The House That Love Built
Why I Opened My Door to Immigrants and How We Found Hope beyond a Broken System
On Sale: 2020-07-14
Book Summary
The House That Love Built is the quintessential journey of one woman questioning what it means to be an American--and a Christian--in light of a broken immigration system. Through tender stories of opening her heart and home to immigrants, Sarah Jackson shines a holy light on loving our neighbor.
About the Book
2021 Christian Book Award Finalist
"Jackson's visionary account is a beautiful model of sacrificial love." -- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
The House That Love Built is the quintessential story of one woman's questioning what it means to be an American--and a Christian--in light of a broken immigration system. Through tender stories of opening her heart and home to immigrants, Sarah Jackson shines a holy light on loving our neighbor.
Sarah Jackson once thought immigration justice was administered through higher walls and longer fences. Then she met an immigrant--a deported young father separated from his US-citizen family--and everything changed. As Sarah began to know fractured families ravaged by threats in their homeland and further traumatized in US detention, biblical justice took on a new meaning.
As Sarah opened her heart--and her home--to immigrants, she experienced a surprising transformation and the gift of extraordinary community. The work she began through the ministry of Casa de Paz joined the centuries-old Christian tradition of hospitality, shining a holy light on what it means to love our neighbor.
The dilemma of undocumented people continues to hover over America, and it raises urgent questions for every Christian:
- What is our responsibility to the "stranger" in our midst?
- What does God's kingdom look like in the global-political reality of immigration?
- What difference can one person make?
Sarah engages these questions through profound and tender stories, placing listeners in the shoes of individuals on every side of the issue--asylum seekers torn from their families, the guards who oversee them, ordinary people with lapsed visas, the families left to survive on their own, the unheralded advocates for immigrants' rights, and the government officials who decide the fates of others.
Ultimately, Sarah's journey illuminates how hope can be restored through simple yet radical acts of love.
Reviews
'In this eye-opening debut, Jackson, executive director of immigrant hospitality organization Casa de Paz, explores the second commandment--'Love your neighbor as yourself'--as it relates to the fraught topic of immigration. With only a firm conviction that love makes a difference and her 600-square-foot Denver apartment, Jackson opened her home in 2012 to immigrants separated from family due to their immigration status. Casa de Paz (House of Peace) has since expanded to a three-bedroom home where Jackson has provided nearly 3,000 strangers with meals, rooms, and transportation. Jackson shares encounters with people like Agustin, a loving father who has been separated from his children for over a year, and Alejandro, whose wife was arrested after returning from her brother's funeral in Mexico. 'I met beautiful families and saw the indignities they endured, the tears they cried, the absence of their parents or spouses, and I wondered: What does God think?' In the end, she challenges Christian readers to similarly open their hearts and address immigrant rights head-on. Jackson's visionary account is a beautiful model of sacrificial love.'
Product Details
- Imprint: Zondervan
- On Sale: 2020-07-14
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publication Date: 2020-07-14
- Trim Size: Trim size data not found for this book.
- Weight: Weight data not found for this book.
- Category 1 : RELIGION / Christian Life / Inspirational
- Category 2 : RELIGION / Christian Life / Social Issues
- Category 3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Social Activists
