Irrestible Revolution – chapters 7-9

Shane makes me uncomfortable. Most of it’s a good uncomfortable (the kind I know I need). Some of it, I don’t know. He’s a different guy. But it is really hard to argue with a guy whose faith is lived out so practically, even if imperfectly. His faith has really transformed his life – in every aspect. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be.

I can’t say that that’s been the effect of faith in my life. Sure there was the piety, the commitment to ritual, the resistance of taboo behaviours. I remember giving devotions about “commitment.” But my concept of “commitment” was a commitment to daily devotions, to youth group attendance, to church service, to not drinking at parties. I’m not even slightly exaggerating. And there’s some good there, don’t get me wrong. But my commitment to those activities was an end in itself. I did the things that good Christians do. But I think I was kidding myself.


I failed to consider the deeper transformation that deals with the things Jesus actually talked about: greed, selfishness, unforgiveness, self-righteousness. The list goes on. I can’t increase my “commitment” to fix those things. I need to be transformed. Deeply. So transformed that money and power and reputation and comfort mean nothing compared to what Jesus offers. So transformed that “the least of these” are not a distant group I refer to academically, but who are an integral part of my life. Otherwise, I'm just kidding myself with the "good Christian" busyness.

On a related note, back to the Haiti catastrophe. I was on my way home the other night and heard more about the situation on the news. I said a quick prayer, asking God that the Haitian people might find this as an opportunity to be transformed and find Him. I do this more out of reflex than anything. It’s always been a habit to utter such a prayer when hearing about disaster or sickness or hardship impacting people. It’s so typical of me – to see someone else’s catastrophe and think, “there’s no better time to get saved than when your life gets screwed up. Here’s your chance.” Am I cynical? Yes. But I think there’s at least a little bit of good reason for it (it’s easy for us to pray for salvation – and ignore the physical needs we could actually do something about). Anyway, back to the prayer. I said that prayer and felt like I received an immediate response. Not an audible one, but it still seemed real. This is what I felt like I heard: “Maybe this is an opportunity for you to be transformed and find me.” That was weird. I hadn’t been praying for myself or even thinking about myself. But I really couldn’t argue. I wonder what it will take for me to finally see in my life the things I think (in my head) characterize someone who takes Jesus seriously. I probably need more transformation than the Haitians.


Here are some quotes from the book – I’m going to quit typing them out. Our computer doesn’t have a space bar or “c”, it’s getting frustrating, and I just don’t have the time. I think the ones I’ve posted are enough to help you decide if the book is for you.

One of the things that became painfully clear to me in Iraq is that what’s at stake today is the reputation of not just America but of Christianity, and that’s what keeps me up at night. [Note: Shane spent some time in Iraq early in the war]. I heard people in Iraq call leaders in the US “Christian extremists,” just as leaders here speak of “Muslim extremists.” Everyone is declaring war and asking for God’s blessing.

To this day, I hold on to a little saying I had with me in that court, the words of Dr. King: “There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes through that red light, and normal traffic had better get out of his way. Or when a man is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed. There is a fire raging...for the poor of this society. Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved.

The gospel is good news for sick people and is disturbing for those who think they’ve got it all together... The church is a place where we can all stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful. (My response: umm, really?)

Christianity can be built around isolating ourselves from evildoers and sinners, creating a community of religious piety and moral piety. That’s the Christianity I grew up with. Christianity can also be built around joining with the broken sinners and evildoers of our world crying out for God, groaning for Christ. That’s the Christianity I have fallen in love with.

Here’s the exact quote from Jerry Falwell’s response to September 11th two days later on The 700 Club, with Pat Robertson nodding in agreement: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to securalize America. I point the finger in their face and say, ‘you helped this happen.’” Falwell later issued a well-warranted apology (see http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/14/Falwell.apology/). (My response: WTF? So, Pat, what left leaning political group do you find responsible for the tragedies in Darfur? Has it ever occurred to you that Muslim extremists hate the immeasurable hypocrisy of you and I? We’re the ones who proudly proclaim to have the very words of God and yet it’s our greed and consumption and blindness that ignores and contributes to poverty and injustice all over the world. Let’s look in the mirror.)

The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes just don’t seem like the best tools with which to lead an empire or superpower. The truth that we have to lose our lives to find them doesn’t sound like a good plan for national security. As old troubadour Woody Guthrie sings, “If Jesus preached in New York what he preached in Galilee, we’d lay him in his grave again” (especially if he did it on Wall Street).

I think the world would be willing to listen to a church on its knees, a church that doesn’t pretend to be perfect or to have all the answers. I think a mystical, sacramental healing can begin within us and extend into the wounds of our world.

Rather than separating ourselves from everyone we consider impure, maybe we are better off just beating our chests and praying that God would be merciful enough to save us from this present ugliness and to make our lives so beautiful that people cannot resist that mercy.

There are many people who are morally “pure” but devoid of any life, joy, or celebration. For some, this “purity” means that we do not touch anything that is “secular,” and for others, it means that we don’t eat anything that is not “organic.” But if it is not born of relationships, if it is not liberating for the oppressed and the oppressors, if it is not marked by raw, passionate love, then it is the same old self righteousness that does little more than flaunt our own purity by making the rest of the world see how dirty they are. No matter where it pops up, this yeast hinders us from seeing God’s image in every human being, be they a soldier or a centurion, a tax collector or a stockbroker, a Zealot or an anarchist. No one is beyond redemption.

I’ve met a lot of Christians who say, “If people knew about all my struggles and weaknesses, they would never want to be a Christian.” I think the opposite is true. If people really knew what idiots we are, in our brokenness and vulnerability, they would know that they can give this thing a shot too...We know that we cannot do life alone, and the good news is that we don’t have to. We are created for community.

It’s the old eye for eye things that gets us. But the more I’ve studied the Hebrew Scriptures, the more I’m convinced that this was just a boundary for people who lashed back. As the new exodus people were trying to discover a new life outside the empire, God made sure there were some boundaries. If someone breaks your arm, you cannot go back and break their arm and then their leg too. Just like in old feudal wars or with contemporary gangs, things escalate. A shock-and-awe bombing leads to a shock-and-awe beheading. A Pearl Habour leads to a Hiroshima. A murder leads to an execution. A rude look leads to a cold shoulder. “An eye for an eye” we have indeed heard before and learned its logic all too well. But Jesus comes declaring in his State of the Union Sermon on the Mount address (Matt. 5:38). “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,’” but there is another way. And it’s a good thing, since Gandhi and King used to say, “An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the whole world blind” (and with dentures).

When we look through the eyes of Jesus, we see new things in people. In the murderers, we see our own hatred. In the addicts, we see our own addictions. In the saints, we catch glimpses of our own holiness. We can see our own brokenness, our own violence, our own ability to destroy, and we can see our own sacredness, our own capacity to love and forgive. When we realize that we are both wretched and beautiful, we are freed up to see others the same way.