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Shane Claiborne, New Monasticism and living out hope

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.

Advent - the becoming of the incarnation of God

On this the third Sunday of Advent December 2009, Ian Mobsby explores the importance of God coming as an ordinary human being.

The problem with Christianity is that it forgets too easily Christ the human being, preferring God the superbeing. The reality of the Incarnation is that there is a lot more to God the Redeemer than the Holy Rescue Effort. God coming as a human being is the fulfilment of all creation, and an incredible gift of love to humanity.

Advent hope?

As we approach advent, Ian Mobsby explores the context of God's presence in the midst of binge spending on presents.
Part of disappointment with this time of year, is that we sense within ourselves that merely exchanging presents with each other doesn’t really honour the birth of the incarnation of God.

Direct action, a spirituality and faith that costs

In this podcast, Ian Mobsby interviews Fr Martin Newell, who is a member of the Catholic Worker movement in the UK, and Trident Ploughshares, which seek to challenge the use of weapons of mass destruction and the arms trade by protest and direct action.  Martin is a Roman Catholic Priest, and has gone to prison for his involvement in this radical approach to the Christian life. In this interview Martin shares his thoughts about a radical approach to Christian discipleship focused on justice, resistance and a focus on the poor.  The Catholic Worker movement has much in common with new monasticism in seeking to build a new society and the importance of community living out shared values through a rhythm of life.  Most interesting, was Martin's thoughts of seeing Prison as a New Monastry as a consequnce of living out this form of discipleship.  Martin and the Catholic Worker movement are a real inspiration and hope!

Christ, Friend God and the Kin-dom

In the Moot Alt Eucharist on the 11th October 2009, Jemma Allen explores friendship as the sacramental outpouring of God's love. Jemma reflects on the key Gospel phrase 'I have called you friends...' with a God who identifies friendship with sinners and drunkards.  So it is through friendship that God's purposes are outworked, transforming all things back into restored relationship with God.  Therefore, friendship lies at the heart of the Christian life, that changes us and draws us into closer relationships with the divine.  Loving our neighbours and our God.  Friendship is the antedote to the structures of dominance and individualism that stand in opposition to  the justice, peace and liberation that we proclaim when we confess a faith in Christ.  Jemma is Chaplain at Waikato University and the Ex-ile Alternative Worship Community in Hamilton, North Island New Zealand.
Friendship is not some gimmick that we can market as a way of successfully living a Christian life.  It is not even primarily about about an act of will or making friendships in a calculating way.  Friendship as a spiritual practice, as the mark of a disciple, as a proclamation of the Good News of the Reign of God  – this friendship is about entering into authentic relationships, relationships of vulnerability and trust, relationships of mutuality and care.  In allowing ourselves to be affected by who we live with and how we live with them, by the gifts we receive in and from our friends, we open ourselves to being transformed by love and so enlarging the realm of God: the kinship and new community proclaimed by Christ.  That, my friends, would be Good News!

The significance of New Monasticism from an Abbot

In this podcast Ian Mobsby interviews Abbot Stuart Burns OSB, of the Burford Anglican Benedictine Community,     to explore the significance of New Monasticism and Emerging/Fresh Expressions of church.  Abbot Stuart was wise and insightful, and a joy to interview, and shares his hopes about how New Monasticism may enrich the church as it seeks to recontextualise into our current post-secular culture of the spiritual seeker.

Nomad to Settlement - being an ecclesial community in the 21st century

Ian Mobsby of the Moot Community, explores the theme of shifting from nomadic journey to settlement in the Compline Service on 9th August 2009.  As Moot explores the next phase of its development, Ian explores the challenges that faced the Israelites as they shifted from wandering in the desert to settling in the promised land.  Rather than this being an easy task, it became an impossible task, even harder than being nomads.  So Ian explores the implications for Moot, as it seeks a permenant home in the City of London for its work.

Identity & Taboo

In this podcast, Ian Mobsby explores the implications of Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 and John 14: 15-21.  As Moot is part of the emerging and fresh expressions of church movements, it is founded on the vision of building ecclesial communities out of contextual mission.  It is within this vision of being a follower of Christ and seeking to be part of a radical community, that we need to consider the issues of personal identity and issues of taboo.  In the Ecclesiastes text, we are challenged by the need of an identity centred on God, where our lives are often hard and relatively short.  The second text again returns to the idea of building ecclesial communities out of contextual mission, where the mission in question was to a hated people, the Samaritans, and a hated woman who was possibly a prostitute.  Jesus in this text breaks many religious and social taboos by even talking to the woman at the well and to the local people.  So this text allows us to see on the one hand the importance of a faith and our identity to be in God in an I-God relationship, but further, we are called to challenge those who put obsticles in the way of people knowing God, particularly where social taboos are concerned.  So this text has much to say to the modern church, and the importance of God's love mission to the world.

Abundance of the Kingdom & the scarcity of this world

In the Alt Eucharist Service on Sunday 14th June, Ian Mobsby explored the theme of the abundance of the Kingdom of God and the scarcity of this world. This followed a very moving service last week where the community supported a couple recovering from a failed pregnancy. This podcast explored how Christians can go deeper in the faith which is a call to powerlessness, pain and struggle alongside the desire for peace and love.

Ancient Faith Future Mission

May 2009 saw the launch of the new book, Ancient Faith Future Mission: fresh expressions in the sacramental tradition [Link in Uk] [Link in USA]. At the London book launch, Stephen Cottrell the Anglican Bishop of Reading, and Richard Giles the former Dean of Philidelphia Cathedral both gave short addresses on the issue of fresh expressions and mission in the catholic tradition.  This was followed by a panel discussion with practitioners Michael Volland (Gloucester Cathedral), Sue Wallace (Visions York), Tessa Holland (Contemplative Fire Chichester), Philip Roderick (Contemplative Fire Oxford), Carl Turner (Precentor Exeter Cathedral), Simon Rundell (Blessed Gosport), Ian Mobsby (Moot London).