Shane Claiborne, author of
Ordinary Radicals, is touring the country, packing churches and community centers, in support of the book he and Chris Haw co-authored,
Jesus for President.
Claiborne and Haw are packing houses wherever they go with young people from a variety of political backgrounds who are saying they are hungry for something more than partisan politics.
"This whole project is about the political imagination of what it means to follow after Jesus," Claiborne said. "The language of Jesus as Lord and Savior is just as radical as it would be to say, 'Jesus as our Commander in Chief' today."
He talks about war and the environment. He also talks about how Jesus stood up to the Roman Empire, a message he believes is relevant to the United States now.
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"For many of us, Caesar has colonized our imagination, our landscape and our ideology," he says while a picture of Mount Rushmore flashes behind him. On the screen "Vandalism" pops up in black letters.
Trading lines back and forth from a script with Haw, they save the most wrath for Christians who they say have missed the point of the cross, saying we have treated the sacrifice and call to follow Jesus like a life-improvement product and made an industry out of taking the Lord's name in vain.
Discussion Starters What do you think about Claiborne's comparison between saying, "Jesus is Lord," and "Jesus is President"? What sort of difference would it make in our lives to consider Jesus as the most important political figure in the world, instead of the U.S. President? Shane and Chris claim Christians have allowed "Caesar" to steal our allegiance and imaginations from God. Do you agree? How so, or why not?
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