Invisible

We live in a society where the value of an individual is distilled into impersonal numbers, reduced to a mere target for marketing campaigns and newsflashes that scroll across our screens or are texted to thousands. The individual may be discarded just as quickly, disappearing into a morass of numbers to be instantaneously replaced. The Apostle Paul saw things differently in his letter to Philemon. He overcame spiritual, sociological, and status differences to restore the personal value of one runaway slave called Onesimus. This book is about how easily we can overlook a person, even one who is close to us and valued by God. It is about God giving us the honor of participating in someone's life, even if only for a moment, to become part of a discovery that will forever alter that person's direction--and perhaps our own. This story teaches us to never minimize the significance of any individual, look negatively at our own circumstances, or trivialize opportunities placed in our path during life's journey. God has individuals for us all to meet, however briefly, to engage in mutual discovery of our human value. (In)Visible shows how Jesus leads us to discover people who are of value to him so they might be transformed and ""returned"" to others, and to God, as better for having met us. In the book of Philemon, the Apostle Paul called Onesimus 'useful.' So would I label Dr. Arthur Ammann. While serving as head of Pediatric Immunology at UCSF Medical School, he discovered the link between blood transfusion and HIV/AIDS. Now mothers and children in developing countries benefit from his knowledge and connections through Global Strategies for HIV Prevention. This useful man now draws on those experiences to share his thoughts on the biblical book of Philemon so that we too can become useful. --Diane M. Komp, author of The Healer's Heart Jesus called us to love one another as he loved us, and (In)Visible is a clarion reissuing of that call to go beyond the 'spiritually gated communities' in which we are prone to live. By telling of the Apostle Paul's relationship with Onesimus and his own relationships with family and friends, a taxi driver, a fellow camp worker, and a wise, young patient, Arthur Ammann--in illuminating dialogue with Barbara McClennan--shows that God's grace knows no boundaries of age, class, or origin. In our life-stifling culture of overwork and depersonalized relations, this lean book offers aerobics for the soul. --Susan S. Phillips, author of Candlelight Arthur J. Ammann, MD, is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the UCSF School of Medicine and founder of Global Strategies, a nonprofit organization partnering with healthcare providers in some of the poorest countries in the world. As a lifelong advocate for compassionate care of the disadvantaged, he has traveled extensively, published widely, and spoken worldwide on the intersection between healthcare, science and technology, government, and religious institutions in impacting the individual. His most recent book is Women, HIV, and the Church. Barbara McLennan was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and attended St. Olaf College and Wheaton College. As an artist and a writer, Barbara speaks and writes on the intersection of faith, creativity, and everyday life. Before collaborating with Dr. Ammann, Barbara edited The Season for Reflection: Stories from Bill Starr's Life.