Join us for worship on Sunday, November 21, and join a meaningful conversation with Richard Beck, author of Stranger God, the book our small groups have been studying during our “The Church of the Stranger” series this fall.

As you've been reading Stranger God, and wrestling with what it means, what questions are rising up for you? Let Pastor Matt know, and we'll be incorporating those into the conversation we have together that morning.

When Richard Beck first led a Bible study at a maximum-security prison, he went to meet God. His own faith was flagging, but Beck still believed the promise of Matthew 25, that when we visit the prisoner, we visit Jesus. And sure enough, God met him in prison.

With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us in the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. And stories from Beck’s own life illustrate this truth--God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly.

Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to like those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to widen the circle of our affection. In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.