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Jesus - Safe, Tender, Extreme
Evocative reflections on three facets in our relationship with Jesus. People long for reality in their walk with Christ. To know him better, we must understand the different sides of his complex nature. Popular British author Adrian Plass draws on biblical stories and personal experience---as well as his keen understanding of people's needs---as he explores the Safe Jesus, the Tender Jesus, and the Extreme Jesus. God has told us that he holds us in the palm of his hands, where no one and nothing can harm the most important part of us. But from biblical times to the present day, Christians encounter accidents and disasters. What does it really mean to experience the Safe Jesus? Jesus tells his disciples that they must love one another. Yet time and again we try to find achievement and success through our own efforts and individual gifts, only to end in failure. Instead, we need to know the Tender Jesus who becomes visible when we join with each other in the body of Christ. Jesus only did what he saw his father doing. Each of his actions and encounters were fueled, informed, and instructed by the dynamic, creative, unpredictable Spirit of God. Failing to be obedient in this way is what truly constitutes sin. When we are open to the genuine leading of the Spirit, we will experience the Extreme Jesus. In Jesus -- Safe, Tender, Extreme, Adrian Plass is 'simply a man with a broom, sweeping away the rubbish that prevents others from passing further in and further up, by talking about what Jesus does and doesn't do in my life.'
304 pages, Hardcover
First published December 27, 2005
7 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Plass
136 books104 followersAdrian Plass is a writer and speaker who has produced over thirty books in the last twenty years. The best known of these is probably The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, a gentle satire on the modern church, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. This and other books have travelled to other countries and are translated into a number of foreign languages. Other books include biography, novels, short stories, a fictionalised account of the author's experiences as a residential child care worker, and collections of poems and sketches. A bemused Anglican, Adrian lives with his wife and daughter in a small market town near the Sussex South Downs.
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 8, 2022
I love, love, love Adrian Plass's heart! He's refreshingly real, kind, transparent, funny, disarming, provoking in a good way ... so thankful for his life and words.
"Daily life in the context of an omnipotent God with really good ideas can be quite exciting."
"We can treat our faith as though it is the equivalent of spending the rest of our lives learning to pick out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ‘ badly on one string of an out-of-tune, cracked guitar, or we can ask God to let us lose ourselves in the completed symphony of his will for us and resolve to follow that music whenever we are allowed to hear it and to wherever it takes us."
"If we have failed to comprehend the centrality of love and tenderness in the nature of our heavenly Father, then we do not understand him at all, and the God we represent to other people will be a false one."
"Stick close to Jesus, and everything else will sort itself out."
"Daily life in the context of an omnipotent God with really good ideas can be quite exciting."
"We can treat our faith as though it is the equivalent of spending the rest of our lives learning to pick out ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ‘ badly on one string of an out-of-tune, cracked guitar, or we can ask God to let us lose ourselves in the completed symphony of his will for us and resolve to follow that music whenever we are allowed to hear it and to wherever it takes us."
"If we have failed to comprehend the centrality of love and tenderness in the nature of our heavenly Father, then we do not understand him at all, and the God we represent to other people will be a false one."
"Stick close to Jesus, and everything else will sort itself out."
May 27, 2021
I bought this book about 15 years ago after hearing Adrian Plass speak at a conference (I can't even remember which one at this point!) I don't know why it took me such a long time to get around to reading it but I'm glad I read it now. It's a beautiful, poignant, honest, intimate book about knowing Jesus. I'm not sure my younger self would have understood or appreciated all the truths in this book the way my older self did.
I'd love to read more from Plass. If you haven't read this one, do.
I'd love to read more from Plass. If you haven't read this one, do.
October 17, 2019
Jesus – Safe, Tender, Extreme is a long walk with a good friend. It is filled with insights, humor, and stories about real life: not the life we feel we should be living, but the life we’re actually staggering through.
Adrian Plass is brutally honest without being disrespectful; he is funny without sounding cynical. His writing challenges my thinking. I don’t agree with everything he has to say, but he says it in such a way that I’m left knowing he’s perfectly okay with me not agreeing with him and he might very well be proud of me for having my own opinion.
To be clear, this book is not a thriller. It is a gentle, encouraging read that speaks to your heart. It is a trusted friend sitting across the table from you, making you laugh while you sip a comforting cup of coffee. I will admit there were moments in this book when I felt the conversation lagged. I wished Adrian would get to his point just a little faster, or at least before my coffee cooled; however, I also found that the lulls were comfortable, meaningful, and for the most part, essential to the message of the book.
My favorite quote from Jesus – Safe, Tender, Extreme can be found on page 70:
“Accepting something doesn’t mean that you applaud it or like it or want it or stop praying against it; it just means that you’re facing the truth and getting yourself ready to do anything that needs to be done.”
