This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God

by Rick Mckinley, Donald Miller (Foreword by)

Overview

“As I read this book, I find great hope in the presence of the kingdom of God and a deeper desire to participate in it.”
—from the foreword by Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz
 
When Jesus was on earth, He painted a radical vision for His followers of an unseen reality. He called it “the kingdom of God.” Even here, Jesus said—in the harshness and mess of earth—His kingdom is the way things really are.
 
His announcement was nothing less than revolutionary, yet His followers were not quick to pick up on it. They longed for another world—a world without injustice or oppression or poverty. But Jesus said that His kingdom was already happening all around them, through them, and in them.
 
This Beautiful Mess explores what happens when we view our lives through the lens of God’s kingdom. We see the beauty of Jesus’ reign breaking into the mess of our broken world. We see treasure hidden all around us. We begin to grasp our exciting part in bringing about personal and social transformation for His glory.
 
New for this edition: an updated preface, three bonus chapters, and a small group conversation guide.
 
Come experience a paradigm-shifting journey into the beauty of our King, and the beautiful mess that is His kingdom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781601425690
Publisher:	The Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/16/2013
Edition description:	Revised, Updated ed.
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Rick McKinley is founding pastor of Imago Dei Community, an innovative, socially engaged church in the heart of Portland, Oregon. He speaks widely at conferences and also represents Advent Conspiracy, an international movement to replace consumption with compassion at Christmas. Rick was educated at Multnomah University, where he currently is on faculty, and earned his doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of Jesus in the Margins and A Kingdom Called Desire. He and his wife, Jeanne, have four children.

Table of Contents

Foreword Donald Miller xi

Preface to the Second Edition xv

Part 1 Discovering the Kingdom

1 Beautiful, Mess: "Look Up Anyway," Jan Carson 3

2 What If?: "Rahab's Song" Vania Moore 10

3 Harpooning God 17

Part 2 Re-Visioning Life in the Kingdom

4 Seeing Through: "We Are a People" Caleb Kytonen 25

5 A Dimension of Being: "When My Brothers Were Too Young to Be Wise" Raeben Nolan 34

6 Jesus' Kingdom of Peace 46

7 Already, Not Yet 56

Part 3 Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom

8 Signposts of Heaven: "Blue" Monique Amado 72

9 Sharing the News About Our King 84

10 Welcome the Child: "Sylvan's Request" Nathan Bubna 93

11 Alive in a Million Mysteries: "Waiting" Sabrina Fountain 105

12 Stamp of Empire: "Advent," an excerpt, Kristin Mulhern Noblin 118

13 We Must Go Through Many Hardships: "Restless" Stefanie Faridnia 130

14 Slow Train Coming 144

Appendix 1 The Gospel and the Kingdom 153

Appendix 2 Kingdom Shifts 157

Excursions into the Kingdom; A Guide for Conversation 169

Acknowledgments 177

Notes 179