The Cost of Community
Earlier this fall, my friend Jamie Arpin-Ricci’s new book The Cost of Community: Jesus, St. Francis and Life in the Kingdom. I was sent a copy to review by Likewise, and it has been my favorite book I’ve reviewed this year.
The Cost of Community in all truth has made me a little jealous. It’s the sort of book that I’d like to write - one that explores scripture but does not settle for leaving it in the abstract, instead rooting it in story. In the case of this book, Jamie’s exploration of the Sermon on the Mount is rooted in two stories, the story of Little Flowers, the church plant Jamie is a leader for, and the story of St. Francis.
The combination of these two stories made the book a fruitful read, with a lot of movement towards thinking through what Jesus is actually teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It was enjoyable to read it after just finishing a fall of reading through the Sermon on the Mount in our Sacred Roots gatherings. I found that Jamie handled the scripture quite well and was well aware of various approaches to interpretation in the text. But what really stood out to me was that throughout the book there is a dedication to focusing on what it means to really live out what Jesus is teaching. In a time where we prone to liking Jesus but coming up with great excuses to not do what he taught, this book comes across as a great reminder of the weight and cost of what Jesus is teaching.
Seriously, go read The Cost of Community.
