Mia Birdsong is a longtime activist from Oakland who explores how justice-oriented folks live our values in our “personal lives.” This is not a self-help book, but a deeper reflection on how the values of love and justice can and should be lived in all the aspects of our life from how we make family to how we make dinner.
As someone who has been in the activist world most of my life, I find her perspective deeply refreshing. I have found both in the activist world and the church - folks who are much more focused having the right opinions and statements than on how we treat people and the love and grace that we exude. Mia is not only vulnerable and transparent about her own life, but because she shines a light on lots of folks doing different kinds of heart work. She is very clear that the efforts we make towards loving each other is not a side show to the “real work” of justice but one of the most important things we need to build better world.
In this book as in Parable of the Sower, there are moments where she names that beauty that can come in church spaces but is focused on imagining how we can create the same things separate from religious spaces. I believe that is important AND I am committed to helping churches to be the kind of loving, radical spaces that Jesus told us to be. Whether you are committed to working within, around or in opposition to religious communities, I think you will learn something from how Mia approaches the conversation of human connection.
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