Twice a month, our partners at the Center for Christian Civics lead prayer for the effect Christians are having on our civic life—and the effect toxic polarization is having on the church! This week, Shane Claiborne of Red Letter Christians joined the call as a guest prayer leader.
Shane led us in a call-and-response-style prayer identifying and disclaiming many of the ways American civic life threatens to malform us. As we seek to follow Jesus into the public square, his prayer is a vital guidepost for walking the narrow path of righteousness and justice.
You can pray along with the entire call above. For transcripts of past prayers, or to sign up for future prayer calls, visit the Christian Civics website.
Before the call went live, Rick offered the following reflection to people who subscribe to the Christian Civics mailing list:
I am particularly excited to welcome Shane because his book The Irresistible Revolution played an important role in helping me along the path that led me to this ministry.
I became a Christian in college in a major city, around the same time that the War on Terror spread from Afghanistan to Iraq. As a young person coming into the faith with new-believer zeal and coming into the evangelical community with fresh eyes, I was having trouble reconciling some of what I was seeing in scripture with some of what I was seeing in the church.
One of the biggest sticking points for me was an anti-urban bias, a distinct belief that cities were inherently ungodly places that needed to be overcome. One book a friend recommended actually said, “You can not be who God intends you to be in a city.”
But I had become a Christian in a city! God could have cornered me anywhere, but he had brought me to him there! And, statistically, there was more image of God per square mile in cities than anywhere else.
Shane’s book was one of the first Christian books I had read that talked about cities being places where spiritual life can happen as vibrantly as anywhere else. It was a stirring affirmation that God is bigger than our urban/suburban divide, and that stayed with me as I went from campaigns in urban settings to rural settings to suburban settings.
Rick Barry is the co-founder and Director of the Center for Christian Civics. He has worked on campaigns for local, state and federal office, is a former writer and editor for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and oversaw communications for the Grace DC church network. He and his wife live in Washington, DC.
Shane Claiborne is an author, activist and speaker. He is also the co-founder of Red Letter Christians, a movement of Jesus followers dedicated to living out Jesus’ counter-cultural teachings. His books include Jesus for President, Common Prayer and the classic The Irresistible Revolution.
