I have a penchant for the “edges.” Rick McKinley looks to the margins. Our culture too quickly marginalizes people. Feelings of neglect, depression, inadequacy, and hopelessness strut their stuff in the lives of those living in the margins.
In his book, Jesus in the Margins, McKinley offers a number of “stories” from the margins of life. It reads like a laundry list of those I have had conversations with over the years – and likely you too. What’s more people we find in the margins generally feel the church, Christianity, and religion speak but not to them. Since the margin was his home, Rick is fit for the task of calling to those in the margins offering hope.
This is no sappy story. Instead, it is one that recognizes the loss people may feel and offers hope in Jesus. Simply and with great care, Rick describes the experience with the risen Jesus for those left out, kicked out, pushed down and tossed aside.
Just today, one of our Bible Study teachers came looking for a resource to help paint both a picture of the need in the margins as well as hope we may bring them. Buy a copy. Pass on to friends both in need of finding hope in the margins and marginalizations of life as well as those who need to glimpse a way of offering hope.