Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 May 2012 10:14:16
Shane Claiborne's talk "Loving the Hell Out of People" was first heard at my GB 2006. Knowing that I would not be in a position to remember much of that Greenbelt, (we left the campsite early on Tuesday morning that year to go straight to my mothers funeral), I bought the talk. It's been a couple of years since I last listened to it though. To give a bit of background for those who are not familiar with Shane Claiborne he is central to the Simple Way community - a new monastic group in the US and is a theologically radical evangelical who has been heavily influenced by Tony Campolo - having studied at Eastern University where Campolo was a professor. It is therefore no surprise that the presentational style of Claiborne is similar to Campolo in terms of the talk being one of stories. What I would say is, because sometimes you can be cynical about some speakers, Claiborne is I think the real deal. It is stuff like this 2009 letter to unbelievers in Esquire which make me think so - not via their content but because of the reaction amongst conservative evangelicals they provoke.
To summerise the talk for those without the time to listen Claiborne begins by describing the "old style" evangelical religion he was bought up with which sought to scare people into relationship with Christ through the use of hell. He them explained how the verse about "the gates of hell shall not prevail against you" was about bringing down defensive gates which were looking people into a kind of hell. He made the point gates protect us from those we are scared of. He made the point that the conservative evangelical culture he was bought up in consisted primarily of people who looked and thought alike and was a culture which was essentially separatist. He said one of the greatest things that had happened for him was learning the richness of diversity. He then went on to give a story about going out and working with Mother Teresa in Calcutta and seeing Jesus in the eyes of a leper. He then talked, within the same anecdote, of how a dying guy had used a word for him which meant, "I honour the holy one who lives in you" and how he thought perhaps this guy didn't see some rich kid from the US but did see Jesus in him. After this he told another story quoting a friend who had shocked him by saying "Jesus never talked to a prostitute" but then explained that Jesus never saw the label of prostitute and rather saw the person underneath. The talk then switched gears and he talked about the invisibility of our culture which allows us to dehumanise those around us or those who grow our food or make our clothes. He then gave another "Shane did this story" about his going down and getting active with a group of workers looking for employment justice. He then kept on a similar theme but turned it from trade justice to peace justice. Within this section he talked about his experiences in Iraq but also of the need to be careful not to demonise our leaders. This section talks about creative and distinctive Christian activism. The biblical material within this section came from talking about Paul's conversion and about the bit in Psalm 23 about banquet in the presence of your enemies (v. 5). He moved on to talk about the power of forgiveness and the trans-formative power of reconciliation and justice - giving another anecdote about a prostitute his community had been in contact with who had re-found faith. Finally he wrapped it up talking about the need to be on fire and the need to shine before finishing with a prayer. There was no q&a on this one, rather the physical audience were invited down front if they wanted to chat further. The prayer talked about busting down walls and asking to be led to the margins where the most isolated were.
Relistening to this talk I was struck by the "I" and "me" element. The story telling relies primarily on personal stories and a relating of own experiences with bits of "God stuff" mixed in. Now within this I don't want to downplay what Claiborne and the other members of the Simple Way have done but I did wonder how much related to the working of the Holy Spirit and how much related to him simply being a very intelligent activist with a good heart and would have happened in a more secularised form even if he hadn't been a Christian. It contrasted heavily with a sermon I had heard on Sunday where two trainee ordinands (one Anglican and one Methodist) were talking about their experiences of a pioneer mission project in Durham as part of their training. There testimony was much more God centred with the role of the Holy Spirit emphasised. Somehow the latter had a different sort of integrity.
In terms of the content of the talk I still found it interesting but much more challenging on a range of levels. It is these challenges I want to go through and unpick.
Firstly, it challenged me personally about how much of the time I also talk about "I" and "me" and what I've been doing - particularly on this blog. How do we share our stories ensuring the focus remains on Jesus and makes clear that when positive stuff has been done it has been because we've been listening to the Holy Spirit?
The second personal challenge was in terms of the walls and gates I have constructed around my self emotionally, which at times I do use to isolate myself and defend myself against others. I need to allow God in and allow the Holy Spirit to dismantle those walls and unlock the gates. This involves an active choice of opening myself up to vulnerability, as Claiborne's talk indicated. To do that requires real faith - and you know what a lot of the time mine is not strong enough. Whilst God has done a lot of healing in my life, as regular readers know, there are still gates to areas of my life I keep firmly locked because to unlock them would be too dangerous. Yet I also know from past experience in order to receive healing I need to unlock those areas of my life and invite Jesus into them as well as often being willing to share them, appropriately, with others.
Moving on another challenge in the talk, sort of less personal, came from the privileged position which Claiborne had in some ways in terms of the opportunities opened up to him. There is a whole debate to be had and challenge to be faced about the way we in both the church and in wider society are giving middle class kids the chance to experience things and cultures - chances which we do not give working class kids. This tends to happen via the selling of the gap year voluntary experience in secular society and the short term mission trip/ learning experience visit within the church culture. It happens that Third Party has not yet been on one of these trips simply because of when her exams fell - but she falls into that bracket of people they are open to. On one level this, like the whole intern scheme she is on is great but.....I do have a great unease about these things which has sort of grown rather than abated this year. Our culture gives our young people privileged opportunities which allow cultural reproduction to take place. In many ways we are comfortable with that cultural reproduction because it is the middle class culture of service to others we are replicating in our children. But it they get this opportunity because we can afford to allow them those service opportunities. Now I know there is a note of caution to be sounded here - particularly about equating class with financial affluence which I know from personal experience is a false assumption - but there is still something uncomfortable there. We are perpetuating the idea that there is a "them" who need helping and an "us" who will do the helping. Whilst language of learning from each other may be used there is still a power based culture being reproduced which differs from non-hierarchical ways of empowering by coming alongside on an equal basis.
Another final challenge which emerged for me related to the use of some of the language used which suggested that Claiborne still hadn't grasped the point his friend was making about seeing the person rather than the prostitute. It's a problem I also suffer and after listening to this and reflecting I did wonder if people who have studied Sociology are most prone to it. We know about labelling theory, but we also choose which groups to study on the basis of the labels we attach to them. For my own studies over the last few years I have been focusing on "single parents" and "evangelicals". Similarly when Claiborne prayed about being led to the margins and the most isolated he will have attached meaning to those terms - thinking about certain groups in society. However, I am increasingly seeing a couple of issues with this. Firstly, we perpetuate myths through statements like this. Content analysis of the media and some studies would suggest that isolation is very high about those groups in society we might see as very connected, "upper middle class, employed people". Similarly there are groups that the church and sometimes politicians would regard as marginalised who are not on the margins, they are simply on the margins of the bits of society we are part of. For me this presents some real issues because I feel I have a strong God given calling to minister to those who the church considers are on the margins but who are not on the margins if you are using most of secular societies measures, (single parents and the LGBT community are the two key groups here I am thinking of).
What I think I am trying to say is listening again to Shane's talk has emphasised for me the messiness of it all and the way whether we like it or not those of us who are middle class and living in church culture are privileged. Activism for us can become a lifestyle choice, whilst for many of those who we seek to come alongside have no such choice. Where they are involved in activism it tends to be from a totally different, more desperate yet also more hopeful perspective.