Adrian Plass is brutally honest without being disrespectful; he is funny without sounding cynical. His writing challenges my thinking. I don’t agree with everything he has to say, but he says it in such a way that I’m left knowing he’s perfectly okay with me not agreeing with him and he might very well be proud of me for having my own opinion.
To be clear, this book is not a thriller. It is a gentle, encouraging read that speaks to your heart. It is a trusted friend sitting across the table from you, making you laugh while you sip a comforting cup of coffee. I will admit there were moments in this book when I felt the conversation lagged. I wished Adrian would get to his point just a little faster, or at least before my coffee cooled; however, I also found that the lulls were comfortable, meaningful, and for the most part, essential to the message of the book.
My favorite quote from Jesus – Safe, Tender, Extreme can be found on page 70:
“Accepting something doesn’t mean that you applaud it or like it or want it or stop praying against it; it just means that you’re facing the truth and getting yourself ready to do anything that needs to be done.”
April 28, 2019
Touching, funny and above all, real
I found this book put into words the thoughts and feelings of inadequacy which have plagued me on and off for years. This Lent was especially bad. You helped me remember that Jesus loves us as we are not as what we pretend to be. Thank you.
I found this book put into words the thoughts and feelings of inadequacy which have plagued me on and off for years. This Lent was especially bad. You helped me remember that Jesus loves us as we are not as what we pretend to be. Thank you.
July 1, 2017
A completely different work to the usual Pass opus but highly interesting and amusing all the same.
July 8, 2021
Well written, but I was surprisingly caught off-guard by a few parts that seemed quite off theologically.
May 9, 2025
One to go back to - again and again.
November 26, 2015
Excellent! Adrian Plass in his more serious writing style, with light anecdotes and a friendly way of putting things. The book looks at what it really means to follow Jesus, without religious jargon or pretence.
It’s divided into three sections, so the first part looks about being safe in Jesus. I could relate most strongly to the second section of the book, about the tenderness of Jesus: the compassion with which he dealt with everyone, both friends and questioners, and even his enemies.
The final section was perhaps the most thought-provoking: that of Jesus as an extreme person, never afraid to do what was right or to speak out when it was time to do so. Adrian Plass gives a hint of how exciting life can be when listening and then ‘doing what the Father is doing’.
Each section has a few chapters outlining the themes, followed by anecdotes illustrating what these mean in the author’s own life and those around him. At the end of the book are a series of relevant prayers. I’d have preferred these to be with the main parts of the book. But it’s a small niggle. It’s a very well-written book that I should probably dip into more often than I have done, as there’s a great deal to absorb and much to think about.
Very highly recommended.
It’s divided into three sections, so the first part looks about being safe in Jesus. I could relate most strongly to the second section of the book, about the tenderness of Jesus: the compassion with which he dealt with everyone, both friends and questioners, and even his enemies.
The final section was perhaps the most thought-provoking: that of Jesus as an extreme person, never afraid to do what was right or to speak out when it was time to do so. Adrian Plass gives a hint of how exciting life can be when listening and then ‘doing what the Father is doing’.
Each section has a few chapters outlining the themes, followed by anecdotes illustrating what these mean in the author’s own life and those around him. At the end of the book are a series of relevant prayers. I’d have preferred these to be with the main parts of the book. But it’s a small niggle. It’s a very well-written book that I should probably dip into more often than I have done, as there’s a great deal to absorb and much to think about.
Very highly recommended.
April 8, 2013
I am a great fan of Adrian Plass's work, but when I first read this book a few years ago it didn’t strike me as one of his best. However, on rereading it I now realise that the "problem" was not with the book but with me. I just wasn't in a place where I was able to "hear" much of its message (and there is, I suspect, still much that I'm not ready to receive).
Adrian Plass is, of course, a "popular" author of often humorous writings (although this book has less humour than some). But this popularly and humour shouldn't disguise the fact that he has (I believe) a number of very important things to say to the church (and, of course, to me personally) – if only we would have the ears to hear.
Adrian Plass is, of course, a "popular" author of often humorous writings (although this book has less humour than some). But this popularly and humour shouldn't disguise the fact that he has (I believe) a number of very important things to say to the church (and, of course, to me personally) – if only we would have the ears to hear.
March 18, 2015
A beautiful and vulnerable examination of how Jesus deals with us in safe, tender and extreme ways. If you know Adrian Plass' work, you'll know what to expect - piercing insight, warm and inclusive humour, stories which lodge in the mind. Richer and deeper than you might first expect, this repays visiting and revisiting.
August 26, 2011
It's OK. Shambolic and intensely subjective, like most of his books and not his funniest but a helpful antidote to the macho programmatic spirituality of many popular contemporary Christian writers.
July 1, 2012
I'm seldom disappointed when I read something by Adrian Plass. He makes me think; even if it's one of his funnier books.
This one is straight but punchy and he can challenge as well as cause one to laugh. A gifted man being well used by God.
This one is straight but punchy and he can challenge as well as cause one to laugh. A gifted man being well used by God.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews