Love that lingers.

I'm reading a book by Shane Claiborne that deals a lot with stories of his experiences. The book is entitled The Irresistible Revolution, check it out. If you know me, not being able to put down a book means something for sure. Shane shares some remarkable stories along with some encounters with modern day miracles. However, what's even more remarkable is the practicality of showing love, especially to the "least of us." The least of us being the poor. Simple things go great distances and the results of love last longer than any result of any miracle. Jesus may have feed the 5000, but the next day they were hungry. Jesus may have raised Lazarus, but he eventually died... again. Jesus may have healed the sick, but some of those caught some other disease before they died. Love lasts. And everyone that Jesus did was with love. I think I like how "love lingers" sounds. It lingers... like a good fart. It effects it's surroundings and everyone takes notice. It causes people to react. It wakes the senses. Are you causing people to take notice and react? Are you waking their senses?

The book talks of a time when Shane and his college friends were at lunch complaining about the school food when one of them noticed in the paper that a homeless colony that had sought refuge in an abandoned cathedral was given 48 hours to leave the building by some catholic officials or prepare to be arrested. They of course found this absurd that the church wasn't loving their poor among them, their Jesus. Shane and his friends crammed the rest of their food down and made their why to the cathedral. They were embraced by the homeless and invited in to their community. There was a banner that read "How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and then ignore one on Monday." Jesus was homeless. They were able to see the hearts of the people and were absolutely fascinated. No one was able to make it on their own but with the help of their community, everyone managed and survived. Shane and friends went back and discussed what they could do with time ticking down so quickily. They posted flyers saying "Jesus is getting kicked out of church. Come to see how you can help. Meeting at 10 p.m." They expected maybe 15 of their craziest friends. over 100 showed up. The next day they all went over there to offer their support and the numbers of these college students did not go unnoticed by the media. The media couldn't understand at first why a bunch of college students would risk going to jail for the "least of us." But the news helped the absurdity of the church kicking out the homeless to be realized by many watching it. Numbers continued to grow over the next few hours as people felt called to intervene as well - just a bunch of ordinary radicals united in Christ's true love, a love that acts, or in this case reacts.

Their last couple of hours before the deadline was spent in communion and worship. All were hugging, crying and supporting each other with encouraging words. A raise of hands was called for those who were choosing to stay behind and risk jail time. Shane, who had a little homeless girl on his lap, raised his hand and immediately she asked why he was raising his hand. He asked her, "do you want to be able to stay here?" She said, "Of course, it is my home." He said, "that's why I'm raising my hand." She hugged him and then raised her hand. When the 48 hours was up, they rang the bell tour and prepared themselves for what might happen. The officials showed up, opened their door and took no more than two steps before they noticed the crowd and climbed back in their car. That 48 hours came and went. Now that part was cool... but this might be my favorite... it's epic:

The college students knew that they had to consistently keep people over there for the next few weeks so that the officials would not take advantage of the homeless colony when the crowd was much smaller but also didn't want to flunk their classes. They had bought a cell phone and a blow horn. The phone was kept at the church and when the officials showed up, the phone called the student with the blow horn who then walked to the middle of campus and sounded the horn. The students would leave their classes, gather together and caravan out to the church. Also what is cool is that the teachers caught the vision and supported what the students were doing. In fact, the principal donated her bed to the homeless colony.

The story goes on but the point is that love lingers... it's contagious, wakes the senses, and causes us to act or react... And it's simple... but it involves us getting outside of ourselves and throwing ourselves to where God calls us to be, with the least of us. Do something this week that involves you to be among the "least of us." And cause love to linger.


and........... here's the new Aftershock opening video for this year (or as we are referring to it, this season)

Our Joyful God

This evening, after my last class, one of our professors came and told me and several of my friends that our 8 am class was cancelled for tomorrow. As soon as he was around the corner we broke into a quiet but crazy dance.

Tonight I sat in my living room with four teenage girls and giggled.

It is so easy to look at our world and see it whirl-pooling down the drain. So easy to get overwhelmed by the hurt and brokenness. What is to love here? Surely the God who created, loves, and died for such a place must be miserable.

Here are some excerpts from a book I'm reading by Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy:

"...God leads a very interesting life, and...is full of joy. Undoubtedly he is the most joyous being in the universe. The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite joy. All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness. He sees it, experiences it, knows it from every possible point of view, this and billions of other scenes like and unlike it, in this and billions of other worlds. Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through his being.

So we must understand that God does not 'love' us without liking us--through gritted teeth--as 'Christian' love is sometimes thought to do. Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core--which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word love."

I don't know. These words resound with me...because I've felt it, haven't you? For brief moments? The frailness. The potential. The beauty. And my heart, for just one moment, understands what it is to be "very good."