the simple away

Wow! 19 months flew by, just like… well 570 days, really.

June last year, after about four months of weekly Skype calls with our present and to be future bossman Darin Petersen, the beautiful Val [tbV] and i arrived in Kensington, Philadelphia, Americaland to live and work at the Simple Way non-profit as part of the first batch of an internship program [which was later upgraded to a residency program when they saw our skills, or something]…

[a fun fact is that i was born and raised in an area called Kensington in Johannesburg, South Africa, the country and so in one sense it was a return to my roots but not really]

We joined Erica [aka Amy Winehouse meets activism], Aaron Condo…n [aka Monkman, master, my lord] and Beth [aka Beth or the Doodler, or quite possible milkwoman, altho we never called her that] who was doing a shorter three month internship and we became known as ‘The Village People’ [the house we stayed in was called the Village House, we did the YMCA a lot less than you would probably imagine]. The first internationals to be invited to be part of the program, so quite a bit of a risk really. Shane Claiborne and his new bride Katie Jo lived a few houses down the road, Darin and his wife Meeghan and their kids Just Ice [as i called him, because i wanted to give him a little space] and Madix… and then a handful more people who lived in other places but worked with us in the office… and later Sueihn Lee and Dan Brearley were added as Erica, Aaron and Beth [twice] moved on…

This is the passage that indirectly got me there, that i had been wrestling with when i chanced upon Shane’s book, ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ 6 years before, which resonated with a lot of my struggles with how church looked like now compared to then – ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’

and tonite we fly out… season over… back to South Africa to hang out with friends and family and watch some live cricket dressed as a Hobbit and hopefully get some hockeying and improv in and meet my new nephew Joshua and get to see if i was telling lies about South Africa mayonnaise for the last 19 months and have some braais and my mom’s secret birthday dessert she makes for me once a year and possibly pool party and hopefully get my dreads touched up and get some rest and relaxation and reflection and more…

before a new season begins. which will be with the same boss, different no-profit [Relational Tithe, or as it is about to be more commonly known Common Change] but the absolute same task of following Jesus [or trying to] and seeking to be a part of His kingdom growing here as it is in heaven.

and so the big question i guess, as we enter one of those reflectful times of both the end of a life season and the end of a calendar year [sorry Mayans, the Romans were right!] is how was the time? Good, bad or ugly? A combination of all, perhaps? Was the way simple?

i guess you will have to take me out for coffee [or a rack of Spur Ribs with extra basting] when we get home and you can ask that in person…

i can tell you it wasn’t easy. well, not all the time, some parts were really easy. Val and i love Kensington. we absolutely love Philly. we love so many of the people we got to meet and hang out and do life with.

i can tell you we would definitely make the same decision to do it all again – good, bad and ugly.

but it is time to go. and so later today i think we will.

i do still very much love Jesus and am hungry to see His kingdom come.

after years and years of loving Him [or trying to] and serving Him [ditto] i have found that His way, although simple in concept, is very rarely simple when you actually try to actively live it out. [fortunately He never leaves you to do it alone...]

so a new year, a new location, a new mission…
but still the continuing overall theme of ‘Love God, Love people… and all the rest is commentary!

‘myths of the election’ vs ‘election lies’

Meat Romney?

so i wrote about the elections the other day and think some people may have been disappointed by me not actually talking all that sepcifically about the elections and voting in it, as the bottom line of my post was that ‘we vote every day by our actions’ which is completely true and probably a lot more specifically relevant than the actual vote i do or don’t cast [well i don't cos i am from africa... you know, the country, and they won't even take my blood here to save peoples lives so they definitely don't want my vote]. but for those of you who felt cheated by it i thort i would look at some of the myths or statements people make [or just downright lies] when it comes to voting… these are all ideas that came out of our midrash the other night and so i am not saying they are all my points or ideas, but are definitely an interesting perspective on some aspects of voting [so please view these as interesting points to get you thinking rather than definitive absolute truth statements]:

# my piddly little single vote doesn’t count – a lot of people feel like this and with the voting being in the millions, mine surely doesn’t count at all right? Only if you haven’t seen ‘A Bug’s Life’ and I’m talking beyond the brilliance that was “Stay away from the light!” “I can’t, it’s so beauuuuutifiuuuuuulllll FZZZT” or Antz… one bug vs the big scary insects – impossible – but a million bugs vs the twenty big scary insects… life-changing… one of the people at the midrash posed it this way – what if people said the same about recycling? with the millions of kilograms of recycling needing to be done, how does my little bit count? well, for it to count it needs each of the millions of little bugs to do their bit but whether it is recycling or voting, each one adds up.

# i’m going to vote for the lesser of two evils – party one has people who want to raise taxes and increase the burden on the poor, party two has people who want to make it okay to kill babies… well i can’t pick any one because they both have bad things about them, so let me pick the lesser of two evils… this is probably a punt for the ‘don’t vote’ people but the question raised was, ‘Why would you pick any evil?’ – i remember someone arguing against someone else years ago and it turned out they didn’t even strongly believe in what they were arguing for – “Well, how can you argue that then?” asked the first person. “I’m playing devil’s advocate,” was the response/ “Well why would you ever want to work for him?” was the comeback. And i think there is some truth to this – the phrase ‘lesser of two evils’ is not a phrase that you would ever hear Jesus advocating because He always picked the route of no evil and as far as the Bible is concerned it seems to indicate that there will always be a way for us to do this [No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10.13] as well. And maybe not voting is that way.

