Last week I was particularly struck by a story recounted in "Jesus For President" where Shane Claiborne talks about a situation that he was fairly certain he'd handled the way Jesus would have. This got me to thinking about what I'm doing every day, and how it measures up.

I was going to list out several major things that happened this week, and how I felt my response would have compared to Jesus, but the fact is that even if they made the slightest approximation, they still never truly would have compared. The real coup de grace was tonight when I was in the midst of great and public self flagellation, while almost totally ignoring what God and people were doing right around me.

Part of me is ready to declare this an epic failure after only 7 days, but that's where the real failure would be. For 7 days I've been thoughtfully considering what Jesus would do in my place. I haven't always done what I thought he would do, but I think at least a couple of times, I just might have. The truth is that without God, it would be zero. So we'll see how I'm doing next week. 

My church is hosting a series of talks for the Advent Season, the first of which was held last night. Shane Claiborne, the social activist and author of The Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President was the first speaker.

Having read his first book and being in the middle of the second, I was expecting the talk to the a more intense version of his writing.  I was expecting something revolutionary, but this wasn't what happened at all. Instead he gave a very good talk and lead a solid discussion, hammering on greed as an "infection" of our culture and explaining how concepts like "Jubilee", "Relational Tithe", and "Protestifying" are ways that we can be carrying out our responsibilities as Christians.

After consideration on the way home, I realized that for a non-Christian, the talk itself would have been revolutionary. More importantly though, I realized exactly how difficult it would be to do any of the things he was suggesting on my own. I frequently find myself decrying many of the things he was speaking about, but just as quickly turn around and perpetuate them out of habit.

Our church is participating in the Advent Conspiracy this season, a movement to refocus the season and Christmas on Jesus, rather than gifts. I'm really looking forward to the extra motivation to think critically and differently about the things I do and buy. Actually being different would be a little bit revolutionary.

More about Shane and the Advent Conspiracy:

•  The Simple Way and Potter Street Community
• Advent Conspiracy