As someone who appreciates the writings of Shane Claiborne and the New Day Movement and others, I found this cartoon by ASBOJesus to be pretty cool.
Showing posts with label Shane Claiborne. Show all posts
"New Monasticism" What Is It?
"The Radical Fringe" of Christianity
Image by C. Wess Daniels via FlickrRon Cole, who writes "The Weary Pilgrim" describes the work of Jarrod McKenna as the "Australian version of Shane Claiborne." "The Weary Pilgrim" highlights a podcast of Jarrod's.
What I wanted to quote, however, is how he describes Jarrod and this "radical fringe" of Christianity.
He is part of a radical element on the the fringe of the church that sees faith and works, the practice and action of faith as being critical. The teachings of Jesus put into practice must be lived out, as radically today... to dilute them, co-modify and embed them in western church culture is not the redemptive vision and imagination of Jesus. This radical fringe believes Christianity is in trouble because it has become to passive and culturally accommodating. They are stirring the luke-warm pot of status quo Christianity.That's some powerful language there.
And I am left with the struggle of determining how I should live this out when I have bills to pay, kids to pick up, a church to fund, construction workers to check in on, and a stewardship campaign to close out.
Sometimes I seem and feel so far from this "radical fringe." I feel so...established...so diluted...so co-modified...so embedded.
Alas.
Stewart, Colbert, and Changing Public Discourse
Image by PinkMoose via Flickr
This may be more revealing than it should be. I normally play my political cards pretty close to my chest. I find it's best not to be pinned down, politically, so that I'm able to have intelligent conversations with those to the left of me and those to the right of me without being pigeonholed.
My own children have noted that I seem to be able to talk respectfully and discerningly with person with whom I disagree, even passionately. I try to be open to their perspectives and try to see what life experiences and history and theology have shaped their beliefs. I also don't want anyone to have preconceived notions about what I believe -- which I know they already do. I don't want anyone to prejudge me for that they assume will be my opinion -- which I know they already do. I don't want to miss a chance to be able to really hear the heartfelt opinions of others as I try to know them better.
Now, I like to think this makes me a pretty rare species in today's world. In the world today, as I look at it, we have some very strict boundaries around our political groups. And, while we may have politicians who claim they "reach across the aisle," we really know that this phenomena of "aisle reaching" doesn't happen much at all. Take a look at all the votes in the Senate and Congress that fell right down along party lines. Those aisle are made for walking, not crossing.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. NO. -- New Monasticism and Me
Image via Wikipedia
I can't help but wonder if my life would have been different if I had really been exposed to the "New Monasticism" at an earlier age--when I was young and carefree, when I didn't have kids.
It seems like my life, over the past few years, but really in the last 6 months, has been been bombarded by images of these new monastics in the world. Well, I'm sure I haven't been bombarded, but that's kind of the way it feels.
In seminary, back in the early 90s I had a friend who, with his wife, purposely chose to live in a more dangerous, poorer section of the Durham area than a lot of us other students. I don't think you'd say it was a slum, but it was clearly living in a rougher part of town. And, even if I wasn't sure I had the guts (faithfulness) to do that myself, I admired this. This, I thought, was really taking the call of Jesus seriously.
Then, of course, we had Shane Claiborne come to Girdwood Chapel this summer and I could sit and listen to him for days and never grow tired of it. Here is someone who, living in community in Philadelphia is really initiating change in the roughest section of that city. I was taken aback when Shane even offered for me and the whole family to come and live in community with them.
Recently, I've been sitting on a news story by the Religion News Service of an account of persons making a difference in Gresham, Oregon. There is a "romantic" and "adventurous" feel to this account. It all seems so simple, yet so very challenging. The story is by Steven Beaven and includes the following:
It seems like my life, over the past few years, but really in the last 6 months, has been been bombarded by images of these new monastics in the world. Well, I'm sure I haven't been bombarded, but that's kind of the way it feels.
In seminary, back in the early 90s I had a friend who, with his wife, purposely chose to live in a more dangerous, poorer section of the Durham area than a lot of us other students. I don't think you'd say it was a slum, but it was clearly living in a rougher part of town. And, even if I wasn't sure I had the guts (faithfulness) to do that myself, I admired this. This, I thought, was really taking the call of Jesus seriously.
Then, of course, we had Shane Claiborne come to Girdwood Chapel this summer and I could sit and listen to him for days and never grow tired of it. Here is someone who, living in community in Philadelphia is really initiating change in the roughest section of that city. I was taken aback when Shane even offered for me and the whole family to come and live in community with them.
Recently, I've been sitting on a news story by the Religion News Service of an account of persons making a difference in Gresham, Oregon. There is a "romantic" and "adventurous" feel to this account. It all seems so simple, yet so very challenging. The story is by Steven Beaven and includes the following:
In the two years since David Knepprath and Josh Guisinger moved into the rough-and-tumble Barberry Village complex, roughly a dozen young Christian men and women have made Barberry Village their home.
