From A Normal Rockstar

Posted on 10.29.06 in Faith and there are 1 comments.

Jeremy Theissan, the drummer from the band, Downhere, has been writing on his blog about a book called the Irresistable Revolution, written by Shane Claiborn. It sounds like a very thought provoking and powerful book.

Here is an excerpt from the review by Publisher’s Weekly:
“He (Claiborne) somehow skewers the insulation of suburban living and the hypocrisy of wealthy churches without any self-righteous finger pointing. “The world,” he says, “cannot afford the American dream.” Claiborne’s conviction, personal experience and description of others like him are a clarion call to rethink the meaning of church, conversion and Christianity; no reader will go away unshaken.”

And here are some highlights that Jeremy has pointed out on his blog:

“Layers of insulation separate the rich and the poor from truly encountering one another. There are the obvious layers like picket fences and SUVs, and there are the more subtle ones like charity. Tithes, tax-exempt donations, and short-term mission trips, while they accomplish some good, can also function as outlets that allow us to appease our consciences and still remain a safe distance from the poor.”

“It is much more comfortable to depersonalize the poor so we don’t feel responsible for the catastrophic human failure that results in someone sleeping on the street while people have spare bedrooms in their homes. We can volunteer in a social program or distribute excess food and clothing through organizations and never have to open up our homes, our beds, our dinner tables. When we get to heaven, we will be separated into those sheep and goats Jesus talks about in Matthew 25 based on how we cared for the least among us. I’m just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, ‘When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,’, or, ‘When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.’ Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: ‘you fed me… you visited me in prison… you welcomed me into hour home… you clothed me.”

“Almost every time we talk with affluent folks about God’s will to end poverty, someone says, ‘But didn’t Jesus say, ‘The poor will always be with you’?’ Many of the people who whip out this verse have grown quite insulated and distant from the poor and feel defensive. I usually gently ask, ‘Where are the poor? Are the poor among us?’ The answer is usually a clear negatory. As we study the Scriptures, we see how many texts we have misread, contextualized, and exegeted to hear what we want to. Like this one about the poor being among us, which Jesus says in the home of a leper and after a poor marginalized woman anoints his feet with perfume. The poor were all around him. Far from saying in defeat that we should not worry about the poor, since they will always be among us, Jesus is pointing the church to her true identity - she is to live close to those who suffer. The poor will always be among us, because the empire will always produce poor people, and they will find a home in the church, a citizenship in the kingdom of God, where the ‘hungry are filled with good things and the rich sent away empty.’ I heard that Gandhi, when people asked him if he was a Christian, would often reply, ‘Ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are.’”

“I had a college professor who said, ‘All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.’” “I’m not sure where we get the notion that Christianity is safe or that Christians should play it cool… Perhaps the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is in safety and comfort… You don’t get crucified for being cool; you get crucified for living radically different from the norms of all that is cool in the world.”

Read the rest of Jeremy’s post here.

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“Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity”

Wow, Kat, that is powerful and convicting.  Too many times I fill out that monthly check to World Vision and think of how proud I am to be able to help one child over there.  If that’s the best I can do, then I’m in trouble.  Thanks for sharing this.

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