What Is a Love Riot & Why Would You Want One?

With the United States still reeling from devastating riots, this is not a frivolous question. Neither does author Sara Barrett give a frivolous answer. In fact, she couldn’t have known that her book would release in the midst of such chaos.

And yet, this book offers the very answers to the problems that rioters and opponents to those riots alike are protesting.

Love.

That’s it, pure and simple.

On the other hand, there’s nothing simple about the all-encompassing, life-changing, world-transforming love of Jesus. And yet, that’s exactly Miss Barratt’s point.

While written directly (and literally) to teens, I am of the opinion that there isn’t a Christian out there who could not benefit from the very real kick in the butler that this book is.

I’ll be honest. I half-expected several good nuggets and a lot of self-righteous “dos and don’ts.” Or, just as bad, a series of platitudes and buzzwords without any strength behind them. 

She gives us none of that nonsense.

Instead, with refreshing honesty and humility, Sara Barratt lays out a vision for what she calls a “love riot.”

People sold out to Jesus—crying out to Him for the ability to love Him as He deserves.

Christians praying with effectual fervency even when they have no words.

Christ-followers doing just that. Picking up their crosses and following.

Could anything be more beautiful?

She begins by showing us the problem—apathy in the church at large and how it is driving our young people away from Christ. After that, she shows us the underlying problem of that—a lack of love for Jesus. Then, she gives us tools… not teens tools, but every Christian who has the humility to allow (forgive me the analogy, Miss Barratt…) “a little child [to] lead them.”

If you flip through my copy of Love Riot, you’ll see every page highlighted—sometimes half a dozen on a page. Several times, I wrote notes in margins. To be honest, a tiny part of me felt guilty. I mean, that’s what I do with my Bible. And yet should this surprise me?

After all, Sara Barratt is just pointing us to Scripture. Almost every single assertion she makes is backed by Scripture, used in context, and supported by examples of other Christians who have lived their faith in similar ways.

Seriously, most the very few, tiny places that I half-disagreed, aren’t worth noting.

I’ll only throw out one as an example to show you what I mean. She makes a strong argument for beginning your day in Bible reading and prayer. Not as a “checklist” but because she advocates cultivating a life that feeds on those things. My only itty-bitty caveat is that when she argues for “even if you’re not at your best,” she ignores that for some of us, we are absolutely never at our best first thing in our “morning” (mine is at 2 p.m. and I’m not really coherent and able to really dig deep into something before 9 p.m. It’s how my brain works). Still, the principle is there, even if she holds a little firm to her method. And I don’t fault her for that.

Frankly, the very vast majority of people do best doing exactly what she advocates. I just know the guilt and shame a lot of “not morning people” feel because they can’t possibly concentrate on anything right when they wake up. Ever.

The writing style is intelligent but casual. Never do I, as an adult feel talked down to. Also, I cannot imagine a teen feeling anything but comfortable reading the book.  Except that it will make you anything but comfortable—where it counts.

In fact, if Christians could only read one book in the next three years (outside the Bible, of course—gotta throw out the caveats in case the obvious isn’t obvious), I’d say Love Riot should be that book. It’s that good.

It’s that important.