor of Imago Dei Community Church in Portland, Or. and in this book he says that Jesus was always hanging with non-Christians and took a lot of heat from the religious leaders for it. He says that it is mostly outside of the church walls where God is at work, “in the places we ignore.”

In the book, McKinley talks about his own life and the life of some of his friends and how God has worked in them and through their situations. Like Tiffany, a girl who was molested by a family member at a young age and now has a hard time dealing with the idea that God loves her because he let that happen. Or Peter, who is a very successful business man but confesses that though he has everything money can buy he has no real relationships with anyone, including his family. And even Rick himself admits that even though he is a pastor he has a continual fear of rejection.

The biggest thing about this book is Jesus. When I was reading it I saw him in a different way, as the God who doesn't expect people to be all perfect before he will like them or accept them. It challenged me to think about what Jesus did, not solely in terms of this ticket to get into heaven, but as this huge thing that makes me okay with God and then allows and calls me to go reach out to other people who have been marginalized. Even if it means pissing the religious leaders off because I call those sinners friends and am okay with buying them a beer and drinking one with them.

McKinley challenges the idea that Christianity is about rules and lines of right and wrong, Instead, he says it is about Jesus, who he is and what he did and how we are to follow his example. He says, “The church wants to protect Jesus' image rather than proclaim the real and living Christ. We want to protect him from the appearance of doing things that wouldn't fit into today's church culture.”

I like the Jesus McKinley talks about in this book. Not because it means that I can go and do whatever I want and Jesus will be cool with it, but because this Jesus makes more sense with what I read in my Bible and makes more sense of my life. I think Jesus is a God who goes after those who live in the margins. The question we are faced with as Christians is, “will we follow him?”

Read more about Jesus in the Margins: Finding God in the Places We Ignore

I had the opportunity to listen Rick today @ my Church and he's Greeeaaaat.....I agree with him 100g..God bless you and best of luck.
--Mary ( mary_rodriguez_05 at yahoo dot com ) on 7/2/2006; 6:15:09 PM

Thanks for your explanation of what the book is about. I look forward to reading it myself. After reading what you have said I have to admit, I for once do not feel like I am crazy. Myself and my wife, also tend to fit in with people that are "in the margin."

We are currently looking for a home church, and have visited Imago Dei. I have to say that I have been greatly impressed by what I have seen so far. When I first looked at the church's lists of ministries that they were involved in (outside the Church), I said to myself, "these people get it!" They are not targeting already Christian, Church Shoppers, as most church's do, they are after people souls. . . the people who are under-represented. . . the people Christ hung with. . . the outsiders of society, whom are open to the Gospel.
--Chris Frazee ( christopherfrazee at yahoo dot com ) on 2/1/2006; 1:32:13 AM

Whoa there that's hot shit
--Marissa ( goaway at yourmom dot com ) on 7/3/2005; 4:20:16 AM

I'm definitely going to have to get this book.

Also, I don't see Jesus as hanging out with any christians or non-christians (christians hadn't been invented yet). He hung out with and intentionally went after sinners, or as he said, the sick ones who needed the doctor. And, some of these "sinners", called directly to his side and called them apostles. Every one of those guys was "marginal", to say the least, especially in regards to religious things.

"Blessed are those who know their need of God, there's is the kingdom..."
--Phil ( praybourn at jam dot rr dot com ) on 3/11/2005; 5:57:54 PM