# voting for one of the smaller parties makes no difference – this used to get me so mad in South Africa – there was a Christian party that came along with some really good people in it who really seemed to have some good ideas about education and other important aspects and i heard so many people use this excuse as to why they didn’t vote for them – in fact many people chose what they saw as the lesser of two evils over a party that many of them believed in… and so it became the truth… but if the amount of people i heard say that line was a small representation of everyone thinking that line and voting that way, then if all of them had voted for the small party it would have made a significant difference, even if it only meant one or two more people from that party would have gotten into parliament because that would have meant one or two more voices of sanity and Godliness… [this reminds me of the little kid with the starfish on the beach making a difference to them one at a time but WHAT IF EVERYONE WHO WAS MEANT TO BE ON THE BEACH WAS ON THE BEACH - then suddenly you are making a difference to hundreds and thousands and eventually millions] – the more people who vote for parties they believe in, the more representation those parties will have which will hopefully encourage more people to vote for them and eventually get them to a place where they can make a difference.

# if you don’t vote then you can’t complain – there was a great response to this one which was turning it on its head and saying actually if you voted someone in then you can’t complain, but if you didn’t vote and someone who you didn’t want to get in got in then you definitely have a right to voice concerns whereas if you voted someone in and they turned out to be not the person you were hoping for, well, then it is your vote that got them there and can you really complain?

# as followers of Christ it is my duty to vote – a lot of people play this card and i just don’t know if it’s true – i think a lot of us grow up with the line of ‘voting is a responsible thing to do’ and so even considering not voting feels like a completely alien concept – and i don’t know that i have settled on whether voting or not voting is the answer [which is why i will continue to focus more heavily on voting every day with how i live my life, decisions i make on recycling and what food and clothes products i buy and where i eat out and so on] but i imagine if we are trying to put spiritual pressure on people to vote then we really need to go back to the bible and ask if that is really what we are being commanded to do. Jesus didn’t overthrow the Roman government [which many of the people were hoping he would] but He also didn’t always align Himself with the religious or political leaders of His day. so i think it becomes a question of conscience and as a follower of Jesus what might be more important than voting or not might be how i treat my friends and others around me who arrive at a different opinion than mine…

to vote or not to vote? that is a question…

but to love God, to love people, to always forgive anyone who has wronged me, to look after the least of these [especially widows and children] and to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey what Jesus taught us… no question! So let’s start with that.

Or Broccoli Obama?

for some radical and revolutionary thoughts from Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw in the ‘Jesus for President’ mould, check out this updated article on Red Letter Christians where they share some creativity about how we can engage healthily and in a way that may spell out revolution.

Aquaponics and other things that go blllloooop in the night…

so for those of you who missed my post on my ‘the simple weigh’ blog, here is a link to that and the story of the first week of aquaponics building that has been taking place at the simple way communtiy in kensington, philadelphia where we stay… aquaponics is like hydroponics but with fish [sustainable food growth]

click here to see…

putting the ‘C’ back in Christmas [part iii]

this year we got to be secret rooftop witnesses of this incredible act of Christmas mischief that Shane speaks about in this article and it was incredible hearing some of the stories from some of the people who had no idea where the money came from and yet for some of them it was a complete lifeline and life-changing moment for them:

So here is the start of the article shane wrote but click on the link to read the whole thing:

Critiquing the thick irony of the Christmas season is fair. It’s ludicrous that we celebrate the birth of the homeless baby Jesus by indulging in the biggest consumer spending of the year, scurrying around trying to find something to buy for people who have everything.

Nonetheless, there is something beautiful about giving, generosity and the contagious cheer that fills the world (not just the malls) during Christmas. We just need fresh imagination with how we celebrate amid the frenzy and clutter.

So we’ve started a new tradition here in the post-industrial concrete jungle of North Philadelphia … we call it the “Christmas Carol Conspiracy”.

You can read the rest of it here…

why we’re here slash shane claiborne uk tour [19 august - 3 september]

i was busy responding to a hospitality house [part of my job at the simple way] email when i saw this link to a shane claiborne uk tour happening later this year – if you watch the brief video clip you will get an idea of why val and i are hanging out in these parts with these people – it is an exciting dreama nd vision – what if Jesus actually meant the stuff? what if we lived like we believed it?

so watch the video clip to be inspired, encouraged and challenged [if you haven't yet read 'the irresistible revolution' by shane that will give you a much better idea] and if you are in the uk or know of people who are then encourage them to get along to one of the venues below where he will be speaking – more details can be gotten on this site – http://www.upsidedownkingdomtour.com

Ballymena, Co Antrim
Coleford, Gloucestershire
Southampton
The Black Country
Cheltenham
Burslem, Stoke on Trent
London
Bromley, Kent
Halifax
Perth
Bristol

[fri 19th august to sat 3 september]

time to grow some imagination

this is an article written by shane claiborne for relevant magazine that encourages the church to get creative in their imagination of what a new world could look like – what are you dreaming up?

follow us as we simplify…

i have started a separate blog for posting ‘the simple way’ adventure related stuff so that people who are wanting to follow our journeys and have an idea of what’s going on can simply sign up there and read whatever i get to write about things that are part of our philly trip – if that’s you, you may want to bookmark this link where i have written a basic idea of what it’s all about for those of you who don’t know but more will be written as we arrive there and start to live on the other side… http://thesimpleweigh.wordpress.com