When Comfort Becomes Uncomfortable

“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer; “faith, hope and love?” That sounds beautiful. But I would say- courage. No even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not phsycology or literature…We lack a holy rage- the recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of earth…A holy anger about things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger when the tables of the rich are sagging with food…To restlessly seek that restlessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the kingdom of God.” – Kaj Munk

Howdy pilgrims! Over the past few weeks our site has been challenged to read The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. We approached this novel not knowing what to expect and were left reevaluating the way we live our lives as Christians. We’ve found ourselves living in a society where the church has become a safe environment, where you can pick up you’re one way ticket to heaven… as long as you pay your 10%, attend church regularly…and maybe sponsor a child or two. In our experience church has become a place where people hide their brokenness behind fancy clothes and a put-together family, a place where brokenness is shame. The novel has opened our eyes to see that these things are merely a dilution of Jesus’ teachings. Each chapter provoked feelings of conviction as we realized that our personal walks had been missing the recklessness and courage that Jesus wants from us, and as a result our visions for this year and our futures have been altered. Small things that we would have previously overlooked, we are now questioning. Do the companies we order our Outtatown shirts from support child labor? Is it better to take the environmentally damaging styrofoam cups or break the rules and grab the glass ones? On a larger scale, we are approaching our urban plunges and our trip to Guatemala not simply with goals of evangelism and of resolving other’s problems, but with the hope of having a ‘holy rage’ ignited within us. To this rage we’ll strive to respond with the reckless love and passion that Jesus modeled for us. The Irresistible Revolution has encouraged us to bring about radical change, redefining what our roles are as Christians. It’s time to start seeing brokenness as beauty and stop overlooking the injustices and poverty the church has sheltered us from.

-Justin Thiessen and Spencer Robins