Owch!

So Sunday was Palm sunday and along with my cross and a quick procession around the church, much to the amusement of local dog walkers, we explored the symbolism of the triumphal entry and how amidst the celebrations Jesus stops to weep for the future of Jerusalem...for the destruction it would see (over a million people are thought to have been killed in the following massacre) and for the warning God had tried to give but that they had not heard.

Then a bit of synchronicity, I am reading The Irrisistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne and he echoes that part of the story when Jesus says even if his disciples were quiet, creation would call out...

"Christianity has often offered little to the world, other than the hope things will be better in heaven. The Scriptures say that the entire creation groans for liberation, and the echoes of that groaning can be heard in everything from hip hop to Hollywood. There is a pervasive sensethat things are not right in the world, and the gentle suggestion that maybe they don't have to stay that way...Global initiatives like Live8 and the ONE campaign have gathered ecclectice groups of celebrities and pop stars under slogans like "Make Poverty History". But most Christian artists and preachers have remained strangely distant from human suffering offering the world eternal assurance over prophetic imagination. Perhaps it should not surprise us then that Jesus says that if the Christians remain silent, then the rocks will cry out...or the rock stars, I guess".

Shane is seeking to incarnate the prophetic imagination through life in a community called The Simple Way in Philedelphia, his call is beautiful and painfully challenging...it's not an easy book but open us up to all kinds of opportunities and a radically bigger picture of the kingdom.