Shane Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution made me think. There were several points he made that I had considered before, but I still appreciated the approach he took. There were other topics that I had never thought about before and definitely gave me a different perspective about the world.
As far as Claiborne's search for a "true Christian," I have to agree with him to an extent. I went to HandyCamp with my church youth group a few years in a row, where we are paired up with a mentally disabled adult for the week. While we go there to serve, we end up learning more from the campers than we teach them. Their faith was so simple, so genuine, and so committed. I'm not saying that I don't see other Christians in my life. Instead, I think that we (and myself included) tend to wrap ourselves up in the ways of the world and forget what being a Christian is all about. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not perfect and am not always the best example of a follower of Christ.
Another thing that I hadn't thought about was how we water down the core values of Christianity to have a larger attendance on Sundays. I never connected this idea with that instance when Jesus allows a rich man to walk away. It was very insightful and has challenged me to make sure that I don't distort my beliefs just to make Christianity sound appealing when, in reality, it is actually a hard life to live. I was given the Jabez book for graduation and I read it after I read The Irresistible Revolution out of curiosity. I tend to agree with Claiborne that it presents a view of Christianity that centers around the idea of "wealthology" rather than what Jesus is really about. At the same time, I believe that Wilkinson's emphasis on "making the most of every opportunity" as Paul encourages us in Ephesians 5:16 is an important part of our lives as Christians. Somewhat along these same lines was the poor conception the world has of Christians. It made me sad that the first words people associate with Christians are "fake," "hypocrites," "boring," and so forth.
Also related to the church was the idea of tithing. I liked Claiborne's point that one of the purposes of tithing is to give to the poor, yet churches often keep much of the offerings for the church. The fact that large churches give proportionately less money to charities than small churches was startling, but does not surprise me when I stop to think about it.
Claiborne's emphasis on community and our society's lack of it was very interesting. I know our world has been changing, but I didn't see it in these terms before. It sounds appealing and quite beneficial to be a part of community living like Claiborne and his friends are, yet the world once again holds us back from truly experiencing it. I thought the stories he shared about the communities who started daycares and community laundry days were pretty neat.
Finally, (since this blog does not have to become a book) I really liked the metaphor of the mustard seed that Claiborne expanded upon. I had always heard the mustard seed parable explained literally, where, though we are small, we will grow into something large. I enjoyed learning that mustard seed was actually a weed that spreads over the whole garden. I didn't know that mustard had to be crushed in order for its power to be released nor that it was used for healing.
I could continue writing since there are several other points of Claiborne that struck home with me. I do, however, want to close this with one quote that I really liked, by Claiborne's mother: "I have come to see that we Christians are not called to safety, but we are promised that God will be with us when we are in danger, and there is no better place to be than in the hands of God." (p. 227) What an encouraging reminder that we are not alone, even if the world persecutes us for our beliefs!
