Stumbled across the Cottage Company today, and was intrigued by some of their architectural projects focused on the social as well as the physical. They have been around since at least 1995, and specialize in something called “pocket neighborhoods.” I believe these will be an important piece for future developments as the world moves away from a car-centric economy.

When I first saw Ross Chapin’s designs of the 5 little houses (750-900 square feet) circling an open garden space, it made me think of the TV show LOST - a little neighborhood village once owned by the workers of the Dharma Initiative, now called “New Otherton”. I have to admit, I was a little confused at who might want to live in such a Walt Disney world. But as I read through this article, I began to see the benefits of having your own space, and yet sharing common space.

Each neighborhood is set up in caldisac/bungalo court fashion (but the pavement is replaced with low fences, vegetable and flower gardens, and a playground for the kids), with 6-8 homes all facing the common area.

There is less inside space, which means people are on front porches more. It also means owning less - like this guy and his 100-Thing challenge. There is no garage door for people to sneak home in their SUVs and shut behind them. A lot of the privatization inherent in owning your own home today is taken away, but there is still plenty of private space - for instance, the bedrooms/bathrooms are facing away from the common area, but the living rooms are positioned towards it.

This kind of life is nothing new - monasteries have been designing communities like this since at least the 5th century, and maybe even further back. It speaks to the rhythms of life - the need for privacy, and the need for community.

I think America could benefit from seeing this new kind of “mini-suburb” pop up all across the landscape. Its much smaller and cheaper housing (which helps in the sub-prime mortgage woes), it offers instant babysitter opportunities, more locally grown food (savings and taste abound), and those who already live in one of these dozen or so communities across the country is that their need for privacy is not violated, and that their sense of security and safety has dramatically increased!

Community is not all bliss and no woe - we learned a lot about communal living when my wife and I moved into an Abbey about two years ago, only to move out 8 months later. Still, we wouldn’t trade that experience for anything, and I think it gives us yet another picture of how to make friends in a tragically lonely America.

What are your honest thoughts about this? I’d love to hear more perspectives on potential pitfalls and unique opportunities. Who out there is attempting anything like this? Give us your insight.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately (and been hearing a lot lately) about how God speaks to us and through us. Last night I was reading from Eugene Peterson’s “Eat this Book”:

God speaks. When God speaks things happen. Holy Scripture opens with the words, “God said…” ringing out eight times, and after each sounding we see, piece by piece, one after another, elements of heaven and earth coming into being before our eyes and then climaxing in man and woman formed in the image of God. Psalm 33 compresses Genesis 1 into a sentence: “For he spoke, and it came to be…” (Ps. 33:9). That sets the stage for everything that follows in our Bibles, this profuse outpouring of commands and promises, blessings and invitations, rebukes and judgments, directing and comforting that makes up our Holy Scriptures. (p. 60)

God’s spoken words create. They bring us together. They always involve risk, and they always set us up for joy and peace. They seem to be spontaneous and never condemning. He is our Rock, and He is always here. He goes before us, and he is our shepherd. He is the only one who can truly and totally empathize with us. When everything else falls away, He remains.

When I first heard of the social networking site, Facebook.com, I thought - “Great, just another way to collect loose associations - my friends are now baseball cards.” I could write twenty blogs on this topic. Many of my friends were interested in engaging with this media (they are early adopters, I suppose), but I just felt frustrated. (Partly because I’m somewhat introverted and I value loyal relationships… even when it gets difficult, and the whole machine seemed to be straight from the CIA and everyone reads / has access to what everyone writes, which makes it shallow at best.)

At the time, I thought these networking sites would become a substitute for good old-fashioned relationship… You know, the old pastime of face-to-face conversations with multi-sensory communication. As the years went by, I managed to avoid signing up to any social networking sites, until after I graduated, and my job required it. Then I became very active on these online communities, primarily with the goal of being able to communicate effeciently.

But rather quickly, I’m seeing the perks and the drawbacks. This kind of communication changes life and numbs us to some extent. It’s one-sided, layered with covert messages, “disposable” yet permanent, and rather time consuming (if one allows it to become so). Now, I’m seeing people treat other people as disposable in ‘real life.’ It’s almost as if these sites teach us to dehumanize each other. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I do not like it. It’s almost like our full color lives have turned “black and white…” (more specifically into binary code 0101010101…) I don’t think the answer is to boycott the sites - they’re a part of the culture, but at the same time, I’m looking for some constructive ways to engage in activities that value people and honor God in that context. Any ideas?

 I met Greg Scott online through his blog.  He is a teaching pastor for a network of a simple churches in Joliet, IL (southwest suburbs of Chicago).  Our conversations are always edifying - thought I’d share just one:

—-

me: for me, i love a good parable - i’ve got friends who make youtube video parables

4:02 PM not sure (about the hc layers) - i know that in life, we sociologically have “crowds” the “72″ the “12 disciples” the “peter, james and john” as well as a “beloved”.

