Irresistible Revolution #1

I am thinking I'll make this post part of a series of entries as I read Shane Claiborne's "Irresistible Revolution." It's been leading me to do a lot of reflecting and questioning... and as much as I hope God uses this blog to bless you, I hope you won't mind participating in some faith-blogging mentorship. :P

Here's a paragraph from Ch.1: "I was just another believer. I believed all the right stuff - that Jesus is the Son of God, died and rose again. 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."

I've been blessed with a wonderful community that's full of people who really do follow Christ. I thank God for these role models. God uses them to encourage me to follow Him, too. I don't expect to be told what to do, for I know God will answer my questions in His own time, but still I ask, "I've been saved.. now what?"

To digress a bit..
It's been several weeks since I departed with my charcoal drawing of Jesus on the cross, but the experience of drawing Him has remained with me. I worked from a picture I found online that was taken from "The Passion of the Christ." I had never before seen an image that so powerfully captured the suffering that Jesus endured for us. Look at him, the body of our beloved Christ is dripping in blood.

This image, compounded with Claiborne's book, got me thinking... the 'body of Christ' is more than just a metaphor for unity in the church. It is real. It is literal. Shouldn't we hunger, thirst, bleed as any living body does, much less the body of our Saviour?

Some of you know that I'm studying political science and journalism. For a while now, my dream has been to be a political or foreign correspondent - to be at the frontlines of whatever it is that runs this world. Now I see that this mysterious force is much more than the economy or technological development or rising global temperatures (?!).. it's God!

I admire foreign correspondents and investigative reporters almost as much as I admire full-time missionaries. They actually have a lot in common; most significantly is their shared commitment to the truth. They believe that sharing the truth with others is worth living and dying for.

Now that I know that God is truth, I almost want to say "screw school" and instead focus all of my attention on getting to know God!!

But I think God knows that I'm just trying to get out of writing all of my term papers, so He's been using my classes to reveal some of the many invisible faces that humbly bear the truth.

He's there with me everyday in class, and He teaches my classmates and me about the various injustices that take place on multidimensional levels - from personal prejudices to systemic discrimination. For example, we've studied some the hidden and 'legal' patterns of human trafficking, from the exploited domestic servants sent abroad from the Philippines, to the Korean "entertainers" or "hostesses" who service the US military camptowns. We've also studied the hidden costs of being a minority in this country, stemming from pre-Civil Rights Movement legislation, which has left a legacy of discrimination and destitution, despite our "colorblind," politically-correct rhetoric. All these exemplify what Mother Teresa used to say: "In the poor we meet Jesus in his most distressing disguises."

Heck, you don't even need to be in a classroom to learn about the suffering that goes on, even amongst ourselves.
Take the Aloha Airlines disaster, for example. On the front page of yesterday's Advertiser, there's an article about a laid-off flight attendant who was just diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but she can no longer afford her medications without health benefits.

There is so much suffering in our world, even in our community. Well, DUH. But seriously, so many are broken, so many are bleeding.

I'm a Christian, so therefore I'm part of the body of Christ. I should be there with them (whether it be physically or prayerfully), loving them and caring for their wounded souls. Isn't that what Jesus would do? He would do more than write articles about them, that's for sure. But if God is calling me to be a journalist.. is writing enough? It just sounds too simple.

Yet taking on all the world's problems sounds like too much. But if we unite.. if we become that literal body of Christ... perhaps then we'll start to see changes?

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth."
**(Am I right in assuming that the poor, the grieving, and the meek are blessed ONLY if they accept Jesus as their savior? Therefore we ought to share Jesus' love with them?)

"The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the lease of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40

I find all this very inspiring, but at the same time, I feel like such a phony. You know what I mean? I'm a Christian, but I feel like don't know how to live like one. I'm comfortable with my life. I like my life. I'd have to be crazy to give it up!

Oh, but I am crazy. Heck, when it comes to Jesus, I'm radical. I identify with Claiborne when he says, "So I am a radical in the truest sense of the word: an ordinary radical who wants to get at the root of what it means to love, and to get at the root of what has made such a mess of our world." But how do I live like a radical? How do I bring my life to the cross, how do I breathe and bleed for Christ?


Anyway, all these are just some of my thoughts. I hope I didn't bore you too much. Perhaps you feel/felt the same?

Here's some other cool Claiborne quotes from what I've read so far:

Back at college, I had asked one of my Bible teachers if he still believed in miracles, like when Jesus fed thousands of people with a couple of fishes and a handful of loaves. And I wondered if God was still into that stuff. I wanted miracles to be normal again. He told me that we have insulated ourselves from miracles. We no longer live with such reckless faith that we need them. There is rarely room for the transcendent in our lives. If we get sick, we go to a doctor. If we need food, we go to a store and buy it. We have eliminated the need for miracles. If we had enough faith to depend on God like the lilies and the sparrows do, we would see miracles. For is it not a miracle that the birds find enough worms each day? He was right. On the streets of Philly, we experienced miracles. We would wake up sometimes with a blanket on us or a meal beside us that wasn't there when we went to sleep.

How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?

The church became something we are - an organism, not an organization.

Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, "You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet."