Monday, December 18
Simply irresistible?
I was talking with a friend of mine last week about a conference he had attended in Seattle… He was telling me about being with some campus ministers and how they were going on and on about this ‘new and amazing book that everybody must read’…they raved: “Blue Like Jazz, you must read it…it could really change the way a lot of people think.” (Okay, that was a guesswork paraphrase, but you get the idea)Of course, my friend, being “the hippest and most well-read campus minister in the world” (that’s his official title) was amazed at the remedial pace of those campus ministers. Especially in the university world, if you haven’t heard of Donald Miller and Blue Like Jazz, my guess is that you spend a lot of mid-week group Bible studies by yourself.
Well, here’s what I’m wondering…do I get to join this group of leg-warmer wearing, Hal Lindsey prophecy reading pastors because I haven’t yet read ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ by Shane Claiborne?
Everyone continues to talk about it…I’ve had it on my shelf for about 10 months and, finally, last week I pulled it off and read the foreward and the introduction. Pretty good so far…
But before I go any further I need someone to tell me why it is going to be so good…why so revolutionary…tell me what you learned? Does it have a story as good as the ‘Confession Booth’ story in Blue Like Jazz?
I’d hate to find myself in the group that just realized Reality TV is not really real…
Mark Nelson at 7:28 PM 8comments
8 Comments
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at 8:36 AM
said... SPOILER ALERT! I just heard: Darth Vader is Luke's father, and Leis is his sister!
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at 12:05 PM
said...
"shes so fine, theres no tellin where the money went
shes all mine, theres no other way to go"
thanks....now i'm going to have that in my head all day long.-
at 2:44 PM
said...
My mom called me last week to tell me about a movie that she just saw. She mentioned that the story was interesting and she hoped that the screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Yeah mom... The Sixth Sense was pretty good.
Here is the difference: It is cute when it is my mom.
Susan-
at 7:42 PM
Cameron said... Mark,
Since we first met, I have had a chance to read several books. None of them has changed me or challenged me more than Irrestible Revolution. I don't agree with 100% of what Shane says. But, everything I have dreamed about in Christian community comes alive in his book. Several in our housechurch are currently reading it. At the beginning of 2007, we are going to start exploring what it really means for us as a community. I hope this flips your paradigm upside down.-
at 9:40 AM
Liz Pinckert said...
Do we have tax free status yet? It would be great to have a few of these books in our bookstore to check out. Are we gonna have a mobile bookstore? That would be cool!!
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at 5:23 PM
Unknown said...
I don't know if there are any stories quite as impacting as Don Miller's "Confession Booth", but Shane does reference that story on page 251! Haha! The more I read this book, the more I don't like it... Not because it's bad theology or bad writing (because his writing is hilarious!), but rather because it has been way too much fuel for the Spirit to convict me of a selfish and safe Christianity that I have swallowed and become way too comfortable with. So this book and I have a love/hate relationship.
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at 10:51 AM
Flawed Follower said...
I would agree with Greg's comment. This book, although convicting in some areas, tends to overdo it in all matters. I would agree with the author that the community of God, as we know it today, must change from its self-engrossed, idiosyncratic mindset in order for us to fully experience the life-changing qualities of God's grace and love. I view the author, however, as a grown man stuck with the ideals of a freshman college student: full of passion and ideals, but unaware of its sectarian power within the constructs of the church. The ideas of the book would have been easier to swallow if it had not been crammed down my throat for a few hundred pages.
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at 4:12 PM
said...
For the record, this is a good read. It should stir something in you. It's pretty much about discipleship, however radical it may appear. It's worth the time.