THE GOD WHO RIOTS: ONE YEAR LATER

Let's celebrate by expanding the book!

Today is the one year anniversary of the publication of my book, The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus!

In 2020 Broadleaf Books reached out to me about writing a book, and I accepted the offer with gratitude and excitement because there was a lot I wanted to say to the world! The most important message I wanted people to know at the time (and to this day) is this:

God is found through the vulnerable. Find God in the most vulnerable parts of yourself: your insecurities, your limits, and all the ways you’ve been dismissed and dehumanized. And find God in the most vulnerable parts of society: the poor, the marginalized, and the exploited.

This is why Jesus says “whatever you do to the least of these you do to me.” And his entire ministry was dedicated to caring for and empowering the least of these. This is the “radical Jesus” I reclaim in the book. And it’s called The God Who Riots because this God who’s found in the vulnerable is in the protests, strikes, and direct action toward liberation. So if you want to find God then that’s where our attention must be.

I wrote, and made edits on the book from January 2021 to October 2021. A lot has happened since I finished the book that I’ve wished I could have included in the book. So I thought it would be fun to celebrate my one year anniversary by expanding on each chapter of the book through a weekly series in this newsletter!

Beginning next week I’m going to send you a reflection, chapter by chapter, on how I’m seeing the themes of my book play out in recent events, such as recent protests, this year’s strike wave, the struggle for abortion access, the growing Christian Nationalism movement, and recent anti-LGBTQ and anti-education policies.

I remember struggling with the introduction for my book, and trying to figure out how to make it clear that I wanted this book to radicalize a particular type of Progressive Christian that I kept encountering—the type that recognizes individual cases of injustice but doesn’t seem to recognize the foundationally unjust institutions that must be abolished, such as capitalism and the prison industrial complex.

After sharing the introduction with my friend, Casey, she reminded me that typically people don’t think they’re the ones who aren’t going far enough. It’s always someone else who needs a radicalizing kick in the ass. So directly telling Progressive Christians they need to go further wouldn’t be as effective as I was hoping it would be. Instead, I just needed to say what needed to be said, and let it challenge whoever was ready for it.

I was reminded of my evangelical ministry days when I would hear ministers tell each other to remember that it’s the Holy Spirit that convicts people, not us, so we must allow for that conviction to happen in its own way without trying to force it. Once the book was out of my hands, it was capable of impacting people in all kinds of ways.

I realized this book could be much bigger than a callout to Progressive Christians. This book could convict, challenge, and inspire a lot of different people—even me. Ultimately that’s what the book really is. It’s a radicalizing kick in my own ass, challenging me to learn, grow, and act. I took it as far as I possibly could. And I learned so much in the process. So now it’s time to go a little further.

I’m so grateful to everyone who has read the book and shared it. You can still get a copy wherever you buy books and you can get the audiobook too! Reading the book will not be a requirement to understanding my upcoming reflections but celebrate with me today by grabbing a copy if you haven’t yet!

Talk to you soon!

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