Avoidance Techniques

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship [I read here "my spiritual avoidance techniques"]. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
Soren Kierkegaard quoted in Shane Claiborne's, The Irresistible Revolution, p.71.

One of the things I am most excited about this year is happening March 10 and 11, what we are calling here at Crossroads (the church I serve) "180 degree weekend". At this in-house weekend retreat, we are setting aside time to try and take a very different look at our Christian faith than we are used too. It is GOOD to step back once in a while and examine ourselves and our faith in new and different ways with different voices in the Church. That is how we grow.

Our speaker that weekend will be Shane Claiborne, an internationally know speaker, author and Christian activist, from Philadelphia. Shane's book The Irresistible Revolution has done more to change and challenge my life of faith this year than any other non-Biblical work. And I can't tell you how excited I am to have him here, to challenge and encourage us in our faith.

Now, don't confuse my excitement with comfort. I'm not excited that Shane is coming because I feel that he is a kindred spirit, performing the same kind of ministry I do here. I am not excited that he is coming because his message fits with how I am trying to live my life or that our church will come out of his talks saying "hallelujah." I am not even excited to have him here because I think we will have that much in common as person, or that we will be "buddy buddy" at the end.

In fact, if I am honest with you, my feelings and thoughts are just the opposite. I am flat out nervous about hearing Shane's message from the Scriptures.

I'm not nervous because I doubt it to be true. In fact, I think he is a prophetic voice for us, especially we who reside in evangelical affluence. We need him to be here.

I'm not nervous because I am scared of how people will react (okay, because I'm an ardent people pleaser, maybe just a little).

No -- The real reason I'm nervous is because I know that the message of Jesus Shane shares is one that invites me to change and to give up to take on something greater. And I don't know about you, but there are certain things in my life that I am not very willing to change or give up.

my comfort for one.

my personal happiness for another.

And then there are some other things that are less esoteric and more tangible...

my latte's.

my choice of different coats that I have available in my closet (while some people have none).

my expendable income.

my heat at 67 degrees in my house.

my 2 cars.

my vacation this summer.

my books on my shelf.

my ipod. (what would I do without it?!?!)

and on and on and on...

My first reaction is, "None of these things are bad in and of themselves. God doesn't make moral judgments on ipods." And I suppose that is true to some extent.

But how easy is it for me to justify myself -- to allow the things I own and "need" in this world to own me. How easy is it for me to say that I don't have the resources to help someone in need, when I have the resources to download another song from itunes or send my child to science camp?

No, the fact is there are certain things that I won't give up because I think they would cost too much. And I'm not willing.

Yet, I wonder if God isn't calling us to do what we are not willing to do for the sake of his kingdom.

In fact, Shane's message from Scripture calls into question my comfortable middle class life -- not that I have it, but what I am doing with it.

And I am the king of avoiding that question (and maybe you are too). I love the Kierkegaard quote at the beginning -- we are adept as Christians of not bringing the Bible close enough to have it alter my existance too drastically. If I keep it at arms length, I don't have to get too uncomfortable.

And so I go into this weekend with Shane both excited and scared as to what God will do in me and in us.

My prayer for each of us is that we don't avoid it -- that we let Jesus speak to us, even let it make us uncomfortable, in order to change us more fully into God's people and allow us to experience more completely his love. Before we say, "I can't do what Shane does," we need to ask, "What is God speaking to me, and where is he causing me to grow and change?" If we do that, we will experience Christ in a whole new way -- I'm convinced of it.

So let's see what happens!

Blessings,

jeff

p.s. Everything in the 180 degree weekend is open to the public. Check out Crossroads Website in the next few weeks for more information.

jl