Home > Work > The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
121 " The tears we shed are not just for ourselves but for our world. "
― Shane Claiborne , The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
122 " There are so many people who are longing to be brought to life, who know all too well that they have done evil and long to hear not only of a God who embraces evildoers but also of a church that does the same. "
123 " The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community [even if their intentions are ever so earnest], but the person who loves those around them will create community. "
124 " It is here that we see a Jesus who abhors both passivity and violence, who carves out a third way that is neither submission nor assault, neither fight nor flight. It is this third way, Wink writes, that teaches that “evil can be opposed without being mirrored . . . oppressors can be resisted without being emulated . . . enemies can be neutralized without being destroyed.”7 "
125 " I had become a “believer,” but I had no idea what it means to be a follower. People had taught me what Christians believe, but no one had told me how Christians live. "
126 " Some Christians take so few risks it's no wonder folks have a hard time believing in Heaven. Most of us live in such fear of death that it's as if no one really believes in resurrection anymore. "
127 " If we believe terrorists are beyond redemption, then we can rip out half of our New Testament since it was written by a converted terrorist who became an extremist for grace. "
128 " . I had become a “believer,” but I had no idea what it means to be a follower. People had taught me what Christians believe, but no one had told me how Christians live. "
129 " If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has that gift of vision. "
130 " There is a place for good food and beautiful art; what matters is who you share it with. What’s just as important as what you eat is who you are eating with. One of my favorite sayings these days is “Simple living does not mean ugly living.” We can live in ways that are simple and responsible—and beautiful. "
131 " Sometimes I was incredibly frustrated and angry, wondering how these extremes could exist in the same world, let alone in the same church. Sometimes I just got cynical. That was the easiest thing to feel, as cynicism takes very little energy. "
132 " The Scriptures describe the early Jesus movement like this: “We go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless…We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world” (1 Cor. 4:11 – 13). Our context is quite different. We live among the wealthiest people of the world (top 2 percent), a tough mission field. We are preaching a gospel that declares that it’s easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom. But look on the bright side. After we preach the crowds down, we will not need such expensive buildings. And of course, in a Christian culture shopping for the cheapest grace, the temptation is always to tone things down a little bit. People will be more comfortable around a domesticated Jesus than the Lion of Judah. "
133 " True generosity is measured not by how much we give away but by how much we have left, especially when we look at the needs of our neighbors. We have no right not to be charitable. The early Christians taught that charity is merely returning what we have stolen. In the seventeenth century, St. Vincent de Paul said that when he gives bread to the beggars, he gets on his knees and asks forgiveness from them. "
134 " Imagine what would happen if the prayer movement and social justice movement converged, and we had Christians who prayed like they depend on God and lived like God depended on them? Hallelujah. "
135 " Violence is for those who have lost their imagination. Has "
136 " Mother Teresa always said, “Calcuttas are everywhere if only we have eyes to see. Find your Calcutta.” I "
137 " By the way, I like letters. Letter writing has been an important pasttime for the church. I can’t promise I’ll write you back, but I will read your letter, and I’ll do my best to reply. Right now, I’m running about six months behind on writing. And I prefer old-school snail mail: Shane Claiborne, PO Box 12798, Philadelphia, PA 19134. "
138 " My critics are my best teachers, but only when they will talk with me, not at me. Unfortunately, "
139 " The Scriptures say that we should not fear those things which can destroy the body, but we are to fear that which can destroy the soul (Matt. 10:28). While the ghettos may have their share of violence and crime, the suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic forces—numbness, complacency, comfort—and it is these that can eat away at our souls. "
140 " But if you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. "