"Everything Must Change"

I am reading Brian McLaren's new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope and it is really challenging me but also inspiring me to tackle some of the biggest issues our world faces today. Though I am only in the first few chapters, he is addressing questions that I and many others are wrestling with around the world. 1) What are the biggest issues that our world is facing? 2) What does Jesus and his message of the kingdom of God have to say about those issues? Not exactly original question but certainly ones that I don't hear many people, especially in the realm of Christianity, addressing. He developed these questions off of the central premise of one of his earlier books The Secret Message of Jesus - the kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke is very much concerned with the present world rather than being only relegated to a future land of bliss. Issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS epidemic, destruction of creation for humanity's benefit, and the widening gap between the rich and poor are important to God and very much in contrast to his will and ways. In short, this is a book about social justice - a topic grossly underdiscussed in Christian circles. He identifies four major crises in the world which he calls...1) Prosperity crisis (environmental destruction b/c of our consumeristic needs), 2) Equity crisis (widening gap between the rich and poor), 3) Security crisis (fear of global war with nuclear weapons), 4) Spirituality crisis (the failure of either of world's two largest religions to provide a story capable of reframing and correcting the previous three crises).

I appreciate people like McLaren who are capable and willing to challenge the status quo of American Christianity and yet are capable of offering an alternative consistent with the grand vision of Scripture. I an really enjoying the book and look forward to continuing the journey.