4:03 PM my fear is that in church entertainment, we have lost the beauty of a “band of brothers” (or sisters) that fight for our heart and encourage us on the journey

4:04 PM my friend wrote a great piece on how the church is like a fractal community. check it out here: http://towardsimplicity.net/?page_id=925

i think this has profound implications for being a fluid, organic church

4:06 PM Greg: hmmm. I’ll check it out becasue I basically disagree with the socialogical statement you made. I don’t think that happens naturally at all and so, most people don’t have that at all

4:07 PM me: tell me more

4:10 PM Greg: Well, in our society expecially, there is a natural tendency toward selfishness and self-centeredness. combined with our “conecting” via technology (any I am not against using it as a tool) almost exclusively is creating a society that is more and more shallow, selfabsorbed, unconnected and detached -

  and we like it taht way.

  Most Christinas don’t have two or three other families that they conect with except on a sunday or a formatted small group

4:11 PM who are there 72?

  Who is intimate enough to speak to as Jesus spoke to the 12?

  RARELY do we find someone iwth a 3 or 4 that can be intimately discipled through life circumstances

  It is all too time consuming and requires more than most are willing to give

4:12 PM Okay, I’m ranting a bit, but it is going to be on e of the most difficult things that the SC’s will face

 me: yeah…maybe i should say its not a “sociological” reality, but a divine desire

4:13 PM people DESIRE community - those 2 or 3 bro or sis’ - but few are ready to see it become a reality

  sort of like Cole’s LTG’s, but more like life, less like a program

4:14 PM Greg: Well, again - are you sure?

 me: they desire community, but they don’t know how to FEED that desire.

4:15 PM not sure if that makes sense…i’m interested in your feedback

4:17 PM Greg: what I mean is that most of the 20 somethings that I run into and get a chance to talk with - are AFRAID of relational intimacy. they are avoiding it unless it comes with a built in buffer like alcohol, internet, limited time involvement such as work, etc. Several of them are now Christians and NOW they see that the life they were choosing was keeping them alone and lonely, but at the time - it was their security

  BTW - same is true with many older people as well

4:18 PM me: that sounds like a bunch of people i know

  myself included. tacit intimacy (blogs, txts) are good for keeping in touch, but few seem to know what to do with more than “keeping in touch”

4:19 PM so the big q for me is: do we even proclaim another reality? one that speaks of God’s innate intimacy he shares with himself and his creation? and if so, how?

4:20 PM Greg: It sems to me that we are entering a phase of spiritual living that will require us to encroach into peoples “space” and security - but as a culture and as a church we are running the opposite direction trying to meet the felt neds of people who are feeling things in a decidedly unhealthy way

  sorry was typing istead of finishing reading

  I think yo have to more thna ever

  and lovign enough to risk losing relationships is going to be hard and vital

4:21 PM me: good point

4:22 PM Greg: I may also just be involved in what Gpod is saying to me about this church I’m speaking at that I’m overanalyzing the whole thing too…

  

4:23 PM me: ya know, i think if anyone can teach us community, it is Christ…him and maybe the the most elderly in our nation.

4:24 PM they lived a life of community - neighbors in each other’s kitchen cabinets, children playing together in the street…and NO internet!

  while community would’ve been limited, it would’ve meant something

4:25 PM anytime intimacy in community is pursued by my wife and i, others consider us joining a cult or something

4:27 PM Greg: makes me wonder if there is a connection between Daniels “Many will go here and there to increase knowledge” and Jesus’ “the love of many will grow cold”

  If they called Jesus andhis follwers a cult

  we should expect the same

  maybe we should be most concerned when we are accepted as “normal”

4:29 PM me: ha, good point

  let me ask something of you -

4:30 PM trina and i are moving to chicago in the summer. i know we’ll be in contact in some way, hopefully staying in meaningful friendship and ministry together…

4:31 PM …trina and i want to pursue community hard - communion with God, and with his people. But I think friendships that help guide HOW we do that is of utmost importance.

4:32 PM through discernment, wisdom, etc, i’m hoping you’ll help us find healthy, deep community that helps us get over our self-centeredness

 Greg: Now, while I agree with you - God thinks you are completely funny…

4:33 PM Sam and I have been struggling through how worldly we have become with our possessions, home, - all the nice things we’ve accumulated over a few years

  and I should be asking you to help me consider how to give up these “hard earned” things

4:34 PM His calling is a constant reminder that we are to be a people wo “mourn”

  nothte dead around us…

  but the things we are constantly dying to to follow Jesus adequately