This Beautiful Mess

This past summer a good friend of mine, Eric Heistand, recommended I read Rick McKinley's, of Imago Dei, book: This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God. I finally got my library to buy it and I read it this past month. At first my mind was somewhere else but over time I really appreciated his approach, story telling and wisdom on the Kingdom work of God.

I believe a new form of Kingdom work is birthing in the U.S. and it isn't just a new strategy to reach out to people. I really do believe it will require a new way of thinking and living entirely. It is not just church in a new skin. It is a melding of a social gospel and a conservative gospel. It is the Kingdom as Jesus taught and lived the Kingdom.

One thing I caught from Rick's stories and examples is that he is a pastor/leader that really knows his vision and mission but gives away freely the strategies and methods for how people are going to do Kingdom work. If were were to bring an idea that God gave you, he wouldn't try to morph that idea or persuade you to fit it into a current structure. I picture him looking at you and blowing a strong Spirit filled wind under your wings and telling you to go, trust God, take a step of faith and we'll, the church, will encourage you along the way. It doesn't seem to be about Rick's church growth or kingdom but really about transforming his city, Portland.

Here are a few things that stuck out in my mind and heart while reading it.

• In our kingdom, we begin to believe we can fix all our messes. In Jesus' Kingdom, He alone can start with our messes and accomplish something we never could have imagined. And He does. p. 21
• To be human is to live with loose ends, with people and in a world of loose ends, feeling you've been made for perfection but knowing you can't get there on your own. Knowing that you've been placed here to bring a taste of something beautiful and blessed. p. 23
• He has issues with our interpretation Gospel of the Kingdom: 1. We reduce the Gospel of the Kingdom (Its just the church). 2. We spiritualize the Gospel of the Kingdom (Its completely realized now). 3. We postpone the Gospel of the Kingdom (It will only be realized in Heaven). p. 38
• The Kingdom is a lot less like building the business of Christianity and a lot more like slipping into the matrix of Jesus. p. 63
• The Kingdom is, we are witnesses. p. 65
• Signposts of the Kingdom radiate the most beauty when they're planted in the middle of the most mess. p. 92
• The larger challenge we face today is that so many Evangelicals aren't really participating in creation at all. They're putting in their time as aliens in the natural world while they wait for the real show to begin: the Lord's return, Judgement, eternity. p. 120

I do believe as God reveals a new way of living, bringing about His glory, worshipping His fame, extending His love we must take a look at, ponder and change what it means to do the Kingdom work of Heaven. Then and only then can we say "This Beautiful Mess."

Categories: Books, Kingdom, Church, God