I believe you know Jesus said "a doctor doesn't come to the healthy, but the sick, and it's not the righteous but the sinners that I've come for," so I think that that's the scandal of God's love and grace that no one is beyond redemption, and we can see that all through scripture, you know.

Shane Claiborne

Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.

Shane Claiborne

suffering-of-others safety christian

The Christian icon is not the Stars and Stripes but a cross-flag, and its emblem is not a donkey, an elephant, or an eagle, but a slaughtered lamb.

Shane Claiborne

stars christian god

Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.

Shane Claiborne

words-of-wisdom good-things needs

Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

Shane Claiborne

awards winning order

Christianity can be built around isolating ourselves from evildoers and sinners, creating a community of religious piety and moral purity. That’s the Christianity I grew up with. Christianity can also be built around joining with the broken sinners and evildoers of our world crying out to God, groaning for grace. That’s the Christianity I have fallen in love with.

Shane Claiborne

creating our-world religious

So even as we see the horror of death, may we be reminded that in the end, love wins. Mercy triumphs. Life is more powerful than death. And even those who have committed great violence can have the image of God come to life again within them as they hear the whisper of love. May the whisper of love grow louder than the thunder of violence. May we love loudly.

Shane Claiborne

powerful winning may

We don't actually have rich and poor together instead we have a family. What does it mean? If you have resources, you hold them with open hands. The mark of the early church was that they began sharing and it said there were no needy persons among them. They ended poverty as they created this new loving community.

Shane Claiborne

community mean hands

Philadelphia caught my attention in 1995 when a group of homeless families were living in an abandoned cathedral. Even from the beginning they connected theology with what they were doing. They put a banner on the front of the cathedral that said, "How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday."

Shane Claiborne

sunday monday men

How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?

Shane Claiborne

sunday monday men

Over and over, when I ask God why all of these injustices are allowed to exist in the world, I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body, my hands, my feet.

Shane Claiborne

feet hands world

I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Shane Claiborne

mouths christian sorry

All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe.

Shane Claiborne

running children people

I wondered if there were other restless people asking the question with me: What if Jesus meant the stuff he said?.

Shane Claiborne

what-if people jesus

And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.

Shane Claiborne

issues our-world thinking

It is a beautiful thing when folks in poverty are no longer just a missions project but become genuine friends and family with whom we laugh, cry, dream and struggle.

Shane Claiborne

struggle dream beautiful

Faith is not accepting the world as it is but insisting on building the world God wants.

Shane Claiborne

building want world

When we ask God to move a mountain, God may give us a shovel.

Shane Claiborne

mountain giving moving

God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.

Shane Claiborne

disturbed comfortable comfort

There are some things to die for but none to kill for.

Shane Claiborne

dies

Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world.

Shane Claiborne

steps world firsts