Their goal: Create a sense of community in a chaotic neighborhood overrun with drugs, prostitution and gangs.
Their work mirrors, in some ways, the "new monasticism" movement, in which Christians move into urban or rural areas to work with the poor.
It's not an easy way to live. Some neighbors have been suspicious. Safety is an ongoing concern. And some of these urban missionaries have burned out on a project that can be a 24-hour-a-day burden.
Yet they've been so successful that other complex owners have asked them to replicate their efforts. Congregations have volunteered their services. A woman from Virginia is moving to the Portland area so she can do similar work in another neighborhood.
With guidance from a nonprofit called Compassion Connect, they moved with friends into an apartment, putting two sets of bunk beds in one room and using the other two bedrooms as an office and a closet.
Still, they remained outsiders who could live in almost any neighborhood they chose. They had to strike a delicate balance; they didn't want to come on too strong and alienate their neighbors.
So while they were open about their Christianity, they didn't plunge into conversations about their faith. Nor did they move in acting as if they could solve the social ills at Barberry Village.
"We were very conscious of that," said Knepprath, who has since moved out but remains active in the ministry. "Our perspective from the start was that we're not here with all the solutions, or even thinking we know all the problems."
So they walked door to door, handing out chocolate-chip cookies. A letter explained their purpose and faith. They invited residents to the first community meal.
This fascinates me and I feel a calling to something like this, but I'm just not sure I'm up to it to this extent. I'm not sure I'm that faithful yet. In particular, I'm not sure I'm that faithful on behalf of my children. What would moving into a setting like do for them. I'm sure it's many positive things. But when I try to reconcile the lack of neighborhood amenities or the safety of the area or the ability to be with my "usual" friends.
So I say, yes, yes, yes, and finally a no to monastic living.
But, all is not lost here. I think I'm left with the challenge of trying to interpret this new monastic living with the church structure I'm already in. I might not be living among the poorest of the poor in our area, but how can the church do that? How can it give up some of its status and make a home among the poor and forgotten.
Also, on of the things I really like here is the assumption that this all takes some time. Evangelism, at heart, is about building relationships over time and working, systematically, to alleviate the problems of a neighborhood or community. Whether that's the family in apartment next to a new monastic order or if it's a community half-way around the world, the church can still reach out in concern and service to those around it.
I don't think I'll ever find myself in a "new monastic" community. But I can still learn from them and try to be a monastic in my own community...even here up in Alaska.
Going To Live With Shane Claiborne in Philadelphia? Not that faithful
Image by cmaio via FlickrBut it's a place that healthy, wholesome families are needed.
I told Shane that our family has struggled with living in the privileged areas we've been able to live and that there's a part of myself that would find that wonderfully freeing...recognizing that it would be a challenge for myself and would involve sacrifice. But, more difficult, it would be "forcing" a sacrifice on the part of my kids -- their scholastic education, their friendships, and perhaps their safety. It would be asking a lot. And while it may require faithfulness to make sacrifices in your own life, I think it requires a different level of faithfulness to require sacrifices by your children or your spouse.
Shane said, "Jim, if you and your family would like to come to Philadelphia to be part of what we have going on there, we'd love to have you. We could always use some families who are willing to stay."
My answer was: "That's an interesting offer, but I'm not that faithful yet."
Thinking Small
Image by Niffty.. via FlickrAnd, as pastor, I have to say that occasionally my heart still sinks when some event is planned or some worship service begins or some schedule is set and I look out on those gathered round and see that it is far fewer than I had hoped for...far fewer than I had expected. It still happens.
But a couple of things have helped...
First, when I was in Kenai, Alaska, I was trying to work with the church to do some visioning for where it is that God wanted them to be over the next several years. We talked about it for a month or so. I had preached on "vision" and we had flyers posted around the church. We were going to make it into a big deal. The pastor of Soldotna United Methodist Church was going to be leading the event. Saturday came. The coffee was brewed. The table was set. Candles were lit. And we waited. A lot of time has gone by since then and I really don't remember how many people were there, but it was bad. There were, maybe, 3 or 4. I was disappointed. I was very disappointed. But that pastor started us off in a prayer and then said, "God has gathered those of us who are ordained to be here today. He has called us to this place, around this table, to do his work."
And we did it. We did his work. And it was good. Perhaps it could have been more satisfying if 30 people had shown up. But that's not what happened. And, I pray, that is just how God wanted it.
Secondly, I've been thinking (a lot) about all that Shane Claiborne said during his time in Alaska a week or so ago. One of the things he said, and it comes through in his writings, is that ministry happens through relationships...and, particularly, through intimate relationships. Small is good. That's why those giant churches our smaller churches are so desperately trying to be like are focusing on small group ministries. That's where ministry really happens.
