Excerpts from "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne PART TWO

Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers them only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.

We are about ending poverty, not simply managing it.

We have described the layers of our common life as an onion, at the core of which are the partners who covenant to love and cherish each other (the hardest and most beautiful thing we do), and each of us shares healthy responsibilities and expectations. We've hashed out our nonnegotiables and tried to understand those we do not agree with.

Jesus did not seek out the rich and powerful in order to trickle down his Kingdom.

"We are trying to shout the gospel with our lives." -- Sister Margaret

People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

It's easy to see these things as spectacular, but I really believe that's only because we live in a world that has lost its imagination.

Excerpts from "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne

New prophets are rising up who try to change the future, not just predict it. There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and and becomes the the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible. It is a contagious revolution that dances, laughs, and loves.

Little people with big dreams are reimagining the world.

The point is not to give you all of the answers but to stir up some of the questions. Some of us haven't even asked the right questions, or found a church that would let us.

Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.

May we continue to feed each other hope as we dance God's revolution together.

It becomes hard to know who Jesus really is, much less to imagine that Jesus ever laughed, cried, or had poop that smelled.

I came to realize that preachers were telling me to lay my life at the foot of the cross and weren't giving me anything to pick up.

...suffocated by Christianity but thirsty for God.

I wanted to see passion.

reckless, unguarded worship...like they believed in heaven and hell [and] cried and worshiped like they were actually encountering God.

At least they have a sense of urgency and passion and live as if what they are saying is true (religious fanatics who stand on street corners)

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.

We saw a homeless man lay a pack of cigarettes in the offering plate because it was all he had.

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."

I felt so thirsty for God, so embarrassed by Christianity, and so ready for something more.

"We are called not to be successful but to be faithful." -- Mother Theresa

tension between efficiency and faithfulness.

"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it." -- Mother Theresa

Namaste means "I honor the Holy One who lives in you."

What had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus' love...It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers.

A new community marked by interdependence and sacrificial love.

People always want to define you by what you do. I started saying, "I'm not too concerned with what I am going to do. I am more interested in who I am becoming. I want to be a lover of God and people." What we do is not nearly as important as who we are.

We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours.

"I dare you to hope for more."

Faith, hope, and love.

I feel like God is showing me so many aspects of these three things. He's showing me how they're all intertwined in ways that would seem almost bizarre. Jesus says, "The greatest of these is love." But, because of love, we will have faith and hope. So, they're never far from one another. I'm not sure that they exist apart from one another.

But, right now, it's all about hope. Hope is so wrapped up in faith. It's basically believing something greater....both of those things are expectancy of better. Faith is like the drive behind hope. Faith inspires us to hope...because hope is the heartbeat of atmosphere changes.

I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that we change things with our words and with hope. Our words, which carry life in them, draw on change.

And, it's only out of love --because perfect love is devoid of manipulation and control-- that we will change, with our words and our hope, anything that comes against love. So, the things that come up next to and within love are pure and saturating. So, it's not manipulative or controlling to draw on love and safety and grace...

But, what is it inside of me that feels like if I pull on love and hope right now for a certain situation, that it will be manipulating? I know it's not my heart. I think I've figured out that I don't know where his heart is. I feel like I always have to appeal to the Christlike portion of something to get his attention. It's like I have to show him what is actually love and grace and pure and almost like telling him it's "wrong" to do otherwise if we are going to live like Christ. It's like punishment gets his attention...or failure.... So, I feel like I have to leave it just completely up to him. I can't appeal to the spirit within him...I can't point out the nature of the Lord's character.... because then it's like pointing out his weakness and faults and -- is it really pulling him higher? It's never my heart to make him feel like punishment or failure should get his attention... but, in the back of my mind, i know..or maybe just assume/think.. that it's not where his heart is right now. His heart isn't centered on walking in the Spirit so fully that love conquers all....grace and hope change things.... and sacrifice is worth it.

But, what about loving someone by loving them as "if" they're the person they want to be? I don't think I really know how to do that in a way that calls out greatness.... I know I want to live like that and i want to UNDERSTAND how to do that. I want to know the inner workings of the heartbeat of God that loves in such a way that always thinks the best and draws out destiny. It sounds great in words and all that... but, how does that work? How does that work when hearts have been so broken? How does that work when trust has never been fully given because it just absolutely does not exist to a full capacity in a relationship?

I want it to work. I don't want to be stifled in such a way that i can't trust and I can't love... I mean,i want to love so fully and completely and amazingly that i can go back again and again and try and try and walk with someone through things. But, I don't want to be a scapegoat and a doormat.

Such tension.

I want to find the balance.

Hope.

–noun

1.

the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that eventswill turn out for the best: to give up hope.

2.

a particular instance of this feeling: the hope of winning.

3.

grounds for this feeling in a particular instance: There is littleor no hope of his recovery.

4.

a person or thing in which expectations are centered: Themedicine was her last hope.

5.

something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constanthope.

–verb (used with object)

6.

to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.

7.

to believe, desire, or trust: I hope that my work will besatisfactory.

–verb (used without object)

8.

to feel that something desired may happen: We hope for an early spring.

