Imagine a world without work – by James P Brown

Posted on June 3, 2013 by

why work mattersImagine waking up one day…

You feel a bit ill, and look at the clock, which doesn’t appear to be working. You press the light switch, but nothing happens. The toilet smells a bit, and when you go to wash your hands, no water comes out of the taps. You dress and go to get the bus to work, but at the bus stop all there’s only a long queue, and no sign of a bus. After waiting for an hour, you go to the supermarket – but it’s closed. You’re still feeling quite ill now, so go to your GP. Again, there’s only a queue of ill and injured people there, but no sign of a doctor.

It’s a week later, and rubbish has piled up on the streets. Shops have been looted and food is already scarce. The lack of running water means diseases not seen for decades are starting to spread fast. Fights over food and water are starting to break out. There’s no medical care, no police, and fires are starting to rage around the city. The TV doesn’t work so you don’t know what’s going on. The elderly and vulnerable are dying in their homes as no carers come to visit. There’s no transport and your phone doesn’t work, so you can’t visit or ring your family to ensure they’re OK. You would try and get your money out of the bank, but there’s no open bank and no-where to spend the money.

A world without work

This is a world without work. Perhaps through imagining a world without it, we can begin to see that it is through our work that the kingdom of Jesus comes about, and the love of God is embodied on earth. As we work to provide each other with food, water, leisure, heat, shelter, medical and social care and much more, we love each other through our actions.

All this aside, we spend a third of our waking hours at work, so surely it should matter to us? Besides talking of the workplace as “a large unreached people group”, the Church seems to have little to say about it. Few of us have ever heard a sermon about work, and most assume (wrongly) that if we don’t work for a charity or religious organisation, our work doesn’t matter.

What if…?

Dream with me a second, and imagine that everything actually matters to God (especially the poor and marginalised) and that there was no real divide between the “material” and “spiritual” jobs? What would that mean for our work?

What if work is actually an opportunity to love, serve and give to others; the true embodiment of “loving God and my neighbour as myself”? Maybe work is not a grind, but something we were designed to do, that changes and develops us?

Perhaps God isn’t calling us to leave our office job to become a missionary in Africa, but to bring about his kingdom and loving rule within a supermarket, or accountancy firm, and to be imitators of Christ there. Maybe workers evangelise as they transform economics, politics, media, family and the Arts according to Jesus’ gospel values?

Scarier still, suppose that our work has eternal value and will last into eternity. And that we are accountable for what we chose to spend our working lives doing, and how we did it – and that God may not be too impressed if we spent our lives in advertising, making people feel unhappy so they bought things they didn’t need. Or worse still, we worked for a charity which made us feel good, but we never evaluated our work so didn’t realise it was doing more harm than good to those we claimed to serve…

Join the debate

I’ve been asking questions about God and Work for a decade now, and this year finally published a book of thoughts and answers: “Why Work Matters: a guide for perplexed and frustrated Christians”. If you’d like a free copy or to share your thoughts with me, drop me a line – contact@jamespbrown.net or add a comment below.

Posted in Ethics & Christian living | 3 Comments

We can all learn from the Mosque that invited the EDL to tea – by Roidh Andrasan

Posted on May 31, 2013 by

EDLIn the city of York, in North Yorkshire, England, a demonstration was planned by members of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) against a small local mosque in response to the brutal murder of Lee Rigby in London. But the EDL protestors were met with a rather different response than what they expected. The mosque offered their assailants teas, biscuits, a tour of their mosque and even a football match.

This is a rather different projection of Islamic behaviour than is often portrayed in the media. But I think it’s a brilliant demonstration of the fact that people of all faiths, whether its Christian, Muslim, Jewish, have good within them.

Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York described the mosque’s response as “fantastic”. He said:

“Tea, biscuits, and football are a great and typically Yorkshire combination when it comes to disarming hostile and extremist views.”

The mosque’s response brings into sight many things that I believe have gone unnoticed and unquestioned for too long.

