Soul Graffiti

From the author:

Soul Graffiti explores the message of Jesus as an invitation to embrace life as a sacred journey— learning to collaborate with our Maker’s intentions to bring healing and greater wholeness to our world. Through stories and reflections, Soul Graffiti addresses the questions, “What was the essential message of Jesus and how can we inhabit that message as a way of life?” What if everything matters? Soul Graffiti, is an invitation to explore the life and teachings of Jesus as a pattern for pursuing a spiritual path that is fueled by compassion, creativity, community and connection.

From the publisher:

Mark Scandrette thinks that the message and method of Jesus were a lot like graffiti—immediate, street level, and personal. Jesus spoke as one who knew the struggles and joys and longings of the people he encountered. And he spoke as one who also suffered. The good news Jesus proclaimed is relevant for our day if the real issues of our lives, the places where we feel pain, loneliness, failure, and abandon are acknowledged as part of the story. The “good news of God” must speak to the whole person: our bodies, our minds, our emotions and our relationships with people and the planet we call home. And like graffiti at its best, the message becomes a two-way conversation of intimacy and respect.

In Soul Graffiti Mark Scandrette—writer, poet, and leader in the Emergent church movement—uses vivid stories of his own life and the lives of the many people he has encountered in his home in the Mission District of San Francisco to explore what “good news of God” might mean for our particular time and place. He seeks to answer the central question: “How can we be about making a life in the way of Jesus?” Soul Graffiti is a simple and lyrical exploration of the essential message of Jesus as it relates to the experiences of contemporary spiritual seekers. He integrates theological insight with awareness of human psychology, culture, and daily life. Written to appeal to the sensibilities of those who inhabit a post-Christendom milieu, Mark Scandrette’s deepest hope is to give readers greater motivation for, and a fuller sense of what it means to make a life in, the way of Jesus.

Review of SOUL GRAFFITI: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus from Publisher’s Weekly, February 26, 2007

“Mark Scandrette guides us in this beautifully written and brilliantly illustrated book along a path towards actualized spirituality in a postmodern world. The book provides new avenues to ancient truths.”

—Tony Campolo, professor of sociology, Eastern University

“Soul Graffiti is not so much a book as it is an encounter—a deadly serious encounter—with a Christianity that is urban, American, un-institutionalized, and now. If you truly like your own Christian walk just the way it is, you definitely should not read this book.”

—Phyllis Tickle, religion analyst and compiler, The Divine Hours

“When I heard that Mark Scandrette was writing a book I knew that it would be good– partly because Mark is an artist and poet and I knew he would be good with words. But even more I knew that he is living a beautiful, gritty, honest and hopeful story that deserves to be told. Now that I’ve read SOUL GRAFFITI I can say that it is even better than I had hoped. Through Mark’s rich insights and reflections, and especially through his stories … about Jack, Richard, Gary, Caroline, Emperor Arcadia (you’ll never forget him!), Michelle, Beryl, and many others, you’ll get an honest and inspiring view of what ‘the emergent conversation’ is really about, and what it’s for.”

—Brian McLaren, author/activist (brianmclaren.net)

“As I look at the world and read the Scripture, I cannot help but ask – Have we even begun to be Christian?” This book is a gift to all of us who are trying to re-imagine what it means to be Christian today.

–Shane Claiborne, Activist & Author

“In Soul Graffiti, Mark Scandrette strips away the religious traditions that cloud our view of Jesus and gives us the courage to investigate the transformational message. If the challenge for churches and for individual followers of Christ is to live out the gospel, this is the help we need.”

—Nancy Ortberg, Founding Partner, Teamworx2

“Soul Graffiti is creative, inspiring and challenging in equal measure. Mark has a wonderful way with language weaving together stories, metaphors, and insights that combine into a poetic call to take seriously the radical nature of Christ’s life and teaching and live it out in our own communities.”

—Jonny Baker, Church Mission Society, London, UK

“Scandrette guides us down a winding, beautiful path through an urban park of whole-life Jesus-y spirituality. It’s a story-weaver’s bountiful spread - filled with chocolate and wine and artisan bread—of the present Kingdom of God. See that the Lord is good, indeed.”

—Mark Oestreicher, president, Youth Specialties

“Soul Graffiti chronicles Mark Scandrette’s brave exploration into an intentional, lived Christianity. In a world numb to religion, inhabiting the way of love may be the only apologetic left.”

—Sally Morgenthaler, www.trueconversations.com