Speaking of way of life… Shane Claiborne’s book describes a passion for living with and for the poor. His commitment to following Jesus involves meeting “God in the sewers of the ghetto.” His community, “Simple Way,” had its genesis when Shane and others moved in with a group of homeless people who were being evicted from an old cathedral they had found refuge in.
Regardless of whether or not you are called to join Shane in the inner cities of America, his book will challenge you to live radically for Jesus… and that this is the core of the Christian message. His story lives out the article above that “life precedes form” and that we must, in a revolutionary way, capture the fullness of that life.
Here are a few quotes:
“Christians pretty much live like everybody else, they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way.”
“Don’t let the world steal your soul. Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with you life.”
“There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of.”
“Little movements of communities of ordinary radicals are committed to doing small things with great love.”
“I once heard the saying, ‘God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.’”
“Christianity can be built 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.”
