I just returned from a day at the cabin by the lake that I sometimes go to when I need to get away. I spent time fleshing out my calendar for the next few months, preparing for an upcoming trip to Siberia, and reading Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World. It’s sort of a “John Howard Yoder for Dummies” and I recommend it highly. Mere Discipleship is the kind of book that will really mess up your life and get you in big trouble if you take it too seriously. My favorite chapter is entitled Baptism: Why Disciples Don’t Make Good Americans (or Germans, or Frenchmen). Like I said, big trouble.
The book is full of great quotes. Here’s one of my favorites from page 23:
“Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel accounts relate, always comes asking disciples to follow him, not merely “accept him,” not merely “believe in him,” not merely “worship him,” but to follow him: one either follows Christ or one does not. It is all or nothing. There is no compartmentalization of the faith, no realm, no sphere, no business, no politic in which the Lordship of Christ will be excluded. We either make him Lord of all lords, or we deny him as Lord of any.”
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons