Cocktails

So before you all think that I have let my bartending skills get away from me and have decided to write a blog about it, consider how we as a church have become drunk on the things of this world. James says in 1:27 that "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep onself unstained by the world." I've always focused on the orphans part of this verse, but last night when I read this verse, I realized how stained we really are by the world. Ephesians 5:18 has a deeper meaning now, when it says to not get drunk with wine but to be filled with the Spirit. God, may you make us drunk on the Holy Spirit and purify us from all the stains we've let the world seep into our lives.

Here's a thought from my new friend, Shane...

"Once again, it is time for an altar call, but this one is a little different. It is an altar call to the world, an invitation to see a new kind of Christianity and to hear the confession of a church on its knees asking your forgiveness for the mess we have helped create. And it is an alter call to the church, to alter our vision from the patterns of this world and create new ways of living....The tears we shed [at this altar call] are not just for ourselves but for our world. The sins we confess are not just drinking too much beer but also getting drunk on the cocktails of culture. We are not just laying our lives at the altar with nothing to pick up but we are also picking up an irresistible revolution that the world is waiting for. So with every head bowed and every eye closed, let's get started."--Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution, page 357-358

And that's how he ends this book! So perfectly! Now, where do we get started?