The problem with labels

What labels do is ignore the fact that everyone has good in them. When we see people that have been characterised by the media negatively, it brings about anger and frustration for everyone. Not just for Muslims who have been given this false stigma, but for everyone else who now believe they have to “watch out” for themselves and are burdened with a growing sense of insecurity.

Labelling people is the first step towards ignorance. In fact, labelling IS ignorance in its purist form. There’s nothing more wrong than mindlessly assuming that someone will act in a certain way just because its the way their group has been depicted by someone else. Instead of believing what is written in the papers, get to know people who are different from you for real. Ask them about their beliefs. Too many of our newspapers and other news outlets are stuck in biased ways of presenting people.

Extremist views are the easiest to prove wrong

Another thing about this ‘protest-turned-picnic’ is that it proves just how easily that the most aggressive of activists can be wrong-footed with just a simple pouring of a cup of tea. Despite the protest being response to the terrible murder of Lee Rigby the assumption that all Muslims support terrorism soon fell flat after the Muslims “uncharacteristically” offered them a sign of peace and love. It was a brave thing for the mosque to do. They could have been met with a more hostile comeback, but they went with their idea and stood by their beliefs.

We equally have to be very careful about assumptions which go the other way – which label people as ‘racist’ without listening to what they are saying. When we do this we just sinking down to their level.

The best thing to do, for all of us, is to talk things out. Disagreements and conflicts can be very hard to deal with but we have to fight against the urge to bad-mouth people we disagree with and reroute that energy towards promoting understanding and tolerance.

Hate cannot drive out hate

I suppose, at the end of the day, that’s all we can do. It’s time that we all, everyone, simply calm down and talk things through, discuss and debate, weigh things up and hope that we can reach ways of living alongside each other that doesn’t result in hatred and death. We have to fight in a peaceful way against those who want to fight others aggressively. And that is what we must resist in ourselves. As for renewal, I hope and pray that everyone who has read this will seek to understand other cultures better. We can all learn from Martin Luther King’s Jr when he said:

‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’

Roidh Andrasan lives in Doha, Qatar and is currently doing his ‘A’ Levels at a Boarding School in Aberdeen. Visit his blog here.

Posted in Social commentary | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Breadline Britain: how practical and political action can address the scandal of food poverty

Posted on May 30, 2013 by

Walking the BreadlineI was pleased to see this morning that Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam’s report Walking the Breadline: the scandal of food poverty in 21st Century Britain as the lead story on the front page of the Metro Newspaper. This report is a stark reminder of the reality of life for over 500,000 people are forced to use Food Banks in the UK.

Niall Cooper and his team at CAP have done a great job over many years to highlight and campaign against the reality of poverty in the UK.

It is a critical time for such a campaign.

Firstly, we have a government which simply does not care enough about people in poverty. The austerity measures, swingeing cuts in public spending, rising unemployment and underemployment and radical benefit changes are adding up to a cocktail which is hitting the poorest hard. In the Day Centre for homeless people that we run at West London Mission, we have lost our largest government grant and yet we are seeing more people than ever coming in who are sleeping rough as a result of the benefit changes. Demand continues to rise and resources are lower than ever.

Secondly, the Church is doing a great job, alongside many others, in practically making a difference to those who are worst affected. Most of the Food Banks in the UK are coordinated by the Trussell Trust, a Christian charity, in partnership with local churches. In my line of work, as well as the many established Christian homelessness charities, church Night Shelters for homeless people have grown at an incredible rate in recent years. In London alone these shelters gave accommodation to over 1200 people this winter. Click here if you want to see a brief 3 minute film about these shelters.

More than ever, churches are rolling up their sleeves and putting their faith into action.

Powerful synthesis

The most powerful aspect of CAP’s report is the way it uses real life stories and the practical action of the churches as the basis for its political commentary and its recommendations. The work of the church’s Food Banks gives unarguable evidence of the shocking levels of need in the UK. It is this link between the practical and the political that gives power to what is being said.

