Shane Claiborne is probably best known for writing The Irresistible Revolution, a book that was instrumental in my nephew's move to Ethiopia to dig wells. At the Calvin Festival Mr. Claiborne sported dredsand cargo pants and told how his group was recently informed by the authoritiesthat they were breaking the brothel law (too many people coming and going)in Philadelphia as they tried to perform acts of hospitality and feed the homeless.
They ended up in a court where the judge's name was Jesus, and their volunteerpro-bono lawyer was Jewish. The group was told they weren't zoned to start ashelter, so they complied and told the authorities that after praying about it,they were instead beginning a revival that would begin at 8 p.m. and end at 10a.m. They would have a two-hour service of formal praise followed by eighthours of silent meditation. Irony: When Claiborne and Sister Margaret gotarrested for feeding the poor, they weresentenced to citizenship training.
I appreciated Claiborne's thinking about justice. The phrase “socialjustice” makes some people think of “social gospel,” which for them evokes connotations of "all good worksand no God." Claiborne acknowledges that the kind of justice we must seek istricky to define. But he noted that “righteousness” and “justice” are the sameword in the Bible. There justice is not about simply getting what youdeserve, but setting right the wrong. It needs a forgiveness element. The best [term for it] is restorative justice. Reconciliation isrequired. All of us should be looking for this—to set both oppressed andoppressors free. He said, “God loves the 1% rich who are suffering, though notsuffering in the same ways as the poor, but they have high rates of loneliness,depression, and suicide.” We are to preach “good news to the poor; set free therich,” which by implication are the captives.
Here’s a sampling of other stuff Claiborne said:
Ourfaith isn’t a reason to escape this world, but a reason to engage it.
Onterrible things that happen:
ToGod: “Why don’t you do something?”
God:“I did. I made you.”
Howcan we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore a homeless man onMonday?
[Thearts] provoke the possibilities of how we could re-imagine the world.
Toan Iraqi pastor: “I didn’t know there were so many Christians in Iraq!”
Reply:“You didn’t invent the church in North America. You just domesticatedit. You tell the church in North America that we are praying for you to rememberwho you are.”
AnIraqi doctor on treating the children injured by bombings in Iraq: “Thisviolence is from a world that has lost its imagination.”
Quoting Karl Barth "We need to read with the Bible inone hand and the newspaper in the other."
We're going to stop complaining about the church we'veexperienced and start becoming the church we dream of.
Quoting Dr. King: “We are living in extreme times. Thequestion is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists wewill be.”

The difference between a flute and a stick in the mud isthat the flute is emptied of itself so it can make beautiful music.
Two things are critical to community: Straight talk andconfession. Straight talk meaning not being too polite to be honest, and notmurmuring (per St. Benedict) or talking around issues. Andconfession involves saying “I’m sorry.”
An old African proverb says that if you want to get something done fast, go together; if you want to do it slowly, go alone.
It’s important not to be alone as we grieve. Grief is partof community. Jesus didn’t even carry His cross by Himself.
Quoting Dostoevsky: “Love in action is a harsh and dreadfulthing compared to love in dreams.”
