The Irresistible Revolution

January 8, 2008
I have been working my way through a few books recently but one has captured my attention and I love reading it. This book is entitled, “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne. It’s a book basically about his life, his experiences, and the lessons that God has taught him through it all. At first, I have to admit that I assumed that it would be like any other autobiography and that there may not be much flare to it however I was extremely encouraged as the words seem to flow so beautifully and the book has quickly become one of my favorites. Through reading this book there have been a number of things that strike me as interesting and make me think, however last night was different.
By reading this book I have been challenged but something that I read last evening struck me more so than anything else. Shane writes, “One thing I’ve learned from believers and from activists alike is that community can be built around a common self-righteousness or around a common brokenness. Both are magnetic.”
After reading this statement I have to admit that I put the book down and started contemplating what this actually meant. You see, our student ministry is alive, active, going, doing, and our students are hungry. However, I was wondering about the type of environment that we are setting up for the students. You see we strive to create a safe, loving, and sensitive to their needs environment however I wondered if we creating one of self-righteousness or one of brokenness. You see I agreed whole-hearted with Shane’s statement about how a community can be built but I really started thinking about this.
The church for so many years has seemed to push people away because they are not like us, there are songs about the hurtful glances that we cast as people enter our doors, and also the lack of love and support that the church gives or doesn’t give to others. You see I believe for so many years that we (the church) have been guilty of creating a community of self-righteous people. We have totally missed the point of striving to be the church like I believe Jesus wanted us to be and focused on glorifying ourselves and becoming increasingly prideful. How do we change this though? How do we strive to be different and create a community of brokenness? Is it something that can just happen or does it really take planning? The more I thought about all of this the more I came to the realization that I don’t believe we can really create a community of brokenness but rather it’s just something that happens. You can’t create it, plan it, or even orchestrate it, it just happens. A broken community takes place when people view others as equals and as family. A broken community happens when people begin to be genuine and honest with each other. A broken community occurs when people bear the burdens of others not for any glory for themselves but rather for the fact that they desire to love as God loves them. A broken community in my eyes in honestly a family, who like any other family, takes the good with the bad. A family celebrates the accomplishments of the other members and shares in the suffering. A family is the ultimate example of a broken community, in my eyes.
So how do we create that in the church? I don’t know if you can, as I mentioned earlier, other than by simply loving on the members of your congregation, developing a sense of trust among them, and sharing your heart with them through relationships. The relationship aspect is one that has been harped on for a number of years and has become the focus of so much energy in the church and rightfully so. In relationships trust occurs. In relationships grief is shared. In relationships people allow their guard to come down and the real desires of their hearts to be shared. In relationships and ultimately the treating of others like family a broken community can occur. However, this is not something that can be forced or planned but rather something that just falls into place and what a glorious day it will be when this happens, if it happens in churches everywhere. A day where the love of Christ runs rampant through the aisles of our sanctuaries, the foyer is filled with caring and compassionate people and the burdens of others are taken and love runs everywhere. The love of Christ is a powerful thing and when it is alive and moving we can see broken communities and the lives of those around us impacted and changed greatly.