I have
been reading a book that I encourage you not to pick up or read
because it will mess up your life. It is called The Irresistible
Revolution. Its author is Shane Claiborne. And it has the
annoying tendency to point out all the various ways we aren't living as
Christ would have us - WHILE AT THE SAME TIME inspiring me to go ahead
and start living they way Jesus wants me to - cuz its not like waiting
will get me there.
Shane's
main idea is that the fullness of Christ's justice, love, mercy, and
grace is known best in radical community. His friends at newmonasticism.org
help me understand Shane's work with this list of the character of such
life/world changing relationships. These communities are made up of
people who support:
1)
Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the
needy among us.
3) Hospitality to the stranger
4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities
combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
5) Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the
community along the lines of the old novitiate.
7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
8) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples
and their children.
9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule
of life.
10) Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of
our local economies.
11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within
communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.
Whew! Now that is a neighborhood I'd like to attend a
block party in! I pray that God will grant us these kinds of
communities here in our part of the world that we may see the fullness
of Jesus and the transformational power of the Holy Spirit.
Carl
"May
God give us grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to discern rules for
living that will help us embody these marks in our local contexts as
signs of Christ’s kingdom for the sake of God’s world."
