Quotes from Rick McKinley's "This Beautiful Mess"

"Christians don't like mess much - not in our world and especially not in ourselves or our churches. Somewhere along the line, we have embraced a picture of a Jesus who would turn us into perfect people unpolluted by the world or our own sin. But He didn't. In Him we are new creations; in ourselves we are dump dwellers. Longing for our full redemption, we strive to please Him and groan in our fallenness and bask in His beauty. For whatever reason, Jesus didn't choose to instantly sanitize the whole lot of us. We often think He did, though, so we spend a lot of time running around with mops and buckets getting ready for bunk inspection. In our kingdoms, we begin to believe that 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." (page 21)

"To be human is to live with loose ends, with people 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'be been placed here to bring a taste of something beautiful and blessed." (page 22)

"...we're finding that the genius of the kingdom is nearly always in the simplicity. We keep asking: What's the need? And how can we meet it simply? And there might be no simpler or more powerful way to be a signpost for the kingdom than to share a meal together. The meal is another part of our culture where life has gotten reduced. But as Eugene Peterson notes, all through Scripture we see the meal as a centerpiece of God's activity. There's something beautiful and holy about meals when all of a sudden it's not about the food or the preparation but about the people and the journeys and the conversation and the caring." (page 100)

"What would happen if you put another chair around your table at mealtime and asked God to open your eyes to who you should invite to join you?"

- This Beautiful Mess, by Rick McKinley

• What would you say are the top three places of need in your community?
• What do you imagine the Kingdom might look like if it broke in there?
• What are some creative, simple ways that you, your family, and your friends could represent the Kingdom in those areas?
• What keeps you and those you know from being signposts of heaven in your community? How could you remove these obstacles?