FAW: I
understand that you know of Faith At Work from way back.
FAW: I
understand that you know of Faith At Work from way back.
The work of Sam Shoemaker has been important in my own spiritual life. His poem “I Stand By The Door” is one of the three or four key texts for my life: it articulates my sense of calling as well as anything I’ve ever read. I remember learning that Faith At Work carried on his legacy, and I’ve always enjoyed the magazine.
I know that you have a new book coming out. What is it about, and could you talk about your call to write it?
Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope came out in early October. It in many ways flows from the “I stand by the door” calling I mentioned a minute ago. First, that means trying to help people outside the religious sub-culture to hear and understand the good news of Jesus Christ. Second, it means helping those who are feeling a bit “claustrophobic” and thinking about leaving the faith find a good reason to stay. So I try to write in ways that make sense to committed Christians and also to people who are open and seeking, but not connected to the Christian community.
Specifically, the book’s about two big questions that have been sitting with me since my 20’s: What are the top global crises, and what does the message of Jesus have to say to those crises? Because we live in a globalizing world, it seems to me that we ought to understand what’s going on in our world – what crises are building, what storms are brewing – both for our own well-being but also for our children and grand-children. And because I believe Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God is about God’s work to transform and heal our world, I’m interested in learning how his words and his example can help us become less part of the problem and more part of the solution.
Why the
tour?
I felt with this book that it would be important to bring together people who are drawn to its message, so we can talk about letting hope grow in us and blossom into action. I think a lot of us feel that a kind of movement is being born, that something is trying to happen. I hope that this tour will play some small part in helping all of us take the next step in our calling, in our adventure of faith, hope, and love.
I’m really thrilled to be working with Faith At Work as a partner on the tour, because the message of this new book and the tour need to be worked out in the practicalities and callings of our daily lives, which is Faith At Work’s wonderful forte, at least as I see it.
I know the book deals with many of the big global issues of the day. Any sense of what that might mean for people in the small daily decisions?
I try to make sense of our integrated global system by describing civilization as a machine with four moving parts or systems. I think each system invites us to take action in a number of practical – and enjoyable – ways. For example, there are a lot of things we can do to live more harmoniously with God’s beautiful world – to be better stewards and less consumptive and destructive. And regarding issues of peace – that actually gets translated into how we notice and respond to people who are “other” to us, different culturally, politically, racially, economically, and so on. Millions of small neighborly encounters can actually help change the world. At the root of everything, though, is a spiritual crisis. As I explain in the book, I think the most radical thing we can do is to stop believing some of the stories we are commonly told, and instead, start believing God’s story, the story which frames a good life and gives it shape, meaning, and direction.
At FAW we talk a lot about the challenges of being faithful in the midst of what can feel like competition in our various calls. Any thoughts on how you work that out?
This is one of the things about Faith At Work I love. For many years I worked with an old-fashioned to-do list. But I found that this list tended to push urgent work-related issues to the top, and I always ran out of time before getting to the things that weren’t on my list. So I learned that I shouldn’t start with a list. I should start with my key relationships – with God, with my own soul, with my family, with my church and my friends, with my work, with my neighbors. That taught me to begin with key relationships rather than urgent demands. It means I run out of time on other things now, and I think my life is better as a result.
Of course, I don’t want to give the impression that this is always easy. I drop a lot of balls, and looking back, I’ve got some regrets regarding how I spent certain seasons of my life. But that’s where character is formed, I think, as we struggle to be faithful to these relationships in the constantly changing stresses of life: traffic jams, emails, sick relatives, cars that don’t sound right, deadlines, and life’s other surprises. It can seem like a real workout at times – but workouts make us stronger. When we remember that we’re surrounded by God’s grace, I think the workout can also be a wonderful adventure, a fantastic learning experience, a wild ride into the unknown, depending on the God we have come to know and trust and love.
Learn about Faith At Work's involvement in the Tour...
For more on Brian McLaren, visit his website.