A conspiracy of faith, in the margins of Empire.

From Shane Claiborne's "The Irresistible Revolution", Chapter 5,
“Another Way of Doing Life”. You can read the chapter for free HERE.

People are drawn to lights and celebrities, to arenas and megachurches. In the desert, Jesus was tempted by the spectacular — to throw himself from the temple so that people might believe — to shock and awe people, if you will. Today the church is tempted by the spectacular, to do big, miraculous things so people might believe, but Jesus has called us to littleness and compares our revolution to the little mustard seed, to yeast making its way through dough, slowly infecting this dark world with love. Many of us who find ourselves living differently from the dominant culture end up needing to “despectacularize” things a little so that the simple way is made as accessible as possible to other ordinary radicals.

The simple way that he speaks of in his book is the idea of moving into the abandoned and forsaken parts of the empire. The other side of the tracks, the ghettos and among the poverty stricken with the goal of simply living to serve. Not donating money towards but actually becoming apart of that community.

I cannot live vicariously through people like Shane or those I see at my church who do the same. Sojourn is located in a hard up area of Louisville and many young people, quite able to live in the nicer suburbs choose to live nearby and as the church encourages, "cultivate beauty".

I have to join them. I already own nothing. In the wonderings of my mind of late I see another life entirely and the path to it has never been so clear and clutter free. The old life still beckons. It was never more evident than when a very beautiful female sought out my companionship. Her words about faith just seemed empty. Like a footnote in a book about something else entirely. I wondered if I looked like that to others. My faith just something I talked about after I had my fun and my way and on my terms.

It was a temptation that for once was seen and averted.

I'm talking about forsaking the pursuit of happiness through work and culture. Find a girl, get married, rise thru the ranks at work, get a house, raise the kids, feed the dog and doze off to the ever present television noise has ended for me. I realize some may do this with a vibrant faith, and I don't judge them. I just no longer care to try. It was a lifeless toil of consumption with a bible nearby and deep down I knew it. I'm sure I prayed for a way out...well...that prayer was answered.

That doesn't mean I'm joining the left or givin' up on many of the things I've learned over the years, like libertarian political theory for instance or Calvinism. I don't jettison things as I go but I incorporate them and the person I become is a messy hodge-podge of all these ideas and beliefs. There will be contradictions and I don't anticipate anything being easy. I think the second portion of my life will be much more difficult than the first ever was. One can only hope.