On Saturday night I went with some friends to see Shane Claiborne, Christopher Haw, & Co. with the Jesus for Presient Tour at 5th Ave. Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

A lot of people on the blogosphere have been talking about it, so I won't waste your time here reiterating what you may have read already.

What really impressed me about this event was that it was multimedia and anti-celebrity.  The gang was there to be prophetic, not celebrate themselves.  Claiborne and Haw presented key parts of the book with liturgy, prayer, and original songs provided by The Psalters, an amazing underground, independent liturgical experience.

The book was the preaching and the music called the congregation into worship as we celebrated the Kingdom of God.  It was awesome.

Long live the Slaughtered Lamb! ... more

This is the first section of a four part review of Shane Claiborne’s new book Jesus for President.  I will be reviewing each section of Shane Claiborne and Christopher Haw's new book, the first section being "Before There Were Kings and Presidents."

With a bumper-sticker title like Jesus For President, the first reaction to this book might be a collective groan.  Not another one!  Just like in McLaren’s book, the subtitle is equally important with Claiborne’s new tome, for it reads: Politics for Ordinary Radicals.  Ordinary Radicals?  Sounds like an oxymoron.  Yet what Claiborne means by ordinary and by radicals becomes apparent in the opening paragraph:

Once up on a time there were no kings or presidents. Only God was king.  The Bible is a story of a God who is continually rescuing humanity from the messes we make of the world.  God is bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth.  God is leading humans on an exodus adventure out of the land of emperors and kings and into the Promised Land.  Out of Egypt, God first saves a group of slaves from the tyranny of Pharaoh.  God is their deliverer, the one who saves them from their tears and sweat and points them toward something better than the empire they have known.  Out of the nations, God is forming a new kind of people---a “holy nation” that will light up the world. (25)

To be radical is to disown the system of empires, democracies, and monarchies established on this earth.  What is ordinary about that is that as Christians we are supposed to be “set apart,” like Israel was.  Therefore, an ordinary radical is a Christian who considers himself to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God and not a citizen of earth. ... more