I'm reminded of this again this morning. A couple of nights ago we didn't have the number of kids we'd like to see at Vacation Bible School. We were far from it. One adult asked me, "Is it worth it?" It's a good question. It really is. It's a good VBS program. I like the material. I think our staffing is good. The music and dancing is great. I had fun. I think my kids had fun. But is it worth it for so few kids? It's a question that's been asked in previous years as well.
Well, here's how I look at it. Games may be a little harder in smaller groups, but the crafts are awesome. The singing may not be as loud but each kid was able to get a little more personal attention. And, if one kid comes out of it with a greater sense of who God is and how God loves them, then it's worth it. And if I get to have fun with the whole process as well, why do we need to ask the question.
Maybe we just need to think small.
What Shane Claiborne Told Me To Read When I Said I Covet an IPhone
Image via CrunchBaseAfter Shane's (very well-received) talk at Girdwood Chapel tonight, I asked him about the use of technology and, specifically, the iPhone...which I am tempted to purchase and which my wife (who keeps bringing up Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution) says I really don't need. He told me I should come up with better reasons than "It's Shiny" -- which is my favorite reason -- but then directed me to an article by the co-writer of Jesus For President, Chris Haw. You can find the link here.
Haw's reasoning for thinking he really shouldn't get an iPhone boils down to these main points:
Referencing poet Wendell Berry, Haw writes:
Oh well, I guess I won't get one this year.
Haw's reasoning for thinking he really shouldn't get an iPhone boils down to these main points:
- He can't afford one
- We should question what some have called a "messiah phone" and about which the advertising says, "Everything will change"
- We should question what problems this iPhone is really going to solve, regardless of our claims.
- It probably won't really save time and any time it does save is probably not worth all of the hidden social or ecological costs of production.
- How does this help us remember the poor?
- The Amish seem a lot more grounded in the sacredness of life. Perhaps we need less, not more electric gadgets in our lives.
- Advertising is all about seductively lying to us to tell us what we need. By buying an iPhone, I'd only be buying into the lies.
Referencing poet Wendell Berry, Haw writes:
We might stop to ask with Berry: Am I happy? For my lapses in happiness, do I need more frequent access to music or 2x3 movies? Am I troubled by my lack of immediate knowledge of world affairs? Am I troubled by my distance from email, and should this distance be closed? Will I be closer to my friends if Facebook is in my pocket? Will the iPhone bridge the distance between the current me and that better me?
I think I have an answer to some of these questions, but not from my own witness. I have spent time with a community of Anabaptists that rarely use the internet. They read their local newspapers and scour the Economist magazines. They are demonstrably more aware of world events than I. And they are also markedly calmer, more productive and skilled, more caring for our society’s children, and more capable of producing practical solutions in their lives to serious questions about the water, food, and energy crises in which we now live.
Oh well, I guess I won't get one this year.
SHANE CLAIBORNE TODAY -- 6 PM
Image by echobase_2000 via Flickr"You can have a lot of ideologies and very little to show from it. Folks like Mother Theresa, we try to allow our lives to preach the message along with our words. I think that’s really where a lot of leadership has fallen short as it’s been built around really strategic goals and books people have read."
"Too many people try to lead just with writing books or preaching sermons, but they don't realize that's the easy part. anybody can write a book. But words on paper ... only come to life when they get lived out – when the word becomes flesh. We lead out of who we are."
"Too many people try to lead just with writing books or preaching sermons, but they don't realize that's the easy part. anybody can write a book. But words on paper ... only come to life when they get lived out – when the word becomes flesh. We lead out of who we are."
Shane Claiborne
TIE-DYED WORSHIP AT GIRDWOOD CHAPEL TOMORROW!
Image via WikipediaTomorrow I'll be preaching on evangelism...and will be using Beatlemania and its lasting influence as the main illustration. (I know the start of Beatlemania was well before the Tie-Dye craze, but it's still within the same decade).
Tie-dyed shirts are not out of place.
And then, of course, we get to follow it with Shane Claiborne!
ONE DAY UNTIL SHANE CLAIBORNE
Image by jakeliefer via FlickrTomorrow's the Day...
6 PM...
Girdwood Chapel
"There is a pattern in the gospel, and the pattern is that when we live in proximity to those who are suffering and spend our lives caring for the 'least of these,' not only does it give life to others, but it also gives life to those who choose this crazy gospel way of living."
Shane Claiborne in Follow Me To Freedom.
When The Church Kicks Homeless People Out
Image by Franco Folini via FlickrThis is another post about Shane Claiborne as we look forward to his visit at Girdwood Chapel on Sunday...tomorrow.
The following is part of a transcript from "Speaking of Faith" on Public Radio where Shane Claiborne talks about what he was involved in when a church tried to evict homeless persons who were seeking refuge in a church. It is a dialogue with Krista Tippett, the host of the program.
