Revolution

Let’s try something. Let’s back away from revolution. Not the real thing itself, just the word. Over the past several years we in the Christian subculture have used it so often to describe so much that we have almost stripped it of its power. That word used to freak me out…it had sharp edges…it was dangerous. But we have somehow managed to domesticate it.

It has become a glossed over slogan. A tag line. A way to market concerts and camps.

I recently saw Amazing Grace, the movie about the life of abolitionist William Wilberforce. You should go see it if you need something to do on a weekend (or with the rest of your life). His efforts and convictions brought down the British slave trade. In one scene, the following interaction takes place with his friend Thomas Clarkson:
Wilberforce: “You speak of revolution as if it is a safe thing.”
Clarkson: “It is just a word.”

It is more than a word! It is not a safe thing! I’m not sure you can call something a revolution until someone has spilled some blood over it. This scene reminded me of these words that I scribbled down while waiting in an airport last summer:

revolution begins in the streets…with the oppressed…revolution is never an institutional initiative… it is fluid and flexible… grass roots… from the bottom up… does not fit into existing structures and categories and doesn’t seem to care or be bothered much by that… there is no business model for this…

Revolution begins in the heart of a person driven by a love that is willing to pay any cost. As a result, nothing is ever the same again.

Maybe we should back away from that word for a while, out of deep reverence and respect for it. Out of love for it. Out of hope of being a part of one some day. Let’s reserve it for something that we are actually willing to fight for, to bleed for. It is far too dangerous a thing to be taken lightly.

Disclaimer: One of my best friends is a youth pastor whose group is named ‘Revolution.’ This is in no way meant to be a slam on him. In fact, I know without a doubt that he gets what the word is about. He was a part of a group of kids that taught me what it meant years ago. Now he is leading his own small band of insurgents, with the hope of turning the world upside down with revolutionary ideas like grace and love. That, I believe, is the real thing.