This Sermon Could Ruin Your Life

"Little people with big dreams are changing the world." That's what Shane Claiborne the author of the book "Irresistible Revolution" says.

He also says, "Jesus wrecked my life."

In High School, Shane was elected Prom King. He was a part of the in-crowd, popular, ready to make lots of money and buy lots of stuff — on the upward track to success. He was planning to go to, Medical school. He wanted to find a job where he could do as little as possible for as much money as possible. He figured anaesthesiology would work — just put people to sleep with a little happy gas and let others do the dirty work.

Then, as he said, "I could buy lots of stuff I didn't need ..." "I used to be cool ... and then I met Jesus ... and he wrecked my life. He said, the more he read the gospels, the more it messed him up, turning upside-down everything he was taught to believe and value.

Shane says, "I am still recovering from my conversion." Shane feels that being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and deciding to do something incredibly daring with your life. It's a challenge he's taken seriously.

At first, he went on mission trips to "take the good news to poor people." Then he discovered they were the ones who brought the good news to him. Since then, he's tried to shout the good news to anyone who will listen, whether in evangelical megachurches or in the United Nations. His adventures have taken him to the streets of Calcutta and to the war zones of Iraq. He has found himself led to the halls of power and the slums of the destitute — and for his solidarity with the poor, he has been dragged into courtrooms and jail cells.

Shane Claiborne lives in Philadelphia where, a few years ago, the city tried to pass anti-homeless legislation — making it illegal to sleep in the parks, illegal to ask for money and illegal to lie down on the sidewalk. Ironically, the reason for many of these laws was "Love Park." Shane says, "Love Park was a place where homeless folk hung out." It was visible, safe and central, and people used to go there to give food and clothing to the homeless.

One of the city's boldest moves was passing a law banning all food from the park. Specifically, it said, "All persons must cease and desist from distributing food." And they began to fine those who continued to share food. Shane and his friends started wondering what in the world it meant to love our neighbours as ourselves when they were being jailed for sleeping and eating.

So Shane and about a hundred others decided to test this law. They gathered in Love Park. They worshipped and prayed, then they served communion, which was illegal — distributing food!

And they distributed lots of bread and food with that communion. This was illegal, but with ministers and city officials there supporting them, surrounded by police and the media, no one dared to arrest them, especially during communion. And then they slept overnight in the park with their homeless friends.

At first this civil disobedience was overlooked, but as they continued this practice week after week — feeding the homeless with the celebration of communion — eventually the city decided to crack down. One night after worship, as they slept under the "Love" sign, the police circled the park and arrested all of them. They were taken to jail in handcuffs.

As they stood before the judge, Shane wore a shirt that read "Jesus was homeless." The judge asked Shane to step forward as he read the words emblazoned on the shirt. The judge said, "I didn't know Jesus was homeless."

Shane said, "Yes sir, in the scriptures Jesus says that "foxes have holes and birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

But, the district attorney had her stuff together. She was not joking around. They faced numerous charges, jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.

The judge said to the court, "What is in question here is not whether these folks broke the law, that is quite clear. What is in question is the constitutionality of the law."

The DA shot back, "The constitutionality of the law is not before this court!" And the DA threw her papers on the table.

The judge retorted, "The constitutionality of the law is before every court. Let me remind the court that if it weren't for people who broke unjust laws, we wouldn't have the freedom we now enjoy. We'd still have slavery. These people are not criminals; they are freedom fighters. I find them all not guilty on every charge." The newspapers called it a "Revolutionary Court Decision," and the judge asked Shane and his friends for a "Jesus was homeless" t-shirt.

Quite frankly, I admire the Christian courage of these young people — ordinary followers of Jesus of Nazareth who have been transformed by their faith and committed themselves to doing small things with great love. Is it possible this sort of transformation is what our scripture readings from today are talking about?

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born from above ... born again! He must listen for the wind of God's spirit and have his life transformed — transformed in ways that will radically change the life of Nicodemus.

