Thoughts on Shane Claiborne's thoughts.

Tonight I had the privilege of hearing a lecture from Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President.

He touched on a lot of different topics in 45 minutes, but the thing he kept coming back to, even during the Q&A section, was the radical way Jesus lived.

Jesus challenged the pattern of the world when he lived on earth. And he bids us the same. Shane listed a few of the patterns we tend to follow today. Our natural reaction to crime and suffering is to move away from it, into the suburbs. Our natural reaction to a bad economy is to stockpile our money in an effort for financial security. He had a lot to say about this pattern (or I just took more notes during this section).

Americans constitute 5% of the world's population and consume half of the world's material goods. We try to fill the void inside of us with stuff. But it just ends up controlling us. Some of the freest people in the world hold onto stuff the loosest.
Mother Teresa said "the best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away." Shane goes as far as saying that the more that we have the less we become.

In general, we all stockpile things and over-consume, (yes, even Christians). We live in a world where over-consumption of food is literally killing some of us. One out of three adult Americans are obese. Thousands will die this year from complications from being overweight, while thousands of people die every day from starvation.

Jesus constantly challenged the norm. Shane does the same, and evokes a feeling of fascination that leave you wondering if there are ways you can challenge the norm in your own life.

You may not agree with Shane's radical ways, but at least he believes in what he believes in 100%. I didn't come away from Shane's lecture wanting to buy his newest book or gush about how great he is to my friends. I left wanting to know Jesus more, and to consider what patterns of the world I was conforming to that I wasn't aware of.