Thursday 13 September 2007

Punching your way out of suburban captivity

Really Provocative piece on Matt Ritchie's Missional living blog Running with the Lion, about being a Christian:
"The more I read the gospels; the more I try to understand what Jesus was really all about, the more he has the audacity to come into my life and totally screw it up.

He makes me think about every dollar I spend - who is benefitting from it and how?
He makes me reflect on the kind of car I drive and how it affects God’s creation.

He challenges me to make my children into risk-taking disciples, instead of neat, middl
e-class carbon copies of myself.
He asks me to go places where I am uncomfortable, and to invite people into my house when I’d much rather have a quiet night alone.
He intrudes on my free time and tells me to invest it in the things that matter to him.
He tells me that the politics that seemingly support my interests aren’t necessarily the ones that support his.

Far from being a cosmic Mr. Fix-it, Jesus is taking every priority and ambition that I ever held and - without so much as asking - turning it over like he did the tables in the temple."

I'm reminded of, I think it was Gandhi, saying he'd probably have been a Christian if he'd ever met one.

It's easy to settle for faith as a lifestyle accessory/convenience product — Christianity Lite — and then complain it doesn't work! Perhaps the times this happens aren't signs of Christianity's limitations, but a challenge to open up the full application!


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