Suggested books.
Book of the Month

Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America
By Mike Yankoski

Sitting there with Sugar Man, I felt my carefully established definition of a Christian crack and expand. Here was an admitted addict and user openly proclaiming Christ in his community and asking how he could serve us. ...What is worse? To do dope or to not love your brother? Why do we kick drug users out of the church while quietly ignoring those who aren't dealing with other, equally destructive sins? Why do we reject the loving, self-sacrificing, giving, encouraging, Jesus-pursuing drug addict but recruit the clean self-interested, gossiping loveless churchgoer? Which one do you suppose Jesus would rather share a burrito with under a bridge?

While perhaps the question of Jesus sharing a burrito poses a false dichotomy between sin groups, Mike Yankoski's reflections of over five months on the streets certainly provide much fodder for personal and corporate reflection as a church body. The book is entitled Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America.

In addition to helpful reflection sections that challenge a safe, clean view of Christianity, I thought this book was particularly helpful for a couple of other reasons. First, it is informative in understanding life on the streets. This is a big problem throughout America, including here in St. Louis, and it is a problem that touches us here at Crossroads. Understanding it through Mike and his companion Sam's eyes encourages greater levels of compassion from us.

Second, the book is pretty practical in how to responsibly deal with those who are homeless, recognizing that many are there because of poor choices in their lives. Yankoski has a very good section on begging, which has immediate application for St. Louis.

Finally, this book is a challenge for the church. Mike and Sam found out first hand that the church was not always the safest place for the homeless to be. This is a sad statement in light of the fact that Jesus' words were "28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11)
 
Reading List

By Pastor Andrew Vander Maas

Love Walked Among Us

I have always wondered why as Christians (i.e. - little Christs) we do not take more time than we do to actually study the life Jesus lived as he walked among us. After all, Ephesians 4 says that we are being made into his image. With that in mind I am pleased to recommend this delightful and challenging book by Paul Miller that does just that, takes us into the life of Jesus. Listen to the description:
Nowhere was the vitality of Jesus more visible than in his love, a love unlike any the world has ever seen. Compassionate, honest, powerful, humble, and sacrificial--Jesus was love personified, walking among us. Such an example just doesn't happen. How did he do it? And how can we learn to love like him?
In Love Walked Among Us, Paul Miller invites the reader to get to know Jesus, to observe his life and his love as they unfold in the gospel narratives. readers to imitate Jesus' way of loving people. In every way, Jesus' life exemplifies the full potential of what we were intended to be. And the better we know him, the more we will be drawn to follow his perfect example.

The Call

This book is in some sense the Magnum Opus for Os Guinness, a noted Christian cultural critic and thinker. In it he explores the topic of calling for the human, a topic that addresses the very essence of our existence for everyone from teenagers wondering what life holds, to the mid-lifer who sees the mismatch between their gifts and work, to those in later years who look back and ask if the successes were real.

Personally this book is one of my all time favorites. One of the reasons I like it so much is that Dr. Guinness is so insightful in terms of understanding the spirit of the age that he helps me see, as a product of my age, why it is that I think like I do and what the strengths and weaknesses are of my thinking. Second, thi book is done in a somewhat devotional format with each (short) chapter pretty much standing alone and packed with insight and challenge. Third, each chapter concludes with a call to "Listen to Jesus of Nazereth; answer his call", placing me in the end firmly where I need to be at the foot of the cross.

We can't avoid the call, Jesus' calls for everything we are, everything we have, and everything we do; so my recommendation is to read The Call for encouragement and enlightenment along the way.