Tag: Shane Claiborne

Prayer for today life

Tim and/or Rebecca (probably the former :-)) share this on their family blog today. I think its a fitting prayer for me right now.

The prayer comes from John Piper’s book Taste and See

O Lord, by the truth of your Word, and the power of your Spirit and the ministry of your body, build us into people . . .

Who don’t love the world more than God,
who don’t care if they make much money,
who don’t care if they own a house,
who don’t care if they have a new car or two cars,
who don’t need recent styles,
who don’t care if they get famous,
who don’t miss steak or fancy fare,
who don’t expect that life should be comfortable and easy,
who don’t feed their minds on TV each night,
who don’t measure truth with their finger in the wind,
who don’t get paralyzed by others’ disapproval,
who don’t return evil for evil,
who don’t hold grudges,
who don’t gossip,
who don’t twist the truth,
who don’t brag or boast,
who don’t whine or use body language to get pity,
who don’t criticize more than praise,
who don’t hang out in cliques,
who don’t eat too much or exercise too little;

But
who are ablaze for God,
who are utterly God-besotted,
who are filled with the Holy Spirit,
who strive to know the height and depth of Christ’s love,
who are crucified to the world and dead to sin,
who are purified by the Word and addicted to righteousness,
who are mighty in memorizing and using the Scriptures,
who keep the Lord’s Day holy and refreshing,
who are broken by the consciousness of sin,
who are thrilled by the wonder of free grace,
who are stunned into humble silence by the riches of God’s glory,
who are persevering constantly in prayer,
who are ruthless in self-denial,
who are fearless in public witness to Christ’s Lordship,
who are able to unmask error and blow away doctrinal haze,
who are tough in standing for the truth,
who are tender in touching hurting people,
who are passionate about reaching the peoples who have no church,
who are pro-life for the sake of babies and moms and dads and the glory of God,
who are keepers of all their promises, including marriage vows,
who are content with what they have and trusting the promises of God,
who are patient and kind and meek when life is hard.

reminds me of this litany from Shane Claiborne:

may they both ring true in my life.

Top emergent books

Tall Skinny Kiwi shared his top 5 emergent books for American readers back in June on his blog (just saw the post :-().

Here’s his top 5 (plus a few others) ::
1. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, by Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibbs.
2. The New Conspirators, Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, by Tom Sine.
3. The Emerging Church, by Dan Kimball.
4. The Church on the Other Side, by Brian McLaren.

Runners-up for 5th:
The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, by Tony Jones.

Revolution, by George Barna.
The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claibourne.
The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle.
The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community.
Also: Rising From the Ashes: Rethinking Church, by Becky Garrison.

Worth a mention: It might be almost 40 years old but “The Emerging Church” by Bruce Larson and Ralph Osborne (1970).

—

To be honest, as someone who was called an “emergent sympathizer” today I haven’t read any of these books — yet. I actually ordered two of them earlier today and hope to read them soon – that is if a couple others I’m expecting don’t reach my mail box first.

The books I’ve read and recommend as part of the “emergent movement” and or just faith in general are (in no particular order):

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren. Probably one of the first “real emergent” books I read and one that had a great impact on my thinking and understanding.
Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. Another great book that talks more about the history of kings, empires and the role of God-followers along the way.
A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt. This book has left me asking a lot of questions. It’s not one I’ve recommended to a lot of people just for that reason but I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp. I don’t know that Rodney Clapp considers himself emergent by any means but his ideas really came to life after reading many of these other books before hand.

btw – if Mr. Tall Skinny Kiwi happens upon this blog post – we’d love to have you join us for an episode of the something beautiful podcast. tell us when and we’ll take care of the rest. 🙂

related ::
tall skinny kiwi ::emerging church: top 5 books for american reporters
something beautiful podcast

Christianity on Al Jazeera

Inside USA, a program on the English version of Al Jazeera recently did a story on Christianity and politics in America. Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw and the Psalters were each featured briefly as they worked on the audio version of “Jesus for President.”

If I’m not mistaken you’ll also catch a glimpse of Jamie Moffett sitting behind the sound board in the recording studio (Moffett was on the Something Beautiful Podcast 1.6).

Related ::
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera :: Inside USA article
HT :: Ordinary Radicals
Jesus for President
Something Beautiful Podcast :: Jamie Moffett

The Simple Way fire :: one year later

From Ordinary Radicals and The Simple Way:

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the 7-alarm fire that consumed an entire block of Kensington. The Simple Way has been working hard trying to get justice for their neighbors. But still, a year later and the city has yet to rectify this situation. Below is the press release, and videos about the fire and its aftermath.

7-alarm fire destroyed an entire block of Kensington, residents still face tens of thousands of dollars worth of fines from the City.

On June 20, 2007 an abandoned, city-owned, factory caught fire and burned down an entire block of Kensington, forcing evacuation of over 100 families and leaving 400 others without power of families as it ripped through the 3200 block of H Street. Dozens of homes were damaged and destroyed, cars exploded, a neighborhood in turmoil. Now, one year later, those families are being told they owe the City of Philadelphia money.

Victims of the fire were sent notices from the City of Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections Office saying the charred ruins that remained of their homes was an “eminent danger” to the neighborhood. This is all after the neglected City property caught fire for the third time that year and consumed their homes. The lot where the factory used to stand, along with the dirt block where there homes once sat, is now filled with broken glass, tires and trash, a scar on what was once a vibrant block of North Philadelphia.

One of the buildings lost in the fire was a community center belonging to The Simple Way, an influential nonprofit organization that has been serving in the neighborhood for over 10 years (along with the home of Simple Way founder and best-selling author Shane Claiborne). As people heard of the crisis, financial gifts came in from around the world and The Simple Way has worked with a neighborhood coalition over the past year to help families stabilize as they rise from the ashes. The fire garnered national attention, and now their petition to the city has thousands of signatures. Despite pleas to all major players, and a visit from Mayor Nutter himself, the City of Philadelphia they are having a hard time not going to court over this.

“Despite being advised to declare a class-action lawsuit, we are doing everything we can to invite the new Mayor and administration to do what’s right. All we are asking is that the City forgive the fines that have been imposed on victims of the fire so that we can continue to rebuild our neighborhood. It’s an easy opportunity to shine in an ugly situation.” — Shane Claiborne (author, resident and fire victim)

“We have been told by sympathetic folks in nearly every department in the City that this situation is embarrassing and shameful on the part of the City. But at the end of the day, one year later, we still face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.” (Darin Peterson, Exectuive Director of The Simple Way)

related links ::