By Bethany Shenberger
Staff Writer
“Two of his features stood out the most, and those were his dreadlocks and scruffy beard. Despite his appearance, however, he spoke with power and presence.”
On October 1, Trinity Church was packed with students, staff members, and local church-goers eager to see Shane Claiborne speak. Dr. MacDonald introduced Shane Claiborne by sharing a few biographical facts about him. Shane was born in the small town of Maryville, Tennessee, and once spent ten weeks in Calcutta learning from the magnificent Mother Teresa.
Shane Claiborne was nothing I expected. He was a tall, light-haired, skinny man. Two of his features stood out the most, and those were his dreadlocks and scruffy beard. Despite his appearance, however, he spoke with power and presence.
The stories Shane told were moving and anecdotal. One story took place in Philadelphia. There was an old abandoned Catholic church that was being inhabited by homeless families. The Catholic Church had evicted these families, giving them forty-eight hours to leave the abandoned church. A church is supposed to be a place that homeless people can find as a safe haven and not of rejection. Shane saw the injustice the Catholic Church was taking against the homeless and decided to do something about it. Shane found a way by realizing that the Catholic Church could not kick out the families if the building was up to fire safety codes.
The second story is not full of grief or unhappiness but is, in fact, the complete opposite. While Shane was in Calcutta, India, his group played with and tried to help many of the local children. One day, Shane was talking to a boy that he had come to know. The boy told Shane that it was his birthday; Shane decided that this deserved some ice cream. Shane bought the boy a cone of vanilla ice cream. The boy yelled out “WE’VE GOT ICE CREAM!” and let every other child in the village have a lick of his cone before himself. This story was really moving to me. It shows how many simple things in life such as ice cream that we take for granted. It also shows that even though the boy had nothing and all he got for his birthday was an ice cream cone, he still shared it with others.
Shane’s speech was not just about the injustices that happen in the world that he had witnessed but about trying to make a difference in the world by living how the Bible says that Christians should live their lives. Shane speaks to make a difference and in hopes of showing Christians that it is possible to get along with other cultures and religions by simply living life the way the Bible teaches.
