God, of course, has seen Peak Oil and all its consequents coming for a very long time. He has a plan for His children through all this, and has had plenty of time to begin preparing His church for it. There appears to have been a stirring of the Holy Spirit among those who listen, and it has sparked a couple trends in Christianity which seem to anticipate petrocollapse. God’s purposes are, as St. Paul wrote, being fulfilled “in the fullness of time.”
First, there is a distinct trend toward what is being called “the new monasticism.” That is, across the cultural and theological spectrum of Christianity, the Spirit has been leading believers of all ages to live in intentional Christ-centered community. According to the movement’s leading website, there are twelve traits which mark the new monasticism:
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.
I'll be straight about it -- neo-monasticism strikes me as the most promising movement way of the Way that I've seen. It has many of the central traits that we can expect to see in the most thriving post-carbon churches: authentic commitment, nonviolence, reconciliatory civic engagement, and a celebration of simple living.
Many in the Peak Oil community are primarily concerned with escaping the hardships and preparing for their own survival first and foremost. The New Monasticism bucks the survivalist attitude in favor of an incarnational entering in to the riskiest places to be lights of God's grace.
As you may know, I am starting a neo-monastic community house in NE Portland soon. We've just moved in and will be forming the house mission/values/orthopraxy soon. I like to think of it as the first fully post-carbon Christian community house in the world. :) More on that in future posts, I promise.
The other trend is the "Emergent Church," seems obsessed with correcting the shortfalls of carbonated Christianity. The megachurches which have only been possible with cheap oil have failed emergents awfully. Carbonated Christianity's lack of community, othermindedness, and affection for smallness, and its eminently flamboyant Pharisaism, rude imperialism, and gaudy worship services have stoked this movement.
Fascinatingly, the emergent church isn't just responding to Carbonated Christianity: in doing so, it seems to also being anticipating what a decarbonated faith might look like. I hope to sniff out the affections and values of the Emergent Church with a "hydrocarbon hermeneutic" in coming posts.
There is much darkness ahead. But barring a resource war with China gone nuclear, humanity will survive, granted in considerably smaller numbers. In this fast-rolling darkness, I believe there is also tremendous hope for the cause of Christ. The extreme comfort and luxury of the 20th century that made so many people think they don’t need God is about to go away. Thankfully, we have an answer to the coming agonies in Him. Christianity presents an incredible kingdom reality of deliverance, a providential and loving God, and of a body of people committed to loving one another through anything.
Furthermore, God has a history of using hard times to build His church. In the second century, the Plague of Galen is purported to have killed up to two thirds of the Roman Empire’s citizens. Another plague in the third century was killing 5,000 people a day just in Rome. Things couldn’t seem much darker. So when these plagues came through, the pagans ran from the city, separating themselves from the afflicted. Many Christians, however, remained in the city. They tended to the sick, being Christ to their spirits by nurturing their bodily ills. Many Christians died caring for the sick in those dark times.
When the pagans came back into the cities, they were amazed at the Christians for staying through the storm of the plagues. What courage and selflessness and sacrifice! Through these tragedies, and because Christians sacrificially lived out the gospel of the kingdom, more and more people met God. The Post-Plague Church was stronger for it.
How will Christians today respond to the darkness of our times? The Post-Carbon Church can run for the hills, recede in fear just to survive. Or we can remain true to one another and our towns, revealing Christ in the storm by how we live. We can depend on His voice and His providence, and on one another, to see it through the post-Peak Oil meltdown. The events may not be much less severe, but by God’s grace, they will be more endurable.
It will be risky. It will most definitely hurt and even cost many of us our lives. But I am convinced that in weathering dark times, there is the potential for Christ’s body to thrive.
Comments (4)
Brandon,
This is great - in fact, the pinnacle of what I could hope for. It looks like a possibility for me in a year or so; exciting, but a long way off.
I've been studying a few monastic and mendicant orders lately - good stuff. Thanks for writing!
Posted by Scott Andreas | November 4, 2006 3:17 PM
Posted on November 4, 2006 15:17
Thanks for placing these thoughts on the web.
I too get the impression that the time of Revelations is fast aproaching.
My wife just died from a brain tumor diagnosed some 13 months ago. I've been writing to our friends and family about the experience. The experience has changed me in many ways.
The last message I sent, I think relates to your point about the coming darkness. I'm copying it below for your information.
Peace.
Bob Ocegueda
==================
061102
Dear Family and Friends,
Yesterday afternoon Marcia "heard" for the first time Margreet's "voice" from the "other side".
I was working with the computer in the huisje when she came and told me with a big smile "I just heard my Mom for the first time" Ohh...? "Yes" she said "I was about to make a plate of yogurt (our usual lunch is yogurt with fruit and muslie) for myself when I heard her telling me 'You better also make one for Bob. Don't let him eat 'toasties' (grilled cheese sandwitch) all the time.' So I'll be bringing you your yogurt in a little while".
"You DO want some yogurt, right?" she asked pointedly.
How could I say "no"? She may send me a bolt from Heaven right away... and it IS healthy and good tasting, so it's a win-win situation... just the way it's supposed to be.
So...
