Resurrecting Church

Chapter 2 of Shane Claiborne's "Irresistible Revolution" deals with his discovery of and interaction with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.. It was a group of homeless woman and children who moved into an abandoned Catholic Cathedral in Philadelphia. It was a good chapter.

This is where the quote, "How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?" came from. I had read this before. A powerful quote (Jesus was homeless, you know).

He shared the story of one day receiving a box of donations from one of the wealthy congregations in town. Written on the box were the words, "For the homeless." It was filled with bags of microwave popcorn. How do homeless people, without electricity and microwaves, cook microwave popcorn? It's sad how far the church has become removed from the poor.

He then talks about losing hope in the church. But a friend reminds him it's not the church, it's the institution. That THEY are the church too. So they decided to stop complaining about the church they saw and set their hearts on becoming the church they dreamed of. Yeah... I need to do that!

This is also where he shares about the old comic strip: Two guys are talking to each other, and one of them says he has a question for God. He wants to ask why God allows all of this poverty and war and suffering to exist in the world. And his friend says, "Well, why don't you ask?" The fellow shakes his head and says he is scared. When his friend asks why, he mutters, "I'm scared God will ask me the same question." (Yeah, that's convicting, isn't it? At least it OUGHT TO BE).

He ends this really good chapter with this sentence: "We do indeed have a God of resurrection, a God who can create beauty from the messes we make of our world."

Peace, friends. It's a revolution.