Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I sat down to read some more of The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne today, and I read another hundred pages before I finished. I'm almost done reading it now (just about 40 more pages), but I'm nowhere near through with what it's doing to me.
Here's a selection from today:
Not too long ago, I was speaking at Princeton, and some of the students asked me how they were to choose which issue of social justice is the most important. The question made me cringe. Issues? These issues have faces. We're talking not only about ideas but also about human emergencies. My response to the well-intentioned Princeton students was, "Don't choose issues; choose people. Come play in the fire hydrants in North Philly. Fall in love with a group of people who are marginalized and suffering, and then you won't have to worry about which cause you need to protest. Then the issues will choose you... Just as "believers" are a dime a dozen in the church, so are "activists" in social justice circles nowadays. But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. We are trying to raise up an army not simply of street activists but of lovers - a community of people who have fallen desperately in love with God and with suffering people, and who allow those relationships to disturb and transform them.
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For some reason I picked up and have been reading "In His Steps" this week. These thoughts are errily similar.
Thanks for commenting, guys.
Hey Shielia, it's quite interesting that you mention that book - I'm going to speak at a lectureship in a couple of weeks, and "In His Steps" from 1st Peter is my assigned topic! That's a great book, but I have to say that Claiborne is even more haunting to me because he's a real person working out those same challenges in 21st Century America!!! Great to hear from you...
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Hey Shielia, it's quite interesting that you mention that book - I'm going to speak at a lectureship in a couple of weeks, and "In His Steps" from 1st Peter is my assigned topic! That's a great book, but I have to say that Claiborne is even more haunting to me because he's a real person working out those same challenges in 21st Century America!!! Great to hear from you...
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