Some Thoughts about Revolution

So this week I got the opportunity to see Shane Claiborne speak at SBU. He is the author of a couple of books - The Irresistible Revolution & Jesus for President - I've read that have really messed my life up. Here is what Shane looks like.



His books and his talks were centered around the belief that Christians need to start living the way Christ lived. He has a great passion for living with less so we can meet the needs of those who have nothing - both locally and globally. This is a concept that has really challenged me and excited me over the last couple of years. But I am still trying to get my head around what that looks like exactly for myself and for our church. So I was really excited to get to see Shane speak. It was also interesting to me that I was going to get to hear him on the week that I was talking about Revolution on Wednesday night and just a couple weeks before we begin talking about how to care for the least of these.

One of the things that stood out to me the most from his talk and probably answered my questions the best was how he took personal responsibility for change. He said a lot of us can get excited about a movement or a cause but not a lot of us want to do the hard work to get those things done. He said the true change isn't a program or an event or even a communal house like he lives in. The answer is broken individuals realizing their brokenness and then as a part of our healing we try to help with the brokenness around us. It is me willing to see the opportunities I have today to meet the needs of someone around me.

This summer Shane and a few other people went on a tour around the country talking about these ideas and cataloging stories of other people who are trying to live out this revolution. They made a film of it called Ordinary Radicals. Here is the trailer for it.



At the talk this week, he showed a clip from this video of a guy who had read Shane's book and felt convicted to do something but he didn't know what. And that is exactly where I feel I am at. So the guy goes on to share how the very next day, his buddies gave him a ticket to get on The Price Is Right game show. The video shows how this guy gets called down and ends up winning the showcase to the tune of $57,000. So the guy takes the money and goes to Uganda and spends time in orphanages there giving the money away. It was incredible and the guy said it was just the natural thing for him to do.

As we start imagining a different tomorrow for ourselves - a way of living out our faith - I wonder what God has in store for us. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you are praying for God to do in your life. Let me know how you feel God calling you to be a part of this revolution.

God Bless.