Quotes from Shane Claiborne

Some Christians take so few risks it's no wonder folks have a hard time believing in Heaven. Most of us live in such fear of death that it's as if no one really believes in resurrection anymore.

If we believe terrorists are beyond redemption, then we can rip out half of our New Testament since it was written by a converted terrorist who became an extremist for grace.

Being in proximity makes a difference. Relationships make issues real and complicated and personal. Relationships move us from ideology to compassion. We can't love our neighbor if we don't know them. And once we are proximate, love requires us to take action, to stand up for life in tangible ways.

St. Augustine: "The Church is a whore, but she's my mother." She is a mess and has many illegitimate 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 in this book.

The American flag has smothered the glory of the cross. Many people can't see the beauty of the cross because everything the American flag represents to them is in the way.

Lord, give us the imagination to dream and catch glimpses of the life you intend for us to live. Show us how our individual lives are entwined with those around us, and help us to live so truly together that we embody your good news in this world. Amen.

If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that; not everyone has that gift of vision.

There is a place for good food and beautiful art; what matters is who you share it with. What's just as important as what you eat is who you are eating with. One of my favorite sayings these days is "Simple living does not mean ugly living." We can live in ways that are simple and responsible—and beautiful.

We can do more together than we can do alone.

Augustine of Hippo: "In affliction, then, we do not know what it is right to pray for. Because affliction is difficult, troublesome and against the grain for us, weak as we are, we do what every human would do. We pray that it may be taken away from us. However, if he does not take it away, we must not imagine that he has forgotten us. In this way, power shines forth more perfectly in weakness.

Our tools have "advanced," but we haven't advanced spiritually or morally. And so we, normal people, with the tools of destruction and wastefulness available daily for purchase, cannot handle the power.

Over and over, the dying and the lepers would whisper the mystical word namaste in my ear. We really don't have a word like it in English (or even much of a Western conception of it). They explained to me that namaste means "I honor the Holy One who lives in you." I knew I could see God in their eyes. Was it possible that I was becoming a Christian, that in my eyes they could catch a glimpse of the image of my Lover?