Jesus invites him to bring his life and actions into conformity with the love and will of God. Jesus says, "Those who do what is true come to the light, so it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

And then in the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul talks about the new life in Christ. He says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Paul then goes on, inviting us to consider what part we may play in the body of Christ — what gifts we have, and how we might use them to continue the work of Christ in the world. "Be born from above" ... "be born again" ... "be transformed" — these are the constant invitations to renewal we find in the teachings of Jesus and the early church. It is an invitation we cannot ignore ... and if we take it seriously, it's a very frightening invitation.

As the nineteenth century Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote, "The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."

As Kierkegaard so clearly sees, one of the greatest obstacles to our radical Christian transformation is "my whole life will be ruined ... how will I ever get on in the world?"

Most of us in North America have accepted a common view of what life is all about. We're born, we go to school and try to get good grades so we can get a good job and make lots of money so we can buy things that will make life easier and more comfortable and more fun. Eventually we retire and become redundant, and so we spend the remainder of our lives primarily in the entertainment and vacationing mode. Finally, we are placed in the care of a planned retirement community where we are kept busy with not-too-challenging activities such as card playing, bingo and television watching, until we "pass away" — a euphemism for dying. That's the game — the accepted map of reality as it's presented to most middle-class North Americans.

Well .... the first step to radical Christian transformation is to see through the game. To ask ourselves, "What could we do with our lives if we weren't so focused on succeeding in this game?"

If you've seen the movie, "The Matrix," you'll know that the main character, Neo, gradually learns to see that the world is not at all as it appears. It is instead a huge and complex computer program projecting an illusion that keeps human beings unaware of the true nature of the dream world they inhabit. Neo is one of a handful of characters who can see through the dream to the truth beneath the surface. Once he no longer believes in the absoluteness of appearances, he can escape the clutches of the program. He can live a real life. He can make a difference in the world.

Is it possible for us to see through the game of middle-class ambitions and lifestyles and be transformed by the message and ministry of Jesus?

Now, I'm not suggesting we all need to become Shane Claiborne, getting ourselves arrested in the park while standing up for the rights of the poor, but we do need to ask ourselves, "What am I doing here” ... "What is the meaning of life?" I believe God has placed each one of us in the world for a purpose.

The incredible thing is there are so many stories of ordinary Christian people doing small things with great love — with their lives, gifts and careers. I've heard of a group of massage therapists who spend their free time washing and massaging the tired feet of homeless people.

I know of a manicurist who goes to a senior's home and asks, "Which older women have no visitors or family?" and then she sits with them, laughs, tells stories and does their nails.

I know of lawyers who do "pro bono" work, defending the rights of the poor and advocating for human rights.

The stories are endless, and the examples are as numerous as the number of vocations. But God's calling to this work is the same —"to love God and our neighbours with our whole lives, careers and gifts.

Just before we moved out here to Victoria, I visited with a friend of mine who recently received a kidney transplant. Her name is Suzy. Prior to the transplant she had to go for dialysis three times a week. But she just didn't believe she was as sick as some of the other people at the clinic, so while she was there, and while she was waiting, she would help the other people — she would listen to them or tell them a story, they would laugh together and their common burden would be made lighter.

Suzy said to me, "Wherever you are, there's something God needs you to do and God's hand can be seen in what we're doing every day."

She believes, since she's received this new kidney and as she looks forward to improved health, she will discover new things in her life God still wants and needs her to do.

Suzy believes we can either be frustrated and unhappy with the obstacles in our life, or we can discover ways to work in and through those obstacles to serve God, in every day and in every moment.

Someone once said to me, "You're just one person. What makes you think you can actually change the world?"

And I said, "If you take a close look at history, you will see ... that's the only way it has ever been done."

Welcome to the revolution of little people. The transformation begins inside each one of us and through little acts of Christ-like love, it could take over the world. May we be radical Christians … and may the life and example of Jesus of Nazareth give us the courage.