Shane Claiborne

This is Mary:

Last night I met Shane Claiborne, and he an amazing, kind, radical individual. He was speaking at a conference I attend annually and I just wish I could have written fast enough to copy down every word he said instead of just the sentences that stood out the most. Even so, in the two plenary sessions I attended that he was speaking at, I covered about five pages in my notebook with my favorite words of his.

It was an amazing experience to meet him and hear him speak. My respect for the way he lives his life is huge, the books he writes are amazing, and he said when I talked to him that he was pleased to meet me. He, the many-times-published author but greatly humble man, was pleased to meet just some person who enjoyed his writing. But the thing is, I want his writing to change my life. Because it deserves that kind of recognition - to make people want to live out Jesus with all your life and strive for justice, grace, and love. Of course, he is not perfect as anybody else is not, but the way that he presents his challenges are so stirring and they seem a bit different than what the Bible asks of us - so applicable to our lives and so easy to understand. So amazing.

One of the aspects of Shane Claiborne's life that make me respect him so much is that he is absolutely community-oriented. He does not speak of me, he speaks of we.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes of his:

• “It’s our duty to interrupt injustice”
• “We cannot not share!”
• “When we take our deepest passions and connect it with the world’s deepest pain, something beautiful happens for God.”
• “We want a Christianity that looks like Jesus again; that looks like love.”
• “Make poverty personal.”
• “I’m reminded that we have a God who is loving people back to life.”
• “But God is bigger than the mistakes that we make.”
• “We, of all people, should be known for our grace.”
• “We believe in Jesus, we believe that life is more powerful than death, that love is more powerful than hate…”