The following is part of a transcript from "Speaking of Faith" on Public Radio where Shane Claiborne talks about what he was involved in when a church tried to evict homeless persons who were seeking refuge in a church. It is a dialogue with Krista Tippett, the host of the program.
Mr. Claiborne: Yeah. Yeah. Well, my first encounter with Kensington in North Philly was when there was a group of poor and homeless families with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, which was just a group of mostly homeless women and children that had gotten together. And they did something really courageous. In the midst of the ruins of North Philadelphia where there's, you know, over 20,000 abandoned houses and 700 abandoned factories, they found an abandoned Catholic church building, and they moved into it.
And we read about that in college. And the newspaper article that we read said that these families had resurrected the church, you know? And that they had also, ironically, been given an ultimatum eviction notice — that within 48 hours, if they weren't out, they could face arrest for trespassing on church property. So that really stirred all kinds of deep questions in us. And a group of us from the college got involved and, basically, put our lives alongside theirs and said to the city, 'If you come to evict them, then you got to take us, too.' And over 100 students…
Ms. Tippett: Wow.
Mr. Claiborne: …eventually got involved in this. And that made a big difference. Because the media became very involved and now…
Good Read -- Shane Claiborne "Letter to Non-Believers"
Image by echobase_2000 via FlickrHey everyone. As stated, this is a good read. It's Shane Claiborne's "Letter to Non-Believers" found in Esquire Magazine (how often would you think they'd have Christian writer?). I used this early on as a way to introduce persons to Shane and to be confronted by some of his writing.
As with many of the things I've been posting here, go ahead and read the whole thing.
Where I've had people complain about this is the last paragraph:
But, that's pretty much what one of my professors said in seminary -- "It may or may not be Christian to believe in universalism, that all persons are saved. But it is very Christian to pray that this will be the case." Or it's like a little skit I remember from youth group days that closed with Jesus up on the cross and asked, "When Christ is up on that cross, arms spread wide, who is it that he cannot embrace, who is outside of his saving arms?"
As with many of the things I've been posting here, go ahead and read the whole thing.
I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)
The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.
Where I've had people complain about this is the last paragraph:
In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.
But, that's pretty much what one of my professors said in seminary -- "It may or may not be Christian to believe in universalism, that all persons are saved. But it is very Christian to pray that this will be the case." Or it's like a little skit I remember from youth group days that closed with Jesus up on the cross and asked, "When Christ is up on that cross, arms spread wide, who is it that he cannot embrace, who is outside of his saving arms?"
Two Days to Shane Claiborne...that's "2"
Image by jakeliefer via Flickr"We have to see our faith not as an excuse to get into heaven and ignore the world around us but really a way of engaging the world that we live in."
Shane Claiborne
Shane Claiborne in Three Days
Image by jakeliefer via Flickr— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)
Some Chuches Do This For Fourth of July -- We Have Shane Claiborne
Some Churches Do This for Fourth of July
4th of July Rodeo Commercial from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.
We Have Shane Claiborne
Four (4) Days to Shane Claiborne @ Girdwood Chapel
Image by echobase_2000 via Flickr— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)
5 More Days to Shane Claiborne
"And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about."
— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)
— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)
6 Days to Shane Claiborne @ Girdwood Chapel
Image by echobase_2000 via Flickr"Only Jesus would be crazy enough to suggest that if you want to become the greatest, you should become the least. Only Jesus would declare God's blessing on the poor rather than on the rich and would insist that it's not enough to just love your friends. I just began to wonder if anybody still believed Jesus meant those things he said."
— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)
8 Days Until Shane Claiborne Comes
Check out this review of Irresistible Revolution by Internet Monk, Michael Spencer, from 2006. Here's a little of what he says of Shane. This gets my spiritual blood pumping.
I can't wait. I'm scared.
Claiborne is the typical youth group kid I worked with for 15 years. (He’s a just turned thirty-something who grew up in a UMC youth group in Eastern Tennessee.) He’s the popular, small town boy from the entertainment-oriented youth group. The problem is that he’s also smart, into Jesus and full of the Holy Spirit. Somewhere between that small town youth group (with it’s usual menu of activities seasoned with a “mission trip” here and there) and graduation from Eastern College in Philly, Claiborne became a bonafide dangerous fanatic. He got politicized, activiated, and most important, radically immersed in the reality of the Kingdom of God.
Claiborne became a Jesus follower with the daring to follow Jesus, do stuff Jesus would do, take risks, side with the poor, get public, give simple answers, turn down the usual evangelical pablum and avoid excuses. He stopped believing everything the evangelical media said. He started thinking for himself, scaring his family, going where he wasn’t really supposed to go and doing things that went well beyond that two week mission trip.
I can't wait. I'm scared.
