Hosting Shane Claiborne in 2020

I first gained awareness of Shane Claiborne when he emerged as a leader in the gathering spirit of young people known as New Monasticism. If you are the NPR type, you’ll likely enjoy Krista Tippett’s early interview with him on On Being.

It was around this time I had the chance to read The Irresistible Revolution: Living As An Ordinary Radical.

The New Monastics published a “twelve marks” of New Monasticism, which included:

1. Relocation to the “abandoned places of Empire” [at the margins of society]
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 an 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

Over the last dozen years, Shane has maintained a remarkable fidelity to this vision for New Monasticism. Early in the movement, he founded together with friends The Simple Way, an intentional Christianity community in one of the poorest communities in Philadelphia. They plant gardens, distribute food, and work for the good of the community.

A few years later, Shane published a daily liturgy some of use for our daily prayers. This Common Prayer is available on-line to facilitate praying the daily prayer offices.

More recently, Shane has been a voice crying out in the wilderness in opposition to the death penalty (see his Executing Grace), in opposition to our complicity in the war economy, and most recently, in a creative campaign to change the proliferation of gun violence in our nation. His Beating Guns is inspired by the prophetic image in Scripture of beating swords into ploughshares.

Personally, I follow Shane on Twitter, because he so frequently helps me focus my prayers and actions. His Red Letter Christians site keeps readers up-to-date on the latest public statements and actions.

More than anything else, I admire Shane’s steadfast commitment to taking the words of Jesus seriously. He challenges himself first to be faithful to them, and then challenges the rest of us to join the journey.

If you’d like to see a video of him preaching, Shane was a guest speaker at the ELCA National Youth Gathering a few years ago, and you can see it here.

We’re hosting Shane at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, AR for Sunday worship January 19th at 9 and 11 a.m. for any who would like to join us.