The link between the practical and the political is not always an easy one to maintain. Sometimes the simple messages which are needed in political rhetoric don’t sit too well with the complexity and messiness of delivering services to those affected. But when the link is made, it is a powerful synthesis. This cannot be read as easy armchair commentary from a comfortable position. Rather it speaks of a church which has its hands dirty in helping people and which is angry about the conditions which cause the poverty.

Addressing underlying causes

The report gets a good balance of appreciating the work of the Food Banks whilst also raising concerns about their growth:

‘Food Banks provide a vital emergency service to the people they support but they do not address the underlying structural causes for the growth of food poverty’

It captures what Desmond Tutu was getting at when he said that

‘The church should not just be pulling people out of the river. We need to go up-stream and find out who is pushing them in.’

Helping people practically is vital but in doing so we should find the evidence, motivation and anger for political activism ‘up-stream’ which addresses the structural reasons behind their poverty.

But often this is not so popular. It often makes many Christians nervous and it is telling how few of the more conservative Christian groups and networks re-tweeted and promoted the report today. It reminds me of what Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara famously said

‘When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.’

This report is vital reading – please download it and read it. Share it with your friends, print off copies for your church. Discuss it at your home groups, talk about it in the pub. Get involved with CAP’s campaign. When we bring together practical care with political activism things really can start to change.

Read the report on CAP’s webpage

Posted in Politics, Poverty | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

‘Will we be extremists for hate or for love?’

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Woolwich-1905133The brutal killing of the soldier yesterday in Woolwich is a shocking example of religious extremism leading to hatred and violence.

In a bid to defend the vast majority of peaceful Muslims who completely condemn this kind of violence, I have read many comments which say that ‘this has nothing to do with Islam’.  Understandable as it is, that’s a hard case to argue when the perpetrators openly use their faith as the basis of what they have done.

The truth is that all religions have an ugly side.  Any form of faith or religion is vulnerable to being misused and twisted in oppressive and destructive ways.  No reading of history can avoid this reality.

And at certain points in history, some religions and the complex traditions within them, are more vulnerable than others to be misused for violent purposes. The term radicalisation has been used to describe a violent form of Islam over the last 10 years. But it’s interesting that the term ‘radical Christian’ has not used in the same way.

Does violence in the name of religion mean that we should seek a mild form of faith which avoids any dogma, passion or any controversy?  Do we adopt a faith which is essentially a humanism which seeks to occupy a neutral, tolerant and rational space?

I don’t think so.

We need to counter violent extremism with stronger commitment to something else.  Neutral tolerance alone is too passive and does not have enough power within it.  This is why transformational movements are so often started and led by people of faith – people whose views about compassion and justice are rooted in their faith in God.

in 1963 Martin Luther King was accused of being an extremist by Christian and Jewish clergymen when he was arrested and imprisoned for leading a protest in the city of Birmingham, Alabama.  While in jail, King responded, writing his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

“…though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despise you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like am ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . . .” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

The legacy of people like Martin Luther King is a challenge to Christians to live out their faith in real and tangible ways – to put our heads above the parapet and be extremists for love.  Like the Person he passionately followed, King achieved much for peace through both the way he lived and the way he died. And there is nothing more radical or extreme than that.

Posted in Social commentary | Tagged , | 3 Comments

‘Stories from the Street: A Theology of Homelessness’ by David Nixon [Review]

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

stories-from-street-theology-homelessness-david-nixon-paperback-cover-artAs a Christian who has been working with homeless people over the last 20 years, I was very excited to see the publication of this book.   Christians working and volunteering in this field need a strong theology to inform, guide and nourish their activism.

Despite the fact that the majority of homelessness organisations and projects started in churches, the integration of Christian faith and spirituality within the practical work has been a major weakness.  Many homelessness projects have gone down the well-worn path of ‘dis-integrating’ faith from their work – either by abandoning it overtly or quietly allowing it to recede into history.  But despite this trend in homelessness charities, the Church continues to sprout new responses, such as the rapidly growing Night Shelter initiatives where seven different churches work together to offer hospitality to the homeless every night of the week.

So a ‘theology of homelessness’ should help define what the Church has to say about justice, hope and transformation.  Disappointingly, Stories from the Street does not achieve this.

