And so we begin! Chapter One
Our discussions will be under "comments". Still trying to figure out the best format.
Let's begin our discussion! I'll get us started: I think I've always been afraid of feeling that "Jesus Wrecked My Life"! (page 41) I've felt myself time after time on the verge of truly "selling out" to Christ wholeheartedly. Then, unsure of just how weird it would make me, I kept slinking right back into complacency. This book helps me envision a new me - a me who is fully with Christ, excited about loving God and people, not focused on things I shouldn't or can't do or say, rules, etc.
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Welcome to my first ever blog! We're having some wonderful discussions over the book The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I love this book because it is prompting so many of us to ask the right questions! May we sharpen one another as "iron sharpens iron"!
I want to use this space also to list some other books that are in our home right now and, boy howdy, are they making a HUGE difference!
The Illumined Heart by Frederica Mathewes-Green
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+illumined+heart
Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=everyday+justice
I want to use this space also to list some other books that are in our home right now and, boy howdy, are they making a HUGE difference!
The Illumined Heart by Frederica Mathewes-Green
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+illumined+heart
Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=everyday+justice
I'm looking forward to reading this book and joining the discussion!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, Bethany!
My copy of the book arrived this morning and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I did think it would probably be hard work to read and that I wouldn't get past chapter 1, as it is I'm about to start chapter 5!!
ReplyDeleteOK so thoughts about chapter 1. It's a bit difficult to comment about this chapter because he describes a life that is so very different from my own. England is a whole different place from Tennessee. His comment "I can remember when Christianity was still safe, comfortable, trendy" seem a far cry from England during my teenage years, Christianity was NEVER trendy, going to church was something your parents made you do. And my church life was far removed from any other part of my life. Going to a bible group on a Sunday night was fine but you didn't tell anyone at school where you'd been and I can't imagine my school ever having any religious input. Our R.E. classes consisted of "Don't drink because you'll be ill, don't do drugs they could kill you, and only have safe sex. Religion was not to be discussed in an R.E. lesson!!
He also says "I can't remember meeting anyone Jewish or Muslim.." I grew up in Bristol which is a very cosmopolitan city. I grew up surrounded by lots and lots of different religious beliefs. A practicising Christian was a minority in my area, so it was more acceptable to not sweat the church stuff.
I love the line "I recall thinking that if God was as boring as Sunday morning, I wasn't sure I wanted anything to do with him" I can completely identify with that. I think the difference is that for me it was easy to "dare to stop going to Church".
It makes me wonder how different the US and UK really are. There's no doubt our churches are far emptier than yours, but is that because the US have more "true believers" or are there just more people in the US that still see going to church on Sunday because thats "just what you do".
For most British people, "church life" was less interwoven into the rest of their life, their social standing, their netwroking etc, etc. So have the people in the UK just found it easier to take the option to run away from "the Sunday duty"
Oh gosh, Shane describes my Texas small town childhood concerning church...generations apart. If anyone failed to be in his or her church on Sunday morning, someone would be at the house in the afternoon bringing food because it was assumed that he or she was sick. Otherwise one did NOT miss church. The church to which you belonged and how much you volunteered for standard activities became a status symbol. It was, as Naomi said, "the Sunday duty".
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see in this first chapter that Comfortable Christianity has continued to span the generations.
We moved to a university town when I was in middle school, and a whole new church world opened up to me. We had youth choir, Sunday School, Baptist Training Union and yes, fellowship afterward...and all of these became no more than social events. Ah, but we could tell our parents and our friends at school, by golly, we are active church members. Yes, active, but not active Christians.
This book is going to be a real eye-opener for many. Hopefully as we share this book with others, some of these Comfortable Christians will come out from behind the walls of tradition (spell that b-o-r-i-n-g). Perhaps they will become engaged with Jesus and life rather than continue passive worship.
I am really looking forward to going through this book with all of you, and passing it on to others so they too can wake up.
Okay, Calvin Cooper, we know who you really are, Susan Nixon! Ha!
ReplyDeleteWow! I am just on page 20 in the Introduction and I'm already very excited about this book. This is a great idea. I am really looking forward to some indepth discussions. Andy had to tell me to stop reading out loud...ha. ha. Great idea Bethany! I will write more when I have time.
ReplyDeleteK
Ok Bethany...you were right. I can do this. I read the first chapter in no time. It's an easy read and I can't wait to start chap. 2.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts on chapter 1 are that I felt a lot like him growing up, in that Sunday morning church was very boring and that I wanted a more "exciting" life and didn't want to be so restricted as I felt being a true Christian would require. I never really gave much thought to Jesus being a real human. And I have had “Spiritual Bulimia” in my lifetime. I want Jesus to run deeper in me and not just be on the surface. And I am ashamed to say that the thought of spending time with the homeless has always frightened me. I just thought that they must have done something to get in that situation and if they didn’t care enough to help themselves, why should I. But that’s not how Jesus though and that’s now how he wants me to treat my brothers and sisters. I can tell this book is going to be life altering for me.
Sorry, a bit late to the blog discussion! Been out of town the past few weeks. First of all, I love the observation that Naomi makes about the UK/US difference. The kinds of observations that Shane and others are beginning to make and the ones that all of you are obviously noticing are collectively called the “emerging” movement. This is the word given to all those people who are asking of the church, “what is your relevance and what is next!?” These are questions that are scary to many people. The UK began asking this question earlier and much of the time, their answer has been that Christianity/religion is no longer really relevant, especially as practiced. This is beginning to become the answer in the US, however in places like the South in what we call the Bible Belt, the answer has been to hold dead fast to the establishment, shunning anything that would question it as ‘heretical’ or ‘liberal’ or ‘destructive.’ (Which as I have found is exactly what books and thoughts like the one we’re reading are called.)
ReplyDeleteThe good news, as we shall read later, is that Christ is all about the margins! There are many emerging ministries going strong in the UK because the wheat has fallen to the ground and died, that new and abundant life may rise up. The US is beginning this process. My mentor, Dr Elaine Heath, says that the church in the US in on the verge of a collective Dark Night of the Soul. The purpose of the Dark Night is to purge, heal, and bring new life.
In this first chapter, I love the quote from pages 48-9. “I wanted miracles to be normal again…we have insulated ourselves from miracles. We no longer live with such reckless faith that we need them.” That’s what this journey is about for me. I am endeavoring to live with reckless faith. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me anymore, and it’s the only thing I’m willing to live my life for. It may be scary as hell, but way more frightening is the hell of a mundane complacency. A faith that maintains and whose purpose is only to give warm fuzzies and happy thoughts, when in reality, it can’t even do that! I want a wild adventure, and I want miracles to be commonplace. And you know what I’ve discovered? It’s possible, and it’s waiting.