Sunday, April 13, 2008

• Jesus for President

  Currently Reading Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals By Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw see related

  Just finished reading Jesus for President.  I was quite excited to read Shane Claiborne's second book.  He authors it along with Chris Haw who is in a sister community of the Simple Way.  If you're looking for The Irresistible Revolution Part II.... well this isn't it.  But don't bail on it just yet.
  
  The first half of this book made me want to shoot myself.  They retrace and rehash many of the Old Testament stories on community, leadership, and government.  This may work for some people, but it's basically a regurgitation of The Prophetic Imagination and a few other books.  I really wasn't interested in getting an exegetical commentary in this book, but whatever.
  
  Now the second half... much better.  Especially the third part.  They deal quite a bit with pacifism, alternate forms of community living, and how a Christian should interact with politics.  Loved it.  So good.  I also appreciated that they stand behind their talk.  You know they're living out and demonstrating all the stuff they write and talk about.  I was quite challenged by a piece where they argue that a big part of loving others and following Jesus means that you must be willing to die well.  We must be willing to lay our life down just like Jesus.  This is pretty tough.  I'm much more likely to shoot you than to let you shoot me or one of my family or friends.  Still processing this...
  
  The forth part of this book is a collection of thoughts, stories, and essays.  It is much more like Irresistible and even shares some of the same stories (being arrested and Jubilee).  I really loved the Litany of Resistance.  Here's part of it:
  
  

  With governments that kill…
  …we will not comply.

  With the theology of empire…
  …we will not comply.

  With the business of militarism…
  …we will not comply.

  With the hoarding of riches
  …we will not comply.

  With the dissemination of fear
  …we will not comply.

  But today we pledge our allegiance to the kingdom of God…
  …we pledge allegiance.

  To the peace that is not like Rome’s…
  …we pledge allegiance.

  To the Gospel of enemy love
  …we pledge allegiance.

  To the poor and the broken…
  …we pledge allegiance.

  
  One thing that struck home was Shane's commentary on excommunication.  (For those unfamiliar, this is simply refusing communion to people who are part of a community, claim to be followers of Jesus, and yet are unrepentant of sin.)  Many churches have conveniently neglected this part of the Bible.  Yet in my small community of followers, we have addressed excommunication.  It's something that small communities are almost forced to do.  (I mean, if you're in community, you know when people are faking it and even just lying.)  Whereas people are able to hide out much easier in larger congregations.  But anyway, I thought what he said was insightful: 
  
  

  The excommunicated have already put themselves outside of the body.  Excommunication is less of a forced isolation than a recognition that a member of the church has already isolated themselves from the community:  they have stepped outside of the teaching of Christ.  If a Quaker joins the army, she's chosen not to be a Quaker anymore.  And of course, in the case of the church, discipline is critical not only to protect the person 'in sin' and others from the ill-effects, but also to protect the identity and credibility of the community.  The beautiful thing about the church is that we are a people of grace, and mercy triumphs over judgment.  So excommunication is never the end we hope for (289).
  
  

  So in conclusion, I think the good outweighs the boring first part of this book.  And another neat aspect of this book is that an artist basically designed every page.  And there's lots of pictures!  So I'd recommend picking up this book or at least read the second half!  Worth your time and will stretch you mind.  Check it out.
  

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