Real life stories

The structure of the book promises much.  David Nixon, an Anglican Priest in Plymouth, constructed the book around interviews with eleven people who have experienced homelessness – these are the ‘stories from the street’.  Their centrality to the book gives a prominence and weight to the real life stories of actual homeless people.

Part One of the book outlines a theological and sociological basis of the use of stories and Part Two introduces the results of the eleven interviews. A summary of each of their life histories gives a flavour of what their lives have been like and the difficulties they have faced.  Then the themes from their lives are analysed and threads are drawn out such as health, relationships, childhood experiences and substance abuse.  Part Three draws out conclusions towards constructing a theology of homelessness.

Part Two is the most helpful part of the book because having the experiences of real homeless people establishes a raw human reality at the heart of the book.  But unfortunately the analysis and theological reflections which surround the stories are very disappointing.

Theological jargon

Firstly, like many books drawn from a PhD thesis, I found much of it a turgid read.  Outside of the stories of the homeless people it is densely packed full of theological and academic jargon.  This means that the defining narratives of the book are obscured by a density of theory relating to the story telling process.  Take this sentence as an example:

‘The intersection of writer and those written about, together with issues of voice, point also to the influence of postmodern thinking and, as in a mathematical problem, the desire to show workings; what Jagose calls in relation to Queer Theory a display of exoskeletal support. This translates here to a recapitulation of the story in which we find ourselves, and in particular to a wish to isolate moments where previously held theory may be challenged by such empirical data that conversations and interviews have provided. A theology of homelessness is the destination to which these markers point.’ (p.140)

Sentences like this might work within academia but they will serve to blind most readers rather than illuminate. Ironically, it is a quote from one of the homeless people, ‘Julie’ which best highlights this point:

‘God made life so simple. It was people who complicate it.  We’re losing each other with lots of big words that people don’t understand.  Jesus spoke in parables and things like that and made it so simple.  He took something from life to explain something. They don’t do that here. They explain things with things people don’t understand.  With jargon, people don’t understand jargon. They don’t need jargon.’ (p.130)

The complexity and chaos of homeless people’s lives offer enough variables and challenges to coherent analysis.  It would have served the aim of the book better to have a more straight-forward approach using concepts such as human worth, shalom, sin, injustice, salvation and hope. As Julie’s quote illustrates, the power of the faith of many homeless people lies in their straightforward understanding of the challenges of life and their genuine sense of hope in God.

Broader context

Secondly, there is a thinness of the base from which Nixon is drawing his reflections.  Eleven people in one city are not a large sample so these stories needed to be assessed within a broader context.  Nixon does not draw significantly enough on the important research with homeless people over years (for example by Lemos & Crane) or on the perspectives of staff within the centres.  It reads as the theological musings of someone who visits homeless centres rather than someone whose ministry has been embedded within them.  This contributes to a perceptible lack of confidence to probe and grapple with the harder questions.

Thirdly, the book displays the weaknesses of much liberal-left social theology because it tends towards presenting homeless people as simply victims of a degenerate economy. There is little counter-balance to this perspective and consequently very few hard questions grappled with about personal responsibility and the role of self-sabotage.  It shows the classic danger of middle class liberal social analysis which tends to minimise the role of personal agency as a component of social problems.  Although these perspectives appear sympathetic and compassionate, and win applause from Bishops and academics, those on the front line know all too well how imbalanced this perspective is.  At one point the author refers to the ‘lack of theological literacy’ in the local homeless projects. But sadly it is theology like this that contributes to this disconnection.

Important times

These are important times for Christian work with homeless people.  Rough sleeping increased in the UK by 42% last year and churches have a critical role, especially through the growth of the churches Night Shelter initiatives. Also the recent report Lost & Found: Faith and Spirituality among Homeless People gives a trenchant critique of the prevailing secular orthodoxy in homeless services.  One factor which has brought about this reality is inaccessible and incoherent theology.  More than ever, Christian social action needs a theology which draws on the best transformational work and which expresses confidently the relevance of Christian thinking, the hope of the gospel and the practice of Christian spirituality.  This is the kind of theology which will excite activists and be able to really help Christians make a difference to homeless people.

