During Holy Week there was an article that was floating around my Facebook feed that was written by Shane Claiborne and after reading through it, I thought it might be helpful if I wrote out a couple of thoughts I had in reaction to it. The reason for my post is that there is a part of this piece I can strongly affirm and celebrate, but also another part I find very troublesome. So, I am going to break this piece into two sections, one dealing with an affirmation of what Shane was writing, and another where I want to offer a critique in order to help the four or five people who will actually read this.
You can find his article here.
For those who are not aware of Shane Claiborne’s work, he is a founding member of something called, “The Simple Way,” (a new Monastic community) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shane teaches and practices non-violence in following Christ, and from all I can tell, strives very hard to live consistently not only with what he teaches, but as to how he understands Christ has called us to live. One of the things I appreciate most about his work is the incarnational work he does in connecting with those on the margins of society. He strives to share Christ’s love especially with the outcast. But I would also say he shares the love of Christ with those on the ‘inside’ as well in his prophetic voice in which he challenges people to follow the call of Christ on their lives in living out a radical discipleship. I want to make sure to include these observations on Shane because I don’t particularly have an ax to grind with him, even if I would find myself on different sides of some issues with him. I do respect his integrity and faith.
The thing I appreciate most about Shane’s article titled, “Holy Week in an Unholy World,” was how he brought out the tragedy and injustice that ran throughout the crucifixion of Christ and connected it to the brokenness in our own world. He writes, “There was nothing more evil than what happened that ‘Good’ Friday,” and I agree completely on this point. And, I would also agree that this is a point worth emphasizing and spending time reflecting on. God the Son came to save us, and we killed him through brutality and injustice.
Shane then connects the ultimate injustice of that ‘Good’ Friday, with the various injustices and violence with us today. Indeed, both are the result of sin, and when Christ entered into our world, he entered into the very brokenness of it. There is comfort in knowing that we do not worship a God who sits off, afar, removed from the reality of sin and death, but instead enters into the fray, taking the fullness of what it means to be human upon himself. Shane gives a powerful story about a mother losing a son and connecting with God in a Good Friday celebration – and while the theological conclusion both she and Shane arrive at is where my contention lies – the power of an Incarnational God is nonetheless demonstrated.
His story reminded me of an instance when the cross of Christ was a powerful symbol for me in the midst of tragedy. A few years ago we lost a friend who was a father of three children and a loving husband. His death was sudden and tragic. In the midst of those situations, I think a natural question is, “where was God in the midst of this?” During the funeral mass, I noticed the Catholic Church in which the funeral was held, had large images of the Stations of the Cross on both of the side walls of the sanctuary. We were literally surrounded by larger-than-life images of Jesus’ suffering and death for us. While we were wondering where God was in the midst of this suffering, the art within the church was telling us that Christ was with our friend in the midst of his suffering and death because Christ had indeed entered into our brokenness.
This is a message our world needs to hear from us – and I appreciate Shane doing so. We ought not to be people who proclaim a spiritualized power of positive thinking message for financial success. We ought to be people who have a word to share with a broken-hearted mother who has buried her son. Shane’s word was that, and I am thankful for it.
In the next post, I will share some thoughts on where I have a bit of a disagreement.
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