I now carry Irresistible Revolution with me in the bottom of my bag when I go out, in case I get a spare moment and a chance to get stuck in. As well as my bookmark, loose sheets of notepaper mark my pages so I can write notes as I go, on parts that particularly stick out to me or challenge me. I'm really making an effort to not give up reading this one!
To date, I have read up to page 39 (which consists of the Foreword by Jim Wallis, Introduction, The Authors Note and the first few pages of Chapter One). I wanted to blog some of my thoughts to help me properly digest what I'm reading, so I'll post a quote and let my thoughts run on it..
‘The whisper cries out for God to save the church from us Christians and breathe new life in to the aging body.’[1]
I think the reason this passage stood out is because of the 'saving the church from us Christians' part. Firstly, it makes me think of the quote from Brennan Manning, 'The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians - who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.' It makes me sad. Sad to think that I'm probably one of the Christians that is being spoken about here... But secondly, it makes me think that surely, all Christians can not be represented here. There are some who have got it right, who are so stained with the mark of Christ, so full and over-flowing with the Spirit that the joy of God in them bubbles over and reaches out to those around them, like a breath of fresh air. If the whole body was 'aging' and decaying, we wouldn't be bearing fruit would we?
‘New prophets are rising up who try to change the future, not just predict it.’[2]
This makes me excited and nervous..
Excited because to me, this is a sign that God is moving and that people are taking Him and their gifts seriously, these 'new prophets rising up'. Excited because change is occurring. And because prophets tell of what God is doing and going to do and we get the chance to be involved in this.
But it makes me nervous because prophets were the ones who God sent when Israel was in a state, ignoring Him, and in desperate need of rescuing. I know the world is in that state already, but most people aren't listening to the prophets. A lot of people don't care.. It also makes me nervous because Jesus warned us about false prophets and it's our responsibility to discern what is true from what is false...
Harold Camping for example, whilst in essence doing the right thing by investing time and finance to warn people about the end times, was false in predicting the date and time of Christ's return, and his eschatology was debatable... But his example does lead to questions like, what are we seriously doing to warn people of Christs return? And what else are we doing other than informing people of the after-life? Are we loving and serving? Are we meeting the needs of the needy? Providing for our children in the future? For our children’s children…? Are we showing people the life of joy and freedom that is available to us today, not just in the future?
‘The truth is that much stands in the way of God’s will for the world.’[3]
Yes. Earthly, material things. But Christians too probably.
‘If I’m awesome we have a problem… only God is awesome.’[4]
Originally I was worried about what the book was gonna be like, and what Claiborne's attitude was gonna be. I didn’t really know what to expect, but figured that he might take the view that he’s right and I’m probably wrong, and that I need to be a better Christian so here’s how to do it... I'm coming to realise that that's my default way of thinking when faced with someone who I assume to be superior to me in theology / spirituality / intelligence / general life cirmcumstnace etc.etc. That I'm gonna be told that I'm wrong, and I should do better.
Anyway, perhaps this is why this phrase stood out to me coz already throughout the book, it's clear that Claiborne thinks of himself as very ordinary, and normal. He's down-to-earth and I haven’t detected a hint of an attitude anything like what I thought I might. He is honest, blunt, and challenging (even in the author’s note!) but he’s not arrogant and he knows that God is the only one worthy of glory and exultation through this.
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