A prayer for this season of life:

Loving Father, thank you for today.
I recall and confess that you are faithful and good.

Help me to recognize my belovedness.
You desire faithfulness, not success.
I am valued apart from performance.

Help me to recognize my limits,
to do only what you have called me to today,
and to exercise grace with myself.

Help me to actively seek out imago dei in my brothers and sisters,
to acknowledge openly the good I see in them,
to help them see their own potential,
and to build them up with my words.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood, so help me to recognize the forces of darkness at work in the world around me. Protect me from them, and shine your light through me. May I tirelessly protest the darkness and fearlessly declare with my life the immediate and ultimate victory of life over death.

I step into this day with a heart full of gratitude.


Latest newsletter: http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=e29cfb8681


"I know that joining Mission Year is going to mess with how I live the rest of my life, and that’s why I’m here..." (from my first blog)

"Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren." Bonhoeffer, Life Together

So what is it you're doing again?

(The most commonly asked question since I applied for Mission Year...)

Just wanted to share a helpful handful of podcasts published over the past couple years on "Emerging Communities - Ancient Roots: A Christian Exploration of Contemporary Intentional Communities:
http://emerging-communities.com/category/podcast/

There are three podcasts on Koinonia (Episodes 22-24)

I would also recommend:

Episode 26, an interview with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, one of the major spokespersons for what people are calling "new monasticism." (He clarifies that "If new monasticism is a movement, it's much more like a river that we fell into than a march that we helped organize...this is not a movement in which any of us are heroic organizers. It is, instead, something bigger than all of us - a movement that is moving us toward the kingdom of our God.) I've been avoiding using the term "new monasticism" because it seems to be misleading. It is, in it's most basic description, a phrase used to describe Jesus followers who are committed to a new way of life in community (http://www.newmonasticism.org/). Please see the "12 Marks" of new monasticism below for a fuller outline. This isn't some wild new fad that I can use to point to myself and say, "Hey, look at me and what I'm doing!" I hope not, at least. If you'd like to borrow Jonathan's book, New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today's Church, let me know. There's a rich history behind what's happening today in places like Koinonia and Mission Year.

Episode 29, an interview with Scott Bessenecker of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. He touches on the difference between new friars and new monastics, and speaks about his hopes and concerns about younger generations.

I'm still listening to them myself, so I'll keep you posted...

12 Marks of a New Monasticism
(Discerned as articulations of shared values and practices at the June 2004 New Monasticism gathering.)

1. Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
2. Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.
3. Hospitality to the stranger
4. Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
5. Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
6. Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.
7. Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
8. Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.
9. Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
10. Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.
11. Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
12. Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

A few Mission Year newsletter archives...

...because I forgot to post them as I went along:

March: http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=e4a7a76469
April: http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=11112e978a
May: http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=c228fadf75
June: http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=3503250263
July: http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=abce379ebb&id=38b74ff074&e=44f124d8f5