Blue like jazz

Today's Devotional comes from Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality:

My friend Andrew the Protester believes things. Andrew goes to protests where he gets pepper-sprayed, and he does it because he believes in being a voice of change. My Republican friends get frustrated when I paint Andrew as a hero, but I like Andrew because he actually believes things that cost him something. Even if I disagree with Andrew, I love that he is willing to sacrifice for what he believes. And I love that his beliefs are about social causes.

Andrews says it is not enough to be politically active. He says legislation will never save the world. On Saturday mornings Andrew feeds the homeless. He sets up a makeshift kitchen on a sidewalk and makes breakfast for people who live on the street. He serves coffee and sits with his homeless friends and talks and laughs, and if they want to pray he will pray with them.

All great Christian leaders are simple thinkers. Andrew doesn't cloak his altruism within trickle-down economic theory that allows him to spend fifty dollars on a round of golf to feed the economy and provide jobs for the poor. He actually believes that when Jesus says feed the poor, he means you should do this directly.

It doesn't matter what I say. It matters what I do. Andrew says I should not live like a politician, but like a Christian. Like I said, Andrew is a simple thinker.

Donald Miller's website includes the entire text of Chapter 1 along with several pages of excerpt from Blue Like Jazz. I like that book. Donald lives in Portland, audits classes and hangs out at Reed College and lives in an intentional community.