Justice in the Burbs

I tend to read and I tend to ramble, but it seems I rarely ramble about what I am reading. Sure, it seeps into my posts here and there, but not in a way that might encourage someone to actually pick the book up and mull around. Consider this a turning over of a new leaf.

My congregation has been discussing what it means to be authentic community, both within and beyond the walls of our gathering place – why are we gathered together, how do we serve one another, how do we live out Jesus in our local community? One consideration that has been particularly vexing is how we pursue God’s heart for justice from the midst of one of Little Rock’s more affluent neighborhoods.

Enter Justice in the Burbs.

Now, admittedly, I rejected this book upon my first encounter. I have a history of prejudice against books with cheesy titles (unless, of course, they fall into the intentionally cheesy romcom category). Luckily, however, I had the opportunity to interact with Will & Lisa Samson at the Great Emergence conference, and thoroughly enjoyed each of their presentations. When I made the connection that they were part of Communality (a community whose blog I frequent), I not only had to privately repent of my book title snobbery, but I had to publicly confess to Will that I had once stolen a picture from Communality’s blog for one of my own posts. (He was gracious and forgiving, which also spoke well for the book.)

Over the next few days, I hope to review a bit of the topics covered in Justice in the Burbs, enough to peak your interest in perhaps securing a copy of your own. While I have attempted to promote my own innovative suggestions toward sustainability on this blog, I believe that the Samsons’ book is a valuable and well-written resource for individuals and congregations pursuing social justice.

In addition to the discussion ensuing here, I invite you to hop over to the Mustard Seed Associates blog and join Tom Sine’s conversation on the Church’s response to the recession.