Aug. 18, 2008—“People would ask Mother Teresa how she was able to pull 50,000 people off of the street,” says Shane Claiborne, “and she would say ‘one person at a time.”
Following his talk at the Sea to Sea celebration rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., yesterday— that drew spontaneous applause often from the more than 3,000 gathered at Fifth Third Ballpark, Claiborne said he was very excited about the bike tour and its goals to help the poor.
“This is a great thing you’re doing,” he says, “keep pedaling the good news.”
Claiborne is the author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus For President in which he challenges followers of Jesus to reconsider how they are living out their faith.
“If what I’ve written about seems radical, that’s an indictment on the sort of Christianity we are currently living,” he says, concerning topics he’s addressed on war, politics, empire, generosity toward neighbor, and many others. “There isn’t a theologian around who wouldn’t say the early Christians were peacekeepers.”
As founder of The Simple Way, a community based in Philadelphia, Claiborne promotes living a simpler lifestyle, but he says he no longer mentions the community when he speaks at large gatherings because people end up missing the point.
“We’re not trying to start a brand or even something to model,” he says, “we just want people to imitate Jesus. But there is a movement that’s happening of people who are following Jesus’ commitment to the poor and of non-violence.”
And just how does one start on this path of becoming what Claiborne calls an “ordinary radical?” Look at who and what is influencing you, he suggests.
“We surrounded ourselves with others who dared us to risk a little more, to fan each other’s flames,” he says about starting the community of which he is now a part. “It’s not unlike this bike tour; you’ve got a critical mass.”
Claiborne wants the invitation to those who hear his message to be clear: “we need to think more creatively about our own vocations and lives,” he says. “It shouldn’t be ‘what do I do for a living?’ but rather ‘who am I becoming? What kind of doctor or lawyer will I be?’”
He finishes much the same way he begins. “Campaigns like Make Poverty History are only as useful as we have made poverty personal. It has to be about relationship. As Mother Teresa said: ‘it’s a lot easier to talk about poverty than to talk with someone who is poor.’”
—Sea to Sea Communications
www.SeatoSea.org
|
