becomeing the answers to our prayers

prayer for ordinary radicals (love that subtitle)
by shane claiborne and jonathan wilson-hartgrove

excited to say i finished book one on my summer reading list!

i would consider it an unorthodox book on prayer, but in reality it was not only a book on prayer but action, politics, community and gaining spiritual wisdom. a very unique read with some great stuff to offer, a book i would recommend.

here are some excerpts that stuck out:

• "Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do."
• "After seven years times seven--on the fiftieth year--[Israel] were to declare a Jubilee. Debts would be forgiven. Land that had been sold would be returned to its original owner. Prisoners would be set free. Once in every generations, the playing field would be leveled as a guard against injustice in the beloved community of God's people".
• "The love that makes a community, is the willingness to do someone else's dirty work".
• "Sometimes it is easier to wash the feet of prostitutes than it is to wash the feet of the people we live with each day--the people who get on our nerves, don't do their dishes and expect us to pick up on their passive aggression (and certainly we don't do any of those things). One of the most radical things we do is love the people we live with, day after day, mistake after mistake."
• "Communities that strive for perfection are always weeding out the imperfect people--until there's no one left".
• "We have to stop promising people life after death when what we are all really asking is if there is life before death".
• "One of the ironies we noted about the whole situation was that many evangelical churches that are passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus with all people were equally passionate about bombing Baghdad and eliminating Saddam Hussein. It seemed that we had to go be with the Iraqis if for no other reason than to show them by our presence that not all Christians wanted to bomb them."

also, being a book on prayer, the authors sprinkled different prayers throughout the book as side-notes, mostly by saints or some prayers offered in the bible, but this one as my wife noticed stuck out amongst them all.

• "Dear God, please make all the poor people rich. And the rich people poor. Then bring us back to a medium so we will take better care of each other. Amen".

- ten year old boy