I have a passionate desire to live my life in a way that makes the world a better place. In particular, I want the city that I have called home for 27 years to be a living, vibrant life-giving city. I want it to be safe. I want every person to be valued and respected. I want it to be a place where every person has the opportunity to create something of value with their life. I want every person to be free to choose who and how they worship. I want it to be richly diverse.
And I want these things for all people . . . for democrats and republicans, for Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheist, for gays and straights, for conservatives and liberals. I want these things for everyone who lives here. And I want them most for the oppressed and the marginalized.
I am a self-identified CHristian. I have chosen to make the life and teachings of Jesus the rule of my life, and I am on a journey of attempting to live what He taught - the things that are easy and the things that are very hard. As a part of that teaching, I passionately seek to make disciples of Jesus as he teaches in Matthew 28:18-20.
For those who are not followers of Jesus there must be some tension between my desire to make disciples of Jesus and my commitment to help build a city where people are truly free to choose not to follow Him. For those who do follow Him, I frequently take heat for truly wanting people of all kinds to experience the blessings of living in a great city, even if they are not Christians.
How do you create that kind of city? I confess that I don't know how to create that kind of city. I have a set of evolving beliefs that come from the Bible and have been tested in a series of on-going experiences. A lot of what helps my thinking evolve is reading and practice.
Several books have contributed most dramatically to my evolving thinking about creating a good city. Recently, I've read perhaps the most provocative book I've read in a decade. James Hunter Davidson's new book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World.
If Davidson's assertions are correct, it's a game changer. I've read his book and am now doing what I do to really learn. I'm re-reading slowly. . . one chapter at a time. And I'm going to do a series of posts to summarize what Davidson says and what I'm getting from his writing.
So, if you want to share this learning process, please read and comment.
4 comments:
Looking forward to the reflections brother.
Thanks Jim. I plan to purchase this book. Another campus minister at UT forwarded this to me and said he has read the book twice and wholeheartedly agrees with you.
We also are listing your blog on ours. Not sure why we have not yet. Miss seeing you. Hope to be in town for the Final Four if Texas can get their act together :-)
Justin Christopher
http://www.reachingcampus.com/
I've finally started this book and it's going slowly but I can't wait to have some of the conversations that I know it's going to inspire--looking forward to it!
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