Stories from the Street: A Theology of Homelessness by David Nixon (Ashgate, 2013)

Posted in Homelessness, Recommended books | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The power of the F-word

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

On Sunday at our youth group we were looking at forgiveness. It is such a big issue for everyone: How can we find forgiveness for the things we feel guilt for? And how can we forgive others who have hurt us?

Forgiveness in South Africa

Desmond TutuOne of the other leaders had just got back from South Africa and we talked about the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Desmond Tutu which granted an amnesty to those who gave a full and public confession of crimes committed during the apartheid regime. (the story of the Commission is told in Tutu’s amazing book No Future Without Forgiveness)

Of course South Africa continues to face many challenges but rather than brush the issues under the carpet, the process of forgiveness did the opposite: it helped the country face up to the horrors of what had gone on. Tutu said:

“Forgiving is not forgetting; it’s actually remembering— remembering and not using your right to hit back. It’s a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don’t want to repeat what happened.”

Forgiveness in South London

Margaret MizenThen, closer to home, we looked at how Margaret Mizen has coped with the murder of her son Jimmy Mizen who died 5 years ago following an attack in a bakery in Lee, South London. Margaret Mizen said in an interview last week:

“I can say that unless I had God in my life we would not have coped. Prayer got us through…I don’t feel anger because it was anger that killed my Jimmy. Anger breeds anger. I won’t let bitterness ruin my family…My understanding of forgiveness doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. I forgive because it helps me, I let go of the anger because it helps me”

The trap of retribution

The examples of these two brave people of faith spoke to our young people. We talked about the everyday conflicts which break out at school, at home (or at church) and leaders shared similar stories from work.

Everyone can see the trap created by retribution and bitterness and our tendency to be drawn to a form of justice which perpetuates conflict. Our discussion showed that everyone, whether young or old, Christian or not, has a deep need for the grace which can break cycles of bitterness and discord.

Forgiveness which liberates

The words and wisdom of Desmond Tutu and Margaret Mizen show that forgiveness is not about ignoring what has happened or offering a ‘cheap grace’ which skirts over reality. Rather true forgiveness faces what has happened but refuses to allow a burden of bitterness and corrosive anger to grow. Forgiveness liberates the forgiver as much as the forgiven.

When we do forgive others, we are following the example of the One who even when being executed prayed for the forgiveness of those who were killing him. This is the heart of the Christian message and the awesome power of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Posted in Recommended books, Theology & Church | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The world won’t change till we do – by Anthony Landahl

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

I always wondered...Murder, hatred, inequality, war, greed, love, compassion, selflessness, peace, anxiety, depression, fear.

When I pause from the day to day mania and busyness of my own life, the paradox of our human condition becomes stark. In fact thinking too much about the horror of what some humans wake up to and face each morning can be too much to bear. So with no apparent explanation for our contradictory behaviour, we just hold our head up and stoically ‘get on with things’. The ‘haves’ preoccupied with themselves and the ‘have nots’ with surviving.

Distintegration

Meanwhile society disintegrates in every corner of the globe. Levels of violence, corruption and despair are unprecedented. One in seven humans are hungry (World Education Centre 2012 Facts and Statistics), across the globe in the next twenty four hours, 1,439 teens will attempt suicide, 15,006 teens will use drugs for the first time and every 2 hours another youth is murdered (Denise Witmer; What is happening to our children). Corruption, greed and power have infiltrated government, business and sport, the left and right in politics seem irreconcilable, new age ‘causes’ and band aid solutions spring up in isolation making no long lasting change.

And to this backdrop life goes on with no real solution on the horizon.

For all their contributions over thousands of years moderating, managing and solving society’s problems it is becoming clearer that governments, humanitarian programs, religions, new age movements, self or imposed disciplines and restraints are not going to save us from our seemingly self-destructive plight.

