Jesus in the Margins

In the early 1300s, the word margin referred to the edge of a sea or lake. By the late 1300s, the meaning had morphed to the blank space between a block of text and the edge of a leaf or page. In the 1800s, economists introduced a "margin of error" and, eventually, marginal theories that reference changes in the quantity of goods and services. And from the 1990s forward, we understand the word margin in conversations about cultures and the populations that are not considered part of the mainstream.

Consider the opening paragraphs of Rick McKinley's book Jesus in the Margins:

Margins are those clear spaces along the edge of this page that keep the words from spilling off. Every book has them. You might jot notes in the margins, but for the most part they go unnoticed. They don't represent the book, and they don't define its message. They're simply there.

Society -- our world, our culture -- has margins just like this page does. They're places occupied by people who go unnoticed, misfits who seldom figure in when the mainline world defines and esteems itself. But they're there.

The margins are where I find people like me.

Later, McKinley writes that while life in the margins can be lonely, it is where he has encountered hope: The great thing about the margins is the honesty. No one here is still playing games. And it is in the margins that we find Jesus.

Are you a margin-dweller? Do you know others who are? What can you do this week to connect with those around you who may feel isolated and alone? How will you meet Jesus in the margins?