Katie’s Musings – Thoughts on the Gospel from North Carolina Nov 13, 2019 | News This morning I was blessed to listen to Shane Claiborne preach the Gospel at #omcgreatgathering. And I was interested to see folks walk out…. presumably due to discomfort with the message? Although I obviously can’t say for sure. And I got to thinking about the Gospel. And how uncomfortable it is. How uncomfortable it is to follow a Christ who resides firmly on the side of the oppressed and invites us to join him there. How uncomfortable it is to follow a Christ who finds the boundaries and barriers and walls and prison cells we have built and stands on the other side of it and invites us to join him there. How uncomfortable it is to follow a Christ who has no time for empire and power and tosses tables to prove it. How uncomfortable it is to follow a Christ who listens and doesn’t walk out when it gets tough. How uncomfortable it is to follow a Christ who … actually demands our discomfort. And THEN I got to thinking about how much our discomfort is rooted in the things that we are willing to know for sure. Cause knowing things for SURE and not leaning into mystery in this world of mystery is always a choice we have to make. And how much that which we are willing to know for SURE is rooted in what and who we see every day. And how much that which we are willing to know for SURE is rooted in our own trauma and the experiences that have shaken us. And how much that which we are willing to know for SURE is rooted in the media we choose to consume and the interpersonal relationships we are most comfortable with pursuing. And how loving our neighbor as our self doesn’t actually count if the neighbor in question is only those whom we are entirely comfortable with. So basically…. discomfort is hard but it’s also holy. Discomfort is a choice… and it’s not one that always sounds totally appealing. Discomfort is a choice that we are called by the Gospel to choose every single time. And at the very least…. discomfort is a coded whisper of, “Hey you. Move closer and get a better look. You might find a neighbor there.”