‘None of us are right’

However insight as to where the real solution might originate from are found in the words of world renowned philosopher, Sir Laurens van der Post:

‘For we are none of us right; we do not know ourselves sufficiently. We have not faced up to the fact that we ourselves, not our institutions or stars, are the source of the error, and that until we have dealt with the error in ourselves we cannot deal properly with what is wrong with the world’ (A Walk with a White Bushman 1986).

Throughout history there have been a handful of philosophers and scientists, including Plato, Marais, Jung and Koestler, who have ventured to the ‘source of the error’ and contributed to understanding our troubled condition. This leads me to Australian biologist Jeremy Griffith, who has been writing about and explaining this ostensibly off limit subject of the human condition for some 30 years.

I draw on a passage from Griffith’s book The Real Book of Answers to Everything;

‘the issue of the human condition has been the real, underlying issue we needed to solve if we were to exonerate and thus rehabilitate the human race, we have been so fearful and insecure about the subject that instead of confronting it and trying to solve it we have been preoccupied denying and escaping it. The truth is that while much attention has been given to the need to love each other and the environment if we are to ‘save the world’, the real need if we were to actually succeed in doing so was to find the means to love the dark side of ourselves–to find the reconciling understanding of our ‘good-and-evil’-afflicted human condition that was causing so much suffering and destruction!’

Making sense of the world

The power of Griffiths’ work is its ability to give full explanation and compassionate understanding to the world we live in and to our own lives. It makes sense of a world that seems inexplicable.

Through first principle biology Griffith explains that the paradox of the human condition is our capacity for both ‘good and evil’, of why when the ideals in life are to be cooperative, loving are selfless are we humans capable of such incredibly angry, selfish and divisive behaviour. And until we could explain this dilemma we were left carrying a deep ‘burden of guilt’ and insecurity about our fundamental sense of worth, and could barely even admit we had a problem, let alone confront the issue of the human condition. We just held our head up and got on with life, living with the premise that our behaviour was immutable and unable to be changed.

Understanding and knowing

However suddenly, with acknowledgement and explanation of the human condition, we can reconcile the polarities in life, reconcile ‘good and evil’ and understand there has been a very good reason for all our selfish, divisive, destructive and literally crazy behaviour. And  through understanding and knowing  the reason for our behaviour, it can change; And quickly. And all the psychological trauma and veil of confusion that we have all being living with since time immemorial lifts like mist rising from a valley. The underlying burden of guilt and insecurity,that previously we have been unable to acknowledge, can be lifted from our individual and collective psyche.

So from this despairing path to self-destruction, I believe there is now incredibly exciting hope that our children will inherit a better world. Hope that a path to liberation from the duress of the human condition is being paved through understanding the ‘source of the error’.

Anthony lives in Sydney, Australia. While his greatest interest lies in how the human condition be reconciled he also has a huge passion for playing and watching cricket, tennis and rugby.

Posted in Social commentary | Tagged | 2 Comments

Share or Die: why collaborative consumption is the future – by Neal Gorenflo

Posted on May 5, 2013 by

Share or Die!R&R were contacted by the publishers of a new US book ‘Share or Die’.  Below is the Editor’s Preface which is reproduced as a guest post with permission.

About six months ago, a weather-beaten, middle-age man  asked me for money on the platform of the Mountain View Caltrain station.

I gave him three dollars. He thanked me, and asked what I  did for work. I introduced myself, learned his name (Jeff) and we shook hands.  I pulled out a card from my computer bag, and handed it to him as I told him  that I publish an online magazine about sharing.

Jeff lit up, “Oh I get that, when you’re homeless, it’s  share or die.”

That got my attention and I asked him to explain. Jeff  said that a year earlier, his girlfriend drank herself to death alone in a  motel room. He said she wouldn’t have died had someone been with her. For him, isolation meant death.

Jeff explained his perspective further, that he had no  problem giving his last dollar or cigarette to a friend, that it comes back  when you need it. But there are those that just take. You stay away from them.