9.

Archaic . to place trust; rely (usually followed by in ).

—Idiom

10.

hope against hope, to continue to hope, although the outlookdoes not warrant it: We are hoping against hope for achange in her condition.

I will not forget that nothing is impossible.

Who can nail down one exact moment or one thing that was too far that alienates you from another person?

Even from the Holy Spirit.... at one point were you not able to feel Him, hear Him, find Him like before....

It's usually a culmination of moments, thoughts, ideas, actions...

The other day, I had this talk with God that was hugely intense. It restored a standard between us. It restored a standard of intimacy that had been weathered and not attended to. I got "my eyes" back and even then they were better...more learned, heightened, more wisdom, more experienced...

But, I sat in my car and literally wept for awhile. I was weeping so hard that my body became weak and I felt the release of months of pent up pain come rolling out. So, I asked the Holy Spirit to fill it all up with Himself because too often I welcome pain to fill me because I ignore it. Apathy becomes deadly to my soul and to my own body.

He is doing so much. I have felt like it's a step back. Some of it is restoring to me parts of my personality that I have hidden because of pain or shame... but, when He restores what I lost, I still have all this experience and knowledge that I've gained since I hid these things. So, essentially, my gain is crazy huge.

I've always been a romantic. But, even so in friendships. If I feel drawn to someone strongly and inexplicably, I feel this sense that it was "meant to be." So, I fight with my very core for what I want and what I desire. I believe to the end that it was meant to be and it's worth fighting for. I've tried to tone that down and I've become ashamed of my tendency to love that deeply. But, I'm finding this ridiculously awesome aspect of God's character in that part of me. So, now I'm feeling like I see grace, love, hope, restoration, and strength in something that I labeled as shameful.

Something has happened here recently. Something beautiful.

Something I won't let apathy take away again.

I washed my wounds with tears of hope.

I've always been this deeply feeling person. I feel shifts in atmosphere and in the spirit very deeply. I would cry when something ended...."the end of an era"... "one door closes for another to open"....give it whatever cliche you want. But, I'd feel it to my very core. I would mourn the loss of what had changed my life. I used to mourn over my choices. When I was a little girl, I remember one time that I literally cried because I felt like I should've chosen a different watch at the store -- and since I was at the mercy of my parent's dollar, I couldn't take my choice back. I always weigh my choices even though I usually make decisions quickly. I'm just a quick thinker.

I'm deeply moved by the words of other people. It's why I devour books. It's why I am so moved by the lyrical portion of songs. It's why words are like promises to me. It's how I relate.

Tonight, I sat in my car and cried for maybe a solid minute (60 seconds is a long time to cry solid if you think about it....I usually don't cry solid for very long...it's usually in spurts) because this band that LITERALLY changed my life called it quits. Or basically they indefinitely put off making music together... but, it wasn't just how this band changed my life or how they didn't even know the ways that they have orchestrated huge, massive changes in my life (this is so not even an exaggeration)... it was the blog that the lead singer wrote and how I felt it right along with him. I felt his loss as deeply as he did.

It was always such a release for me to cry and feel things deeply. After being deeply hurt by a boy not that long ago, I literally hid portions of myself FROM myself. I cut off that part of me that deeply felt things that shifted and, unintentionally, cut off a part of me that felt things that hurt the Spirit... not even things that I did....just things that made Him sad. I saw them differently....I distanced myself from them because, honestly, i was tired of feeling that deeply. I was tired of hurting over things. I was tired of feeling the brutality of pain. I was tired of going through the waves of emotion and always coming back and back and back....

I can't even finish these thoughts right now.... I'm back to the place and I just can't stop crying and feeling and..... thinking....

In these words, you find my life.

A lot of times music will stir my soul to such a point that I start fantasizing about being alone with God. I feel such a drawing to be alone with Him anywhere...absolutely anywhere... but, every single time, I am with journal in hand. I am absolutely scribbling away. Furiously. Hair falling in my face. Determination.

As I view this scene in my mind's eye, I can't help but feel like my words matter far more than I dream that they do. I feel words stirring in my bones and veins that need to be heard. But, I'm not sure of my message. I'm not sure of the intent. I only know that I'm relaying something. While anyone that knows me knows that the finished work of the Cross, inner healing, prophecy, and the inerrant goodness of God should and would be a theme, I oft wonder which story needs to be shared. Which experience? What lesson learned? What is my intent?

Mostly, I feel like there's something inside of me bursting to get out. I feel unsettled because it's not out of me. I feel unsettled because it's merely stirring inside of me -- this whirlwind of actual life-giving energy. It's almost as if things won't happen. Things won't be as they should. Unless I speak. Unless I write. Unless I pour out my heart on the canvas of any paper I can get my hands on. This is how I paint. How I create. How I give. How I love.

My words. Life. They are tangible. They are electric objects. They can be touched. They can spark you.

It draws such a sense of wonder at this life we lead to know that there is greatness residing in one's self and to be okay with your greatness and to feel responsible for your greatness and to want to steward your greatness.

The things that could happen are overwhelmingly tantalizing.