Jesus offers grace and mercy but he’s also ratcheted up all the rules.

Nice as it would be to frame Jesus as fun-loving, or a mercy-dispensing friend, the stories we have about him are a lot more disturbing than that.

We hear about celebrations that began as a wake, and about people who didn’t use their talents well being bounced clear out of the club. Jesus clearly thought that following the way of truth involved a lot more than simply avoiding things like murder, stealing, committing adultery or telling lies.

When Jesus truly makes you nervous, he is worth living and dying for, and becomes the greatest source of meaning and purpose in life imaginable.

Holiness. Abundance. Forgiveness. Hope. In these musings about ‘ten stained-glass words of faith,’ Joy Jordan-Lake strips away the cliches and church-bulletin nostrums and exposes the honest, challenging, comforting, and yes, sometimes alarming claims that are at the center of Jesus’ life and teaching. This book is downright restorative.

–Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath