7

My book club is reading through "7" by Jen Hatmaker and we are loving it. It is an easy read because the author is so funny and entertaining. The whole book is basically her journal entries as she goes through 7 months of getting rid of excess in her life. I'm only on the third chapter but it was about possessions and man, was it a good one. Here are some excerpts I really appreciated:


"'I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor...I long for the Calcutta slums to meet the Chicago suburbs, for lepers to meet landowners and for each to see God's image in the other...I truly believe that when the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end" - Shane Claiborne p. 71

"I pray for the woman who will literally walk in my shoes. Jesus, embrace her with safety and healing. With every step she takes, wrapped in my clothes, may she know your faithfulness and experience your redemption. Take her to that sacred place with You where there is no more abuse, no more violence, only the sweet rescue of salvation." p. 77

"The working poor are one missed shift from homelessness, one lost paycheck from hunger, one overdue bill from repossession. However, they learn to camouflage nicely into society. They laugh at the right jokes and deflect questions with sarcasm or silence. The children are ashamed to admit they haven't eaten all weekend or can't afford to play soccer, so you'd never know. In many ways they are invisible." p. 84

"I wondered if the American church was like well-mannered nice-talkers, sitting in a living room sipping coffee, talking about choir practice, while the world burns down outside our windows. While the richest people on earth pray to get richer, the rest of the world begs for intervention with their faces pressed to the window, watching us drink our coffee, unruffled by their suffering." p 90

"Grayed-down discipleship is an easier sell, but it created pretend Christians, obsessing over Scriptures we like while conspicuously ignoring the rest. Until God asks for everything and we answer, 'It's yours,' we don't yet have ears to hear or eyes to see. We're still deaf to the truth, blind to freedom, deceived by the treasures of the world, imagining them to be the key when they are actually the lock." p. 93

Oh, there was so much more but it has left me in a place of some confusion, some questions, some fear, some excitement and a whole lot of soul searching to do. It's a good place to be.