I asked him about the homeless in Mountain View, which is  in the middle of prosperous Silicon Valley. Jeff said there are 800 homeless  people in the city, and that each has a similar story.

That conversation got under my skin. I shared it with  Malcolm Harris the next day on a call about this book. Half-joking, I suggested  Jeff’s phrase, “share or die,” as a title. At the time, I thought it was  over-the-top. I wasn’t serious. But, thankfully, Malcolm began using it in  correspondence about the book. It stuck.

My conversation with Jeff marked a turning point in my  thinking. I had thought of sharing as merely smart because it creates positive  social, environmental, and economic change through one strategy.

But Jeff’s story and the directness of his phrase – share  or die – broke through my intellectualization of sharing. Jeff helped me see  something that I was blind to, even though I knew all the facts – that sharing  is not just a smart strategy, it’s necessary for our survival as a species.  This has always been so, but today our condition is especially acute – we’re  using 50 percent more natural resources per year than the earth can replace.  And global population and per capita consumption are growing. It’s now  glaringly obvious to me that we need to learn to share on a global scale fast,  or die.

But the threat is not  only one of biological death. Those like me, who are in no danger of starving,  face a spiritual death when we act as if well-being is a private affair and  gate ourselves off from the rest of humanity with money and property. We can  neither survive nor live well unless we share. It’s my outrageous hope that the  young voices in this book do for a generation what Jeff did for me – wakes them  to the idea that sharing can save them and the world.

Neal Gorenflo is the co-founder Shareable Magazine, a nonprofit online magazine about sharing. 

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Why should you care about the new book, Share or Die? Sharing might just be the most important movement  you’ve never heard of. On a planet with growing population and dwindling  natural resources, it should be obvious to everyone that we need to share more.  But it’s not. For this movement to succeed, young adults everywhere need a new vision for what’s possible for them in an new economy emerging today that  values relationships over stuff and purpose over profit. Share or Die was  written by young adults for young adults to do exactly that.  It contains 25 articles with hands-on, practical advice about career, relationships,  travel, education, housing, and volunteering.

Shareable is the online magazine that tells the story of sharing. We cover the people and projects bringing a shareable world to life. And share how-tos so you can make sharing real in your life. In a shareable world, things like car sharing, clothing swaps, childcare coops, potlucks, and cohousing make life more fun, green, and affordable. When we share, not only is a better life possible, but so is a better world. They show that a new world is emerging where the more you share the more respect you get, and where life works because everyone helps each other.

We tell this story because a shareable world might be just what’s needed to enjoy life to the fullest today while creating a better tomorrow. Visit us at http://www.shareable.net

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Do Hard Things – a rebellion against low expectations

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

Do Hard ThingsDo Hard Things is an unusual book.  It was written by two teenagers for other teenagers. Its message is blunt and challenging: that young people should rebel against the culture of low expectations of what teenagers are capable of.

The book starts like this:

‘Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book.  And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care.  And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last.’

A different kind of book

The clarity of their message comes from their personal experience of taking up challenges and encouraging many others to do the same (their website has had over 35 million hits):

“What you are holding in your hands right now is a challenging book for teens by teens who believe our generation is ready for a change.  Ready for something which doesn’t promise a whole new life if you’ll just buy the right pair of jeans or use the right kind of deodorant.  We believe our generation is ready to rethink what teens are capable of doing and becoming.  And we’ve noticed that once wrong ideas are debunked and cleared away, our generation is quick to choose a better way, even if it’s also more difficult.’

The myth of adolescence

After exploring the very brief history of teenage life (Readers Digest only coined the term in 1941) they expose what they call the ‘myth of adolescence’ which promotes the idea of an extended gap between childhood and adulthood.  They challenge the idea that teenage years are a time when you are only waiting for ‘real life’ to begin.

The central theme is to challenge the culture of low expectations. They forcefully make the point that the bar for teenagers has been set way too low – that so many people expect teenagers to simply ‘goof around’ and success is defined simply as the avoidance of problems.  Their message is that teenagers are capable of so much more.

