Quoting Claiborne

I'm still reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. I'm continually amazed when I pick up books that clearly articulate some of the things that I've been thinking about, or the things that are challenging me internally.

Now, here's the deal, I am far too selfish a person to happily live the kind of lifestyle that Clairborne lives. I value my possessions a bit too highly perhaps. I don't want to be arrested. But, I am challenged by Clairborne's thoughts anyway. And, I want you to read a couple of paragraphs that I read while I was laying in the bathtub tonight. They so clearly articulate some of the things I've been wondering about church for the last year - some of the things that were a catalyst in the recent switch I made in church communities.

He writes:

"The gospel is good news for sick people and is disturbing for those who think they've got it all together. Some of us have been told our whole lives that we are wretched, but the gospel reminds us that we are beautiful. Others of us have been told our whole lives that we are beautiful, but the gospel reminds us that we are also wretched. The church is a place where we can stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful.

...Community can be built around a common self-righteousness or around a common brokenness. Both are magnetic. People are drawn toward folks who have it all together, or who look like they do. People are also drawn toward folks who know they don't have it all together and are not willing to fake it.

Christianity can be build around isolating ourselves from evildoers and sinners, creating a community of religious piety and moral purity. That's the Christianity I grew up with. Christianity can also be built around joining with the broken sinners and evildoers of our world crying out to God, groaning for grace. That's the Christianity I have fallen in love with."

Seriously, people, you need to check out this book. Even if, like me, you could never manage to ascribe to the kind of lifestyle that Clairborne and his friends live out on a daily basis, you need to have your thinking challenged in this manner. You need to be inspired to make little changes in your lifestyle, by the stories of beauty that result from the big and little changes Claiborne talks about.

I fell in love somewhere over the course of the last year with a Jesus whose grace is scandalous. A Jesus who gives beauty for ashes. A Jesus who seems more interested in the sinners than in the morally pure. And along the way I've been told that I was crazy (literally, someone told me I needed counselling), I've been confused because I couldn't find this Jesus in some of the communities I was a part of, and I've been overwhelmed by the places and things I've found myself walking into because of this crazy, scandalously gracious lover of mine. But it's been worth it! Even if my life has been ruined!