I’d gotten../ have become a little tired of just writing for what seemed my own indulgence. That said people have commented on the fact I don’t really write anymore or seem not to bother. But in the quiet times and having recently busted my knee long-boarding I’ve had times to think a little more on something which now.. I dunno.. want to throw out there because its got my juices flowing right now.
I’ve been reading a lot recently on a movement called New Monasticism which has got animated. It first started when I read about a guy called Shane Claiborne who’s making waves at least on my radar, he’s a speaker who in a short time has done a lot working for the Kingdom of God with the mantra “Small things with Great Love.” he’s part of a growing movement over there which has it’s hand in a number of circles. It’s grassroots and uses community and creativity to rejuvenate dilapidated and neglected areas in underprivileged communities across the US, they’re doing a whole range of things but have a real passion for working with the youth as well as those caught up in homelessness, abuse and prostitution, in a wider sense they’re here to promote a more holistic way of life in general encouraging those they meet to not just think about “Teach a man to fish and you can feed him for life” but also “Think about who’s fish it is and who’s polluted the pond”. Shane himself spent time living and working in Calcutta with Mother Teresa and a number of Leper Colonies out there as well as spending time with Churches in Iraq during the battle of Baghdad which is pretty nuts to say the least.
I’ve been listening briefly to a band who like Shane place an emphasis on this sort of New Monasticism called the Psalters who along with Shane have opened my mind to figures like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Patrick of Ireland who in both of their lifetimes revolutionized the face of the Countries they found themselves in. The whole point about New Monasticism is it’s engaging on a personal and deeply intimate level with those who suffer in todays world longing for a deeper relationship not only with God but also in Community, something which is largely neglected in todays shallow materialistic society, something which is quickly being exported to the rest of the world via a variety of mediums and ideologies.
All the same though, It’s easy to be taken in to something which at a glance seems stereotypical anarchistic and counter-cultural, I was recently reading something by a guy called Von Hugel who looks at the 3 elements which are key to any religion these being the institutional, the mystical and the critical. The New Monastics I realise quite obviously contain a critical element by rejecting the god Mammon (the god of our society, money) and I guess what seems like worldly deeds and aspirations.. as well as having a strong mystical element combining which is harnessed by the institutional, historical body of the worldwide churches history calling on Jesus Christ the head of the holy church, St. Peter, St. Paul, The Desert Fathers, St. Francis, St. Patrick, Meister Eckhert, Martin Luther, Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa as well as many other contemporary figures.
Part of this led me to big into the original writings of the early Christians and I guess now when I’m asked “How can you know stuff wasn’t changed in history” ..well I’ve been reading writings not only from early Christians but also Jews and ‘Gentiles’ (romans, greeks etc.) who again confirm the call to live out the Sermon on the Mount.
What got me writing this was when I picked up a book called ‘Punk Monk’ by a UK movement called 24-7 which quite literally set up centers in which people are praying for God to step into their lives and change the world around them. They have centers called Boiler Rooms which are where these things go on and the book again touched and confirmed on the 3 elements of mysticism, criticism and institution and it was just really inspiring to hear about the changes these guys are doing in their environments. 24-7 movement itself no one really knew how it took off but it’s now world-wide purely through people being ‘motivated’ without any real external effort to connect with God and the world around them in this way. They only later discovered each other, the trap is to get stuck in self imposed Christian Ghetto Exile and Holy Huddles so they use institutional means and concepts like Tithing to ensure people are actively driven not to just find themselves in their community but reaching those who really need.. tithing in rather than money they give on hour out of every 10 to the homeless, elderly or disadvantaged as well as contributing to a 24-7 prayer cycle.
Makes what we do in the CU here in Bournemouth sometimes a little fluffy! I had wanted for a long time to believe the Church was really like what was described in the book of Acts but you know to look at the TV you wouldn’t think it… (mind you from a media point there might be something in why you only see certain strains of Christianity) you either have the so-dubbed fundamentalists or those who are so caught up in the relativism of this world that they’re beliefs don’t differ a great deal from any sort of new age, pseudo-buddhist notion.
I step down from being vice-president and worship coordinator at the CU next month and the guy who I help with the Night Club Chaplaincy leaves Bournemouth when I finish my second year.. so it’s a time for big change.. I won’t be in Bournemouth much longer I realise, not in the grand scheme of things at least. But I wonder what now I can do and who I can find to share the vision of these modern day saint’s I hear so much about.. it’s nuts, at the start of my time at uni I was a Christian by philosophical presumption only but in the space of the year I’ve read so much and learnt so much not only about the massively diverse and rich faith I find myself in and all it’s underpinnings and out playings but also of the world I live in. The fact that this relativistic world-view which permeates our society is only ‘inclusive’ enough to contain itself and the way that plays itself out in our media is something I find increasingly interesting. I read a saying once.. “The conservatives of today are the revolutionaries of tomorrow”, and likewise the tradegy of the mainstream is something is alway coming up from underneath it to usurp it, the thing is with Monasticism in any form is that in it’s essence it is always born out of a desire to connect with God first and it’s outflowing is that which then follows, people by nature start with themselves and work outwards.. and so in Monasticism in its essence, and which ever incarnation we find it holds the key to reformation in a simple truth and a simple way.
It just hangs in a proper understanding of what the word love means in the context of ‘love thy neighbor’ and likewise.. what it is to truly pray.. to truly ask God in all humbleness for his Kingdom to come on earth and hungry mouths to get their daily bread in this day and age.
