In Jesus, God leaves all the comfort of heaven to join the suffering here on earth. Jesus enters the world as a refugee -- a brown-skinned Palestinian Jew from Nazareth, where people said “nothing good could come.” He joined the marginalized, even to the point of his execution -- absorbing all the pain, violence, and evil of the world and putting death on display -- to subvert it with love. Now we are called to follow Jesus -- and to lean in to the pain, to draw near to the suffering. As the compelling forces of our world are about avoiding pain and discomfort, the gravity of the Gospel calls us into the pain, and into the trenches. Too often our biggest problem in the church is not a compassion problem, it is a proximity problem. In this conversation, we will talk about what it looks like to become proximate, to stay near to those who suffer, knowing that if we are near to them, we are near to God.
Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author. Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said." Shane is a champion for grace, which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless, and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence. Shane’s books include Jesus for President, Red Letter Revolution, Common Prayer, Follow Me to Freedom, Jesus, Bombs and Ice Cream, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, Executing Grace, his classic The Irresistible Revolution, and his newest book, Beating Guns. He has been featured in a number of films including "Another World Is Possible" and "Ordinary Radicals." His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Shane speaks over one hundred times a year, nationally and internationally. His work has appeared in Esquire, SPIN, Christianity Today, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has been on everything from Fox News and Al Jazeera to CNN and NPR. He’s given academic lectures at Harvard, Princeton, Liberty, Duke, and Notre Dame. Shane speaks regularly at denominational gatherings, festivals, and conferences around the globe.