DID she actually "hear" Margreet's voice? Was this something that Margreets spirit actually said?... Or was it perhaps that, starting to fix her food, for herself, something triggered a memory of Margreet saying something like that?... Could be... I don't know. I think that, for aesthetic reasons, I like the idea of her living on in a different dimension, or... a parallel universe, which exists all along, but we just can't access it for some reason, probably one of the rules of the game... except when we have this real intensive desire to reach across, as I'm sure Margreet would have.
I like that idea, it's pretty, I could draw a comic book about it... but at the end, what I know is... that it makes no difference.
The point is that she caught that 'intuition'... that 'impulse'... that 'voice'... that told her to do something that was good for everyone involved, and... she ACTED on it.
THAT was good!
Margreet and I have said so many times, as I'm sure you have also, "I should have done that! I heard a voice telling me to do that, but I didn't follow it!"... time and time again... over and over again.... seems we never learn. She was still doing it a few months ago.
The fact that Marcia associates that impulse with Margreet's voice is probably good. Makes it easier to hear.
But Marcia could just as well have been following some deep genetic code that points us to a sociable act, like to invite someone to eat while you are also eating. That may actually be an inborned tendency among us sociable animals... (hmmm... "beings") Something encoded in our genetic structure that promotes the survival of the species. To be kind to your neighbor would seem like a natural pro-survival action in the long run. So... it could have been some primal impulse that she associated with Margreet and therefore she 'heard' Her voice.
Hmm... maybe... I still like the Angels better.
Makes no difference... as long as she acted upon that impulse, all came out well. (who are we to question the wisdom of our chromosomes?)
Which reminded me of something that had always confused me. The expression of:
"THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS!!"
I always got the impression that whoever said it was trying to discourage the doing of "good intentions", since, after all, they pave the road to Hell. I'm not going to do that!
That didn't make any sense to me. What kind of "wisdom" is it that discourages good deeds? That is loco.
It didn't make sense until I realized that not all "saying" have survived the passage of time intact. Like "HAPPY AS A CLAM"... I always wondered if the clams were really happy. I don't seem to find a smile on their faces... I can't even find a face ... so, how did they know that they were happy. I thought those ancients, who wrote this folkloric wisdom, must have known something that I don't...
Until I heard someplace, I don't remember where, that the complete saying is
"HAPPY AS A CLAM AT HIGH WATER!"
Now THAT makes sense! No need for some mysterious knowledge from the ancients! The high water means food! I'd be happy also!
That made me realize that "THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVE WITH GOOD INTENTIONS!" is also not complete. The wisdom that created the sayings is missing.
The real saying is something like
"THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS NOT CARRIED OUT!"
How do I know this? Well... imaging, if you will, that Margreet asks me to bring a warm robe from the attic, her current one is too thin, "next time you get a chance"... This is something she would have done herself right away, had she'd been able to move around.
Later on I'm doing stuff in the attic and as I pass by the robe, which is hanging on a rack, I remember... "Oh, yeah. I'll bring the robe down." But then I see the computer and I have to go and check the mail... by the time I'm done the robe is forgotten and I walk to the huisje.
What I catch when I get home could be said is HELL! (OK, OK, 'm exaggerating a bit, it may not have been really HELL, but it was certainly pretty much like PURGATORY)
So... WHY didn't I grab the robe as I thought about it? I don't know... I'm pretty thick, I guess, I just didn't 'hear' good enough. I just didn't and some unpleasantness happened. Multiply those happenings a few hundred times and you can see pretty unpleasant moments of life. Multiply them a few billion times and it's not difficult to see the reason the world is in such a poor shape. Good intentions not carried out.
Now, if I can think that it is Margreet, herself, who is talking to me... that is much easier. I recognize that "voice". I can hear it much easier. I already hear her talking to me when I'm dressing in the morning, choosing my clothes... "No that shirt doesn't go with those pants"... "Ok, that's better"... "you are color blind, huh?"... Let's see if I can stay on track :-)
BTW, did you know that the word 'sin' (zonde) in the Aramic, the original language of the Bible, means "to miss the mark" as shooting an arrow and missing the target? Maybe that's what they were talking about.
If every "good intention not carried out" is another cobblestone placed on the road to Hell, maybe every "good intention carried out" is another wrung added to the ladder to Heaven. (Hmmm... yeah... I like the angel version of reality better than the chromosome one, I'll stick with that one)
Meanwhile, we are working on her celebration of life :-)
C-ya!
Bob
Posted by Bob Ocegueda | November 5, 2006 4:55 AM
Posted on November 5, 2006 04:55
Brian,
Have you started your new monastic communiyt in NE Portland yet? If so, where are you located? Myself, along with some friends, are interested. I would love to hear more about it.
Posted by Robb | March 11, 2007 2:55 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 14:55
Hey Robb,
We're a bit north of 24th & Sandy, and aren't yet quite as neo-monastic as we'd like. But we'll be getting more that way this summer with some guerilla gardening and other urban prophetic trickstering.
If you're into joining our work in the neighborhood, look me up on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/bdrhodes) or Facebook and send me a note and we can talk more. (I don't want to post my email address on here for fear of those evil spambots).
Cheers,
Brandon
Posted by Brandon | March 13, 2007 8:09 PM
Posted on March 13, 2007 20:09