Simple living is.... not so simple!
One of the books that was really influential in my decision to return to The Boston Project was “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne. Shane is the founder of an intentional Christian community in Philadelphia called The Simple Way, which he describes as people who “wanted only to be passionate lovers of God and people and to take the gospel way of life seriously”. The way he goes on to explain what it means to be passionate lovers of both God and people, and how to actually live out the gospel in a serious way is incredibly challenging, but, strikes at the heart of how God has created us. It’s a pretty amazing book—and I would recommend if you haven’t read it to go read it. There’s a lot of challenging words of truth regarding community, the church, what it means to live an authentic Christian faith and simplicity.
One of my biggest struggles in deciding the lifestyle I have has been learning to live simply. It was a huge decision last year when I moved to DC to say “Alright God… I’m not going to live on very much, and I’m going to trust you to take care of my needs”. Over and over again, I saw Him be faithful. Now, I have moved to Boston, and am continuing to trust God to take care of my needs, but am also digging deeper into the purpose of living simply. For me, it’s more than learning trust with finances. It’s learning about how God’s body is interconnected, how my consumption choices affect those around me, and that loving my neighbor may mean choosing to forego what is more convenient. Sometimes, simplicity is not so simple.
“When we talk of materialism and simplicity, we must always begin with love for God and neighbor, otherwise we’re operating out of little more than legalistic, guilt-ridden self-righteiousness. Our simplicity is not ascetic denunciation of material things to attain personal piety, for, if we sell all that we have and give it to the poor, but have not love, it is meaningless (1 Cor. 13:3). And there are many progressive liberals who have taught me that we can live lives of disciplined simplicity and still be distant from the poor. We can eat organic, have a common pool of money and still be enslaved to Mammon (the personification of the money god that Jesus named in the Gospels). Rather than being bound up by how much stuff we need to buy, we can get enslaved to how simply we must live.
Simplicity is meaningful only inasmuch as it is grounded in love, authentic relationships and interdependence. Redistrubution then springs naturally out of rebirth, from a vision of family that is larger than biology or nationalism. As we consider what it means to be “born again”, as the evangelical jargon goes, we must ask what it means to be born again into a family in which our sisters and brothers are starving to death. Then we begin to see why rebirth and redistribution are inextricably bound up in one another, as a growing number of evangelicals have come to proclaim. It also becomes scandalous for the church to spend money on windows and buildings when some family members don’t even have water. Welcome to the dysfunctional family of Yahweh.” – Shane Claiborne
It’s difficult to wade through intentions when making decisions regarding simplicity. I often find myself trying to make choices that others would approve of, or that make me look good. Last year, I tried to each vegetarian and was able to do so for about half a year, but realized that my decision wasn’t really because I cared that the meat industry uses a huge percentage of grain to feed the cattle, rather than using that grain to feed people. The meat industry profits the wealthy, and as that industry grows as globalization tells people that their standard of living must be up to par with the first world, famine will only get worse. Even knowing this, I find myself trying to be simple (ie. eating vegetarian) for the purpose of… well… being simple. I didn’t leave meat out of my diet because I really believed in an interconnectedness between myself and those who are starving because they cannot afford grain, as it’s being imported and used for cattle consumption. Pray for me, that I would love my neighbor, here and far. And pray for me as I continue to seek wisdom in what it actually means to love my neighbor, as well as make decisions about simplistic living out of love and not out of trying to achieve integrity in the eyes of others.
