The last chapter of Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution is titled “Crazy But Not Alone.” This is a great summary of the book and brings us to the roots of a lot of Claiborne’s arguments. A lot of it is surrounded by the ideals of the emerging church. Let’s take a lot at some of the values he exhorts us to.
- One of the values that just about everyone says lies within the emerging church is, relationship and community. Claiborne says we show these values by giving grace and love.
- I really like one section where he talks about dark and light. He equates the dark with human suffering around the world, something everything hates. But I thought it was interesting what he said about the light. “It can become quite comfortable, like a campfire…we must neither get used to the darkness of human suffering or fall asleep in the comfort of the light.” I’m not exactly sure what he is referring in with “light” but I get the sense that he is attacking a relationship with Christ with no action.
- While Christians use different methods for reaching the lost, Shane contends only one method is God’s: love.
- Shane says that it is important for young people to stay rooted in their local church and to grow under their elders. While it is easy to simply complain about the church in a self-righteous cynicism, it is the high road to stick with the church. “The Creator and the church are our parents, and having one without the other leaves us very empty. Though our mother has many illegitimate children, we still love her.” What a great way to end this book. Much of it has been spent sharing an outcry against the “Religious Right” and many of the ideals that people would categorize under Christianity. But Shane ends with a strong reminder for his young readers, that the church needs them.
My Final Thoughts:
I thought this was an incredible book. I talked with my good friend Ric a while back. He too had read this book recently. We both said that it was a book that had shaken our foundation of what we believe and why we believe it. Shane had the audacity to take on just about every controversial subject that I can think of. He did this with strong Biblical support and legitimate personal experience. This allows for a very convincing argument. Don’t read this if you are enjoying your comfortable life, because it will make you re-think all that. Actually, if you love your comfortable life, maybe this is the book for you. The only problem I have is that with all the questions his book brings up…I find it hard to grasp concrete answers.
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