Exiles

I've just begun reading this book and I'm finding it truly fascinating and challenging and liberating. 

The call to find a third place, a space to connect with others has long been a desire of my heart. As a church leader it is so easy to spend all my time either in the study or among believers. But that's always been an uncomfortable place for me to be. I'm convinced that the church exists not for its own ends but for the sake of the not-yet-believing community.

So this book is a real challenge to put into practice many of the things I've longed to do for so many years.

Here are my "favourite" quotes from the first part of the book Dangerous Memories:

We have preferred the adorable alabaster Jesus to the flesh-and-blood radical Messiah. We have imprisoned him in a stained-glass cell and want only to worship him, never to follow him. (52)

...if exiles today are to model their lives and ministries on that of the exile Jesus, they must take a stance that promotes proximity between themselves and those among whom they live.

Christians must be prepared to go where Christ would go: to the poor, the marginalised, to the places of suffering. They must be prepared to die to self in order to follow Jesus' radical lifestyle of self-giving and sacrifice. (54)

...our lives need to become increasingly aligned with the example of Jesus... It means, though, increasingly becoming people of justice, kindness, mercy, strength, hope, grace, generosity, and hospitality. (64)

Bart: What religion are we?
Homer: You know, the religion with all the well-meaning rules that don't really work in real life. (70)