Living a Radical Ordinary Life

I cannot recommend the following article enough! What's It Like to Be Shane Claiborne-Again was written by D. L. Mayfield, a woman who decided along with her husband to pursue a life of simplicity and service after hearing of Shane Claiborne's work. This article addresses some of the struggles that come up as we discuss money, service, poverty, and social justice in the church...and when we hear the stories of others doing "big" and radical things.

...many who read Claiborne and his contemporaries do feel guilty. And in response, they either feel paralyzed and do nothing, or try to atone for their sins by doing everything.

Perhaps this is what the church at large struggles with, the pervading sense of both legalism and shame that can haunt “radical” conversion stories. Just as 1 Corinthians warns us about those who sell all that they have but do not love, Claiborne describes what too often happens to social justice types: they simply trade one form of moralism (“I would never drink alcohol”) for another (“I would never wear Nikes”).

I will only give you this snippet of the article because I want you to go read the whole thing for yourselves! Enjoy!

Tip: It works best if you scroll to the bottom of the first part of the article, past the ad, and then click "single page (reader mode)." Then you can read the whole article at once, rather than clicking through 4 pages. 

Who is Shane Claiborne?

The fifth session of Animate:Practices, Money: The Joy of Sharing, is presented by Shane Claiborne.

From: http://wearesparkhouse.org/adults/animate/practices/voices/shane/

Shane Claiborne is a best-selling author, renowned activist, sought-after speaker, and self-proclaimed "recovering sinner." Shane writes and speaks around the world about peacemaking, social justice, and Jesus, and is the author of numerous books, including The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President. He is the visionary leader of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, and his work has been featured in Fox News, Esquire, SPIN, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and CNN. 

Five fast facts

1. Has appeared on both Al Jazeera and Fox News and in Esquire, SPIN, and The New York Times Fashion section, though he's not usually known for having multiple outfits.
2. Can still turn a backflip (he was all-around state champion in gymnastics in his younger days), though he has to stretch a lot longer than he used to.
3. Has written about a dozen books, many of them with friends like Dr. John Perkins, Tony Campolo, and his ice-cream-pal Ben Cohen (from Ben and Jerry's).
4. Has lived in Philly for 20 years–where he founded The Simple Way, has been arrested a lot of times for justice-related work ("holy mischief"), and was once required to go to citizenship training classes (along with his 70-year-old nun friend).
5. As an accomplished circus performer, lists unicycling, stilting (he is more than 11 feet tall on his big stilts), juggling, and fire-breathing among his skills.  

The Daily Office, Contemplative Spirituality, and Fixed Hour Prayer

For the past several weeks I have been reading from Day By Day by Peter Scazzero at the start of each of our Morning Blend sessions. This is a devotional or daily "office" book written by Scazzero to assist the reader in practicing contemplative spirituality in a rhythmic, twice-a-day manner. To hear more about the premise of this book, you can watch Scazzero's video introduction here:

If you like the idea of introducing this ancient Christian practice into your own life and want to check out more resources, you might take a look at some of the works of Phyllis Tickle, who was a speaker in the Animate: Bible series we studied a few years ago. You can read several excerpts from her book and read more about Daily Offices/Divine Hours by following this link: The Divine Hours.  Tickle includes an article on her own website, About Fixed Hour Prayer, where she also recommends a book by Shane Claiborne, who is part of the Animate: Practices series that we may be studying in the spring. On his website, you can find daily prayers online: Common Prayer.