Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead

by Sara Miles Narrated by Katherine Dyer

Overview

In this new book, Sara Miles tells the story of what has happened in her attempts to follow Jesus, to do something real in response to teachings that many people still see as abstract or merely symbolic. It's also a response to the many people she met in promoting her first book, people who were afraid or felt they couldn't possibly do the kinds of things she has done: start a food pantry, love the unlovable, go to dark and scary places to bless and heal. But she holds up the model of Jesus himself: Throughout the gospels, as he roams through Palestine, Jesus repeatedly makes specific calls to action to his followers, tasks that they will have to perform on the spot--- and have to do again and again, when he's gone. They (and we) don't always understand, but he insists. "You can do this stuff," he tells them. "Walk this way. Come on, don't be afraid."  It's up to us to take up God's work in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In these moving, empowering reflections, which challenge “ordinary people” to follow Christ’s model and engage in extraordinary ministry, Miles—writer, cook, and founder of San Francisco’s St. Gregory’s Food Pantry—explains not only gospel texts but stories from her life and the lives of neighbors touched by St. Gregory’s mission. Miles’s obvious homiletic gifts infuse the narrative: startling metaphors (Jesus as promiscuous Boyfriend “who’ll go with anyone”) combine with honest self-reflection and a wry sense of humor, prodding the reader to take ownership of Christ’s commands to serve, feed, and heal. Miles believes in Christian formation through experiential practice: recounting her midlife conversion, she states, “I tasted Jesus before I read about him.” Poignant stories of individuals experiencing healing through serving others abound; in one, reluctant “juvenile delinquents” working at the food pantry become transformed by the gratitude of those they’re helping. Illuminating the challenges of diversity, Miles testifies as a gay Christian claimed by Jesus “as an integral part of his body” and a “Jesus freak” among secular friends. Compelling and provocative, this work promises to engage Christians in thoughtful discernment about ministry. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Pretty platitudes and trite church signs are not going to work for former atheist Miles (Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion). A late convert to Christianity, Miles writes of meeting a living Jesus who has torn apart her world. No longer will she be just a journalist and author; she will be a vessel, a breathing body of Christ, living out his teachings and doing "greater deeds" than his. Miles directs the Food Pantry at the St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, where she seeks to die to herself and live unto others. This book is not another formulaic book on Christianity; it is alive with ideals of radical inclusion, and Miles's "come and see," "go and do" attitude reigns. Jesus is real and resurrected here and needs followers to feed, heal, forgive, love, and be raised from a living death. VERDICT This book is a clarion call to readers to go and do to all around them as Jesus did. Sympathetic readers will find it a passionate, verb-filled spur to action that is both enjoyable to read and inspiring.—Nancy Richey, Western Kentucky Univ. Lib., Bowling Green

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176271201
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	07/20/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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