Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne was written to push people to live a life that reflected Jesus’ life of living with and amongst the poor and outcasts. Irresistible revolution does just this when Shane Claiborne destroys the comfortable Christianity that the American church created and un-remodels Christian living taking it back to its simple and true form of love. Jesus calls us to love and to love those around us; Shane Claiborne wonders how people can follow Jesus from the comfort of their middle and upper-class lives while letting the poor go hungry on the streets. Jesus, Shane Claiborne points out, does not want his disciples to be so detached from the homeless on the streets that they send them a monetary donation everyone once in a while to ease their conscience. If disciples of God are to follow Jesus’ life and teachings then they had better do just what Jesus did; build relationships with those on the fringes of society. How can a Christian say that they love someone if that Christian has no relationship or connection to that someone?
In Irresistible Revolution Shane Claiborne mentions that wealthy people ask him what they can do to help, usually meaning “where can we send the money?” In response Shane Claiborne often replies that they can come down to The Simple Way, where he lives, and spend some time building relationships with the kids and families on the block. The challenge is that if everyone who claimed to follow Jesus would really follow Jesus and get the know those around them who are in need the needs would be able to be met and people would cease to be marginalized.
At one point Shane Claiborne and a friend wanted to contact Mother Theresa to see if they could join her in India. After many tries they got her number; he asked if they could come and told her when and how long they wanted to be there for. Mother Theresa told them to come on out; when Shane Claiborne began to ask about the travel details and where they would stay Mother Theresa told him that if he wanted to come and serve God’s people then he should just come and let God take care of the details. That is the kind of lifestyle Christ-followers all are suppose to live; people are suppose to love God’s people even the details clear. Following God gets dirty; when people start to really love those around them they get involved in their situations and suddenly the easy life has intertwined with their friend’s reality. The clean cut separation between another person's problems and their own life becomes fuzzy as they work more and more to help their friends. This is what Jesus did, Shane reminds us; Jesus spent his time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and outcasts showing them God by loving them. Jesus got involved in their lives blurring the social boundaries that existed.
My understanding of God’s desire for us to love was driven home during the silent retreat I attended on Saturday. During the nine hours of silence I spent some time praying about my life after graduation in May. I have been searching out youth organizations in South Eastern Pennsylvania to get involved with and have not been having the best of luck finding them. I asked God what He really wanted me to do and re-asked what I was essentially called to do; it was then that I remembered Shane Claiborne’s book and how I when I had read the book I felt like he was putting into words the truths I did not know how to vocalize. I remembered that God wants me to love, racially love, first and foremost. I do not need an organization to love God; I can radically love God by honestly loving those around me wherever I go.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment