parting thoughts from "revolution"

Jesus' unlikely metaphors...yeast and mustard. Jews weren't big fans of either. They rid their house of yeast, a picture of sin or evil being cleaned of their life, once a year. They also valued tidy gardens,and were forbidden by jewish law to plant mustard in the garden. (m. Kil'ayim 3:2; t. Kil'aim 2:8) Why? "I was notorious for invading the well-trimmed veggies and other plants and for quickly taking over the entire garden. (Kind of like yeast works its way through dough...hmm.)... he is using this infamous plant to describe God's kingdom subtly [my note- and perhaps not so "prettily"] taking over the world." This gets me thinking. Jesus is ridiculing the huge expectations the people had for the kingdom of God. It spreads contagiously, in ways that consume our pretty little ordered world and makes something new. Also, mustard has to be crushed in order for it to be useful, either as a seasoning or as a medicine. Yeast, also, cannot be kept separate if it is to be used in the bread... it has to be covered up by the dough, smothered in it...and then it can be infectious and spread throughout all the quantity of dough, no matter how immense; just a small amount of smothered yeast goes a long way.

Now a quote from the book on the church and the frustration that many "overchurched" people feel:
"If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has the gift of vision. It also means that you ahve a responsibility to lead us in new ways. Recognizing that something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world. So for those of us who have nearly given up on the church, may we take comfort in the words of St. Augustine, "The church is a whore, but she's my mother" [ouch! yes, i know that's strong. even i havent dared say that yet] She is a mess and has many [messy] children. But she is also our momma and managed to give birth to us and to give us enough of the truth that we have been able to ask the questions that we have..."

All in all "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne (Zondervan 2006) is a great read. I recommend highly. Go get a copy, read it, get mad at it, do something with it...then give it away and let it keep going. :)