This
is a book review that I completely dropped the ball on. I am humbled that Waterbrook Multnomah rather
than castigate and criticize me for failing on our agreement of receiving free
books for reviews actually asked me to return.
So with that, I am finally sitting down to write a review of This Beautiful Mess.
In
the first chapter of the book McKinley writes, “…messy. Why would his kingdom be messy?”
“Christians
don’t like mess much, not in our world and especially not in ourselves or our
churches” (Pg. 4).
I have
the privilege of serving once a month at a place called Joseph's House in
Washington, DC--a hospice home for homeless people dying of AIDS and
Cancer. Yesterday was that day and while
serving there I was having a conversation with another person volunteering about
how messy relationships are. I have a
comfortable, secure government job and trying to develop relationships across
racial and economic barriers is a challenge and takes great intentionality. I think McKinley is absolutely correct in his
assessment that we Christians don’t like mess. We make the “…assumption that
following Jesus and pursuing the American Dream are in complete harmony and
will take is in pretty much the same direction.
They won’t. The reality of the
kingdom is dangerous and beautiful and life altering” (Pg. 29).
McKinley
also points out that far too many of us live with a destination paradigm rather
than a journey paradigm—we are biding our time here until the dessert finally
arrives in heaven. In McKinley’s words, “…I realized that most of Jesus’ followers
lived pretty much like everyone else—except we hoped for heaven. This is a sad depiction of much of
Christianity today and it has little to nothing to do with what it means to be
a disciple!” (Pg. 69).
Personally,
for me, living in the West with all of the comforts and freedoms that I have, I
find it incredibly difficult to grasp what it truly means to be a follower of
Christ. “When we read the stories of
Acts of the first disciples, words like suffering,
persecution, and martyrdom quickly
come to mind…The American church doesn’t produce martyrs; we produce
celebrities” (Pg. 131, 133).
There is
much truth found in the second appendix to McKinley’s book, truth that I think
the Church in the West would be wise to embrace and pursue, namely, “…we must
choose to be proclaimers of God’s love over being protectors of morality…Our
failure to love the world is our sin
to own… Christ’s life is a physical proclamation of the love of God—full of
risk, sacrifice and rejection” (Pg. 162, 164).
I
remember my wife reading this book more than a year before me and sharing that
I should read it as well. I had
forgotten about it until it should up as an available option for review with
Waterbrook. Am so glad it did. McKinley has a relevant and needed message for
the church today. This is a book that I
would recommend to anyone looking to serve and follow the Servant Savior Jesus
of Nazareth!