Dismissing the challenge

Critics might say it’s easy for the Harris’ brothers to be saying this kind of stuff.  They are clearly from a supportive and secure family, are blessed with talent, good looks and confidence to burn.  Also many of their references clearly align them with the more conservative side of US politics and Christian culture.

But it would be wrong for these observations to be used to dismiss the challenge of the book.  Most of the stories and examples shared they give are to do with what teenagers can do for others, through engagement in public life, charity work and social justice.  This is no ‘health and wealth’ message of personal advancement.

Five types of hard things

Their summary of the ‘five types of hard things’ that they urge fellow teenagers to do are relevant for us all:

  1. Things which are outside your comfort zone
  2. Things which go beyond what is expected or required
  3. Things that are too big to accomplish alone
  4. Things which don’t earn an immediate payoff
  5. Things which challenge the cultural norm

Like a lot of good books and resources aimed at youth, it’s actually contains an important message for everyone.

Alex and Brett Harris’ website is called The Rebelution 

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Five lessons from Living Below the Line – by Alexandra Lilley

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

Live Below the LineFive days on five quid. What would you spend it on?

Last year I took up the Live Below the Line challenge, living on porridge made with water, lentil dhal and potatoes. Here’s what I discovered:

1. The less you possess, the more you need friends

Obvious really, but this was a lesson in community living. Five of us (I’m detecting a theme here) formed a group to shop and sometimes cook together over the week, giving us a more diverse diet and an essential sense of solidarity.

2. Head knowledge vs gut knowledge

The stats are sickening:

  • 1.4 billion people in the world – around 20 times the population of the UK – live in extreme poverty (i.e. on no more than £1 a day)
  • 870 million – 1 in 8 people – will go to bed hungry tonight because they have eaten nothing or next-to-nothing all day
  • 2 million children will die this year because of malnutrition – that’s one every 15 seconds.

But sometimes the stats remain as aloof figures in our heads. Living differently causes our bodies to remind us of these terrible truths. Similar to when I ‘slept rough’ one night to raise money for a homeless charity as a teenager, I then cared about homelessness in a more personal way, so too did this small act of deprivation penetrate my psyche in a way that reading or watching something never could.

3. Smugness banished

Lots of people were complimentary about this ‘sacrifice’, which felt embarrassing. Then I came across this quote from the 4th century Bishop Ambrose of Milan, who sets things straight:

“It is not from your own possessions that you are bestowing alms on the poor, you are but restoring to them what is theirs by right. For what was given to everyone for the use of all, you have taken for your exclusive use. The earth belongs not to the rich, but to everyone. Thus, far from giving lavishly, you are but paying part of your debt.”

Ha! According to the Bishop, living below the line should be the norm, so no pride allowed.

4. The Local Line

As well as the thick, black marker pen line between the global rich and poor, there’s a thinner pencil line where you and I live. For me, living near Kings Cross, it’s the Caledonian Road. It’s cuts through this part of London with social housing estates on one side and (multi)million pound houses on the other. It’s no good limbo-ing under the global ‘line’ and living within our local barriers.

One of the small prejudices that I crossed during LBTL was dietary. I realised that it’s not possible to buy fruit or veg with a tiny income – but I could afford a whacking great pack of value biscuits. Acknowledging the judgements we make against either rich or poor in our own community, particularly in our increasingly fractured UK society, plays a significant part.

5. Blessings and curses

Jesus says these terrifying and marvellous words on the Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled…

Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.”

Enforced poverty is a curse that Jesus came to break. But for those of us who have the privilege to choose to go hungry, it’s blessing. I certainly discovered that last year, as through the drudgery of diet and caffeine cravings, I found a freedom of depending more fully on the one who provides my daily bread.

So I’m doing it again. And so could you…

  • Please do think about whether you take part in Live Below the Line sometime this year. You can sign up here: www.livebelowtheline.com
  • And please consider donating towards alleviating extreme poverty through sponsoring our team – we’re raising money for Tearfund.

Alexandra Lilley lives in and loves King’s Cross, works as assistant minister at St Mary Islington and is training to be a vicar.

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