In this first Moot podcast of 2012 Aaron Kennedy talks to Tobias Jones about what inspired him to set up his community house in the woods near Bristol, what its like, and what communities like it are saying to the church today. Tobias Jones is a freelance writer, well-known for his books The Dark Heart of Italy and Utopian Dreams, and his regular column in the Observer, in which he relates his experiences of living in community. For information on the Windsor Hill Wood Community see their website http://windsorhillwood.co.uk/ For more information on New Monasticism see www.new-monasticism-network.ning.com We apologise for the drop in sound quality in some parts of this podcast.

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And so we come to the end of Advent and enter into the celebration of Easter. Ian Mobsby shares some reflections and a poem in celebration of the coming of God in human form.

The next podcast will be in January 2012, as a dialogue between Aaron Kennedy of the Moot Community and Tobias Jones. Tobias is a wellknown writer, journalist and communitarian overseeing an unusual spiritual community in some woods in southern England.

For more information on moot, see www.moot.uk.net

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Ian Mobsby discusses with Shane Claiborne, the vision of New Monasticism, and the practical implications of living this particular form of ecclesial community, and the calling to a radical lifestyle. Shane is one of the leading voices in a growing movement of New Monasticism in the United States.

His first book, The Irresistable Revolution is a key envisioning texts for all those interested or involved in New Monasticism. It has been a core text for many involved in New Monasticism in the UK and Europe. In this book Shane outlines his experiences of working as a volunteer in Calcutta in India, in a community overseen by Mother Teressa, and how this opened up a whole way of being Christian that up to that point, he had been unaware of. Shane is a founding Member of the Simple Way Community in Philedelphia, one of the early new-monastic communities.

Be prepared to be inspired! Lets keep up with Shane's visit to Iraq in January 2010, and hopefully we may even have him a long to a moot event in the not too distant future.

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This year more than ever, the times don't seem to fit with the traditional pattern of Christmas. Yet into this complex season, Christmas does enter once the schools have broken up, the office parties have ended, and work slows we are left with this uncomfortable pause when we remember that we are human. This reflection seeks to reflect on the significance of the birth of God in human form for us today.

‘Look, Mary shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’

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