Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story
Ebook
A movement manifesto for a more hopeful and Jesus-centered Christianity
Over five hundred years ago, the Western church underwent a period of massive recalibration that exposed abuses and theological blind spots and revived the historical foundations of Christianity. Today, signs suggest that we have entered another such religious reformation as new technologies, ecclesial scandals, and a crisis of biblical authority leave many Christians adrift or deconstructing the faith they once took for granted. The Christian story the church has been telling has become too small, and we are at a dead end.
There is hope. Author and pastor Meghan Larissa Good invites readers into a movement that is finding ways to tell a better Christian story—a movement that is already emerging spontaneously as a work of the Spirit in many different wings of the church. Along the way, readers will encounter core rediscoveries of this authentic, Jesus-centered Christianity: through Christ, God is breathing life among us, restoring creation, and reconciling all divided things. In this better story, isolation, intolerance, polarization, and death have no grip. This story satisfies our deep spiritual hunger, beckoning us to renew the church for the coming centuries and reignite a world-changing global movement.
Foreword
Introduction: Are We Living Through a New Reformation?
Chapter 1: A Great Yardstick— A Changed Approach to Scripture
Chapter 2: The End of Occupation— A Bigger Gospel
Chapter 3: Apprenticing Freedom— A New Kind of Human
Chapter 4: God’s Secret— A New Role for the Collective
Chapter 5: Noah and the Crusaders— A Reimagined Vocation
Chapter 6: Broken Bootstraps— A Rediscovered Presence
Chapter 7: The Enemy among Us— A New Perspective on Power
Chapter 8: Fault Lines— A Different Way to Disagree
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
The Author
“In this engagingly written book, Meghan Larissa Good has given me new hope for the cause of the gospel. And she has done it by effectively addressing my fears—and even by correcting some of my theological confusions!”
“I’m so grateful for gifted leaders like Meghan Larissa Good who are not only theologizing about ways forward for Christian leaders and communities but also experimenting with embodying creative theology in congregational practice. The world needs to see congregations of people who are actually following Christ, and that’s exactly where Divine Gravity leads.”
“Though it is still far off most people’s radar screen, there is a grassroots movement of the Spirit around the globe in which individuals and groups are rediscovering the beauty of a Jesus-centered God who empowers them to live like Jesus in order to partner with God in transforming our world in a Jesus-kind-of-way. With this powerful and insightful book, Meghan Larissa Good gives voice to this rising movement, highlighting its distinctive convictions while addressing how it corrects distortions of the gospel in the past. In the process, she presents a vision of God, the church, and the world that is as refreshing as it is compelling. If you’re one of the many who have lost hope in the church, or who just got bored, you owe it to yourself to read this remarkable book!”
“With Divine Gravity, pastor Meghan Larissa Good has created a work that will make followers of Jesus rethink what faith and faithfulness mean in the twenty-first century. Her work is thought-provoking, deeply scriptural, and delightfully cheeky. Readers may not agree with Good on every count, but the questions she poses are invaluable for we who collectively and desperately desire a realignment of the Western church to God’s great story.”
“Divine Gravity offers a vividly written, hugely relevant, Anabaptist-inflected presentation of the way of Jesus. Meghan Larissa Good is a new voice to me, but she is clearly a rising star of the next generation of Christian writers. I will be looking forward to hearing what she has to say for many years to come.”
“Much is wrong with Christianity, and Jesus is the answer. Meghan Larissa Good breathes new life into that tired phrase. In this book, doubters, critics, and the wounded will feel heard. She acknowledges the depth of the problems. She presses beyond cliché and shallow understandings of Jesus and sparks hope. The way of Jesus that she presents truly can bring change. This book overflows with images, stories, and illustrations that communicate deep insights with freshness and clarity.”
“As the twenty-first-century church has wandered from its center and lost track of Jesus, this book can help us rediscover and return to the centrality of Jesus—or, I should say, this book can help reorient us toward Jesus again, rediscovering who he is, and can result in a new and fresh approach in our relationship with Scripture. Divine Gravity is so timely—it gives us fresh air to breathe, an air of hope that shows the Spirit is at work stirring something again. What the Protestant Reformation did in the sixteenth century, Divine Gravity might do for us today, ushering us into a rediscovery of Jesus and his centrality to the Christian faith and life.”
“A timely book indeed! In a world increasingly running short on hope, and with a keen and piercing analysis of our time, Meghan Larissa Good dares to hope! Her hope is based on an alternative story to that of the world, which is that God is at work renewing all things. God’s redemptive work might seem distant and untenable to many, given the seeming strength of the competing stories that form and shape us all, which is why now is the time to re-story the Christian story! Good provides the reason why we should do this and the resources to employ to recover that better story. This book is a must-read for those who believe in the story of Jesus and dare to hope for a better, God-shaped future for creation.”
In Divine Gravity, Meghan Larissa Good provides a fresh perspective and hope-filled invitation to Jesus followers. Rooted in both a rich understanding of Scripture and her experience and witness of real-life communities, Good offers a compelling reimagination of the story of God’s work and the redemptive potential of the people of God here and now. This anointed call to unity cultivated from a different center has the potential to recalibrate our understanding of mission and ministry in our time.
- Title: Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story
- Authors: Meghan Good, Dennis R. Edwards
- Publisher: Herald Press
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781513813141, 9781513813127, 1513813129, 1513813145
- Resource ID: LLS:9781513813141
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-22T03:38:13Z
Meghan Larissa Good is lead pastor at Trinity Mennonite Church in Glendale, Arizona. She has degrees from Gordon College, Duke Divinity School, and Portland Seminary. In addition to being a passionate preacher and storyteller, she is in demand as a speaker on biblical hermeneutics, Anabaptism, and contemporary preaching. She is also the author of The Bible Unwrapped: Making Sense of Scripture Today.