Session 2 - Shane Claiborne

For session two, we heard a Christian comedian called Michael Jr. I was a little late to the session, so only got to hear the end...but I love the fact that there is something funny at each session! You can find some of his comedy on YouTube.


Ashmont Hill again led us in worship. They do many different styles of music.


I heard an interview withA. J. Jacobs. He is the author of a book called The Year of Living Biblically. He was raised with minimal religious background, but decided to pursue an entire year trying to follow all kinds of biblical rules and regulations, including obscure Old Testament ones that we tend to see as obsolete. (He has a Jewish background, but apparently included the New Testament as best as I could tell.) He shared a bit about his experiences - both positive and negative. He works in NYC in the media, and one of his most telling quips was that it was a challenge to avoid gossiping and lying - since that makes up about 70% of what people do in his industry.


The main speaker for the evening was very challenging. I have heard Shane Claiborne before - wearing his white t-shirt, with dreadlocks under a kerchief - he is not your typical religious speaker! (He told about telling a man on the plane that he was a preacher. The man said, “They must not make preachers like they used to!”)

"We need to learn to laugh in the face of things that don’t have real power. (Like Jesus being asked about paying taxes. Go catch a fish!) After we have given what is God’s to God, there is not much left for Caesar.

"During this recession, we will need creativity. Folks are asking big questions about how to live in the world. Does God’s vision look like Wall Street’s? Can the world afford the American dream? (To sustain our way of life worldwide would require four planets.)"

This is what we say: “God, why don’t you do something.” He responds: “I did do something - I made you.”

"Scripture gives us another way of looking at the world, of looking at possessions. Daily manna…daily bread. The story of the rich ruler in Mark. Oftentimes we don’t really read the stories of Scripture that deal with economics. (The late Rich Mullins: 'Maybe that’s why we have highlighters - so we can highlight the verses we like and leave out the rest.')

"The story of the rich ruler ends sadly. 'Jesus looked at him and loved him.' But he let him walk away. We don’t want anyone to walk anyway. We are tempted to cheapen grace, to cheapen the cost of discipleship."

"Mark 10:29 reminds us that those who leave home and family behind will receive a hundred times as much in this present age. Jesus tells us that multiplication happens now - it is about entering a new economy where there is enough for everyone now. (This is not the prosperity of TV evangelists.) This is about the fact that when we give up our stuff of earth, we enter this new economy where we have brothers and sisters everywhere. We have a family that runs deeper than biology. We have homes everywhere we go. Whenever I can, I stay in someone’s home. Jesus sent the disciples out with nothing extra - so that they learned to depend upon the community. If they don’t receive you, move on. This new community is marked by abundance. 'There’s enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.'

"Same principle in the feeding of the 5000. God doesn’t want to change the world without us. Just use what you have.

"It is important to make poverty personal. Notice that the final question before God (Matthew 25) is not a doctrinal question - it is about how we treated our neighbors."

Shane worked with Mother Teresa, and began to rethink his tendency to give the worst of what he had to charity.

“I should be giving my best, because when I give to the poor, I am giving to Jesus. The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away!

"Our self-centered, blessing-obsessed gospel of prosperity is so far from that. If we aren’t careful we lose the secret - that if you want to find life, you have to give it away!

"What we have done is not heroic - if so, then you must not understand the pearl that you have found! Someone told Mother Teresa - 'I wouldn’t do this for a million dollars.' She said - 'Neither would I.'

"I have learned so much from the poor. We had a fire that destroyed a whole block. The Red Cross set up a shelter, but nobody stayed in it - everyone had opened up their homes. It is hard for rich people to 'get it.'

"I invite you to do SOMETHING this year that may seem crazy to the world! John Wesley said: 'If I die with more than 10 pounds in my pocket, may everyone call me a liar and a thief.'"

Shane closed by scattering out the dollar bills representing what he received for giving this talk!! “Go take a dollar and think about how to re-imagine that early community where they ended poverty because they had figured out how to love their neighbor as themselves. What if we had jubilee campaigns as well as building campaigns - matching our gifts dollar for dollar to dig wells for poor folks.

"The real tragedy is we don’t even know poor folks. “I have just begun that journey, and it challenges me every night how to love my neighbor as myself.

"Jesus does not tell the poor to go find a church - he tells us to go into the world. We are called to interrupt the patterns of the world with grace and creativity.”

If you want your faith to be stretched WELL past your comfort zone - go hear Shane Claiborne or read one of his books.