Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live

Award-winning novelist Lisa Samson and her husband, Will, join forces in JUSTICE IN THE BURBS, a call for suburban Christians to rouse themselves from apathy and make a difference in their communities and their world. Think Micah 6:8: "And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (NIV) Will's and Lisa's backstories are of growing up in conservative, evangelical Christian homes where attending church was as regular as brushing their teeth, and memorizing scripture was a normal part of everyday life. "Yet neither of us can remember hearing sermons about God's concern for those in need during these formative years," Will writes. Later, Lisa tells of their own early marriage: "...As typical professionals in the suburbs, Will and I found our lives consumed by the kids' school, sports, church, and of course, our careers. We had no time to help out others and felt pretty satisfied with infrequent touches of goodness on our part...." The Samsons use the spiritual discipline of dislocation or displacement to gain perspective, moving from the suburbs into the city of Lexington, Kentucky, with their family. "We failed to live a life of justice in the suburbs, and this book is, at least in part, our mea culpa --- our confession of insufficiency," Will writes. Justice, they believe, needs to be based on Biblical ideas: care for the poor and oppressed, concern for the environment, love for foreigners, sharing of wealth, not profiting at the expense of the poor. However, how we have learned to view the Bible, they believe, has given us an overly simplistic understanding of the role it plays in our lives. "The Bible is quoted but rarely understood in its entirety...some really awful things have been justified by a poor understanding of the purpose of Scripture....we need a new view of Scripture." Lisa, a well-known novelist in inspirational reading circles, creates the fictional suburban characters of Matt and Christine Marshall, whose continuing story illustrates the concepts throughout. Nonfiction passages offer insights about suburban culture and ideas for learning to live a life of justice. Sprinkled throughout the book are various meditations on different aspects of justice by an eclectic group of individuals, including Brian McLaren, Leonard Sweet and Luci Shaw. An interesting point that the Samsons make is our culture's avoidance of disruption. "Why are we so afraid of disruptions?" they write. "What are we doing that is so completely important we cannot be interrupted?" Fear often keeps us from acting, as does busyness and overwork. "The suburbs seem particularly designed to avoid facing the bigger issues of life," write the Samsons. In her fictional scenes, Lisa illustrates many Christians' unwillingness to get involved with other denominations, to work side by side with those who have different belief systems, and the peer pressure from family and other well-intentioned Christians that m

In the suburban world of nice homes, lawns and new cars it's easy to forget about social justice and brotherly love, but Justice in the Burbs: Being in the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live shows it is in the suburbs as well as in urban areas, using plenty of case history examples to portray the places God is discovered in the habits of man. Meditations from various authors point to the methods God uses to provide spiritual guidance in all walks of life, making this a fine pick for any general Christian spiritual collection.

The authors have done a wonderful job of presenting a topic we should all care about (justice) without sending us all on a guilt trip. A positive, though-provoking book.

This book is a careful examination of the part we choose to have in our local community. Many people go to work, get home, have dinner, go shoping and maybe attend church. They may give to charity, but most are isolated from their neighbors and others in the community that are in need. It's easy to write a check at church and think they've done their part in 'helping out'. Is that the way to practice what they believe? Is that enough, or are they missing out on something? This book examines a couple that take the next step. They start doing things to help out people in need, carefully and gradually, and they discuss how it affected them and the people around them. They also discuss suburban life and how it got to be the way it is now. This book will likely make you examine your life, how you are living it, and consider some minor things you could change that could make a world of difference to people that need help.

As a suburbanite who is deeply concerned about social justice, I often felt like a walking oxymoron. Or sometimes, just a moron. In the last year, I've taken a class on urban ministry and racial reconciliation, I've started volunteering at a homeless shelter in a rough neighborhood in the city. I've been wrestling with what it means to "act justly and love mercy." But I felt conflicted when I returned home to my quiet, safe suburban neighborhood. This book offered both healing encouragement and a kick in the behind, and I needed both. It offered hope and insight on how to, as the subtitle says, "be the hands of Jesus wherever you live." In the suburbs, knowing your neighbors' names is counter-cultural. I realized that I not only know my neighbors, I know their families, the details of their lives. I pray for them, specifically. This book challenged me to continue that, in fact, to be more intentional about showing God's love to my neighbors, but also to realize that people in the inner city and all over the world are my neighbors as well. I highly recommend it.