Doogie Howser Did It, So Why Not Me?

Review: Economy of Love

Well I’m a bit late posting my review for this DVD/book The Economy of Love that was sent to me via viralbloggers.com, but better late than never.

I’ve been a fan of Shane Claiborne for a while. I’ve read his books and seen him speak a number of times. Shane’s unique perspective towards the calling God asks of us on the Earth always seems to dig deep into my being. He carries a deeply intense sense of passion that is wrapped in a cloak of peace and calmness about him. Of course I was intrigued by a combo of visual media and written words that has been put together.

In many ways, I am no longer held captive by “bible studies” or “programs”, the notion of “weekly plans” or “question books” almost brings a vile taste to my mouth. While this package is set up as weekly topics, I can see the desire to market it to those for whom the idea of “study” and “schedules” still hold value.

What I found within, was clearly more than what has become standard across the chrisitan community. To those who look deep enough are a series of questions posed to the reader/viewer. Question that get to the heart of how we live, how we tithe, how we view those who have less than ourselves.

Shane has continually taken the way we view the world and turned it on it’s head. I’ve seen him take his “honorarium” and cash it out into singles with the word “love” written on it and hand it out to an entire convention center full of people saying take a dollar and either give it to someone else to bless them, or keep it as a reminder of the need to share love with others.

In many ways I can easily relate to the ideas and thoughts that Shane brings up. His thought process lines up with mine. These are not “radical” thoughts, at least in my mind, they are mere simple ways of thinking about things. A quote from the book in the section titled “Tension” says:

“…a great tragedy of the American church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but we do not know the poor.”

I can easily say I am guilty of the above. The poor are an abstract. They are something we serve, or we volunteer towards. We can give and donate. Yet we rarely spend time with. Really spend quality time with. In the same ways that we relate and invest in our friends and our families.

I am challenged by this notion alone.

I encourage you to grab a copy of this DVD/book and to ponder it yourself. And if you feel so led, share your musings with others. I know Shane exemplifies what he speaks of, from the intentional community he lives in, to how he thinks about the clothes he wears and how he is deeply committed to the community of Philadelphia and the residents of his immediate neighborhood.

On a personal note, I still am trying to work through my hang ups with the church at large, I’ll admit, I am broken, and so is the church. And maybe one day we might again be able to dialogue about how we, together, can go about starting to mend the self-inflicted wounds we all have contributed to. God is much bigger than me, and the church itself. The thought of a very big God does not scare me, I embrace that thought and know that God has always been in the habit of rearranging the sheer nature of how we perceive our lives. If I could only get over my stubbornness of liking the way things are now. God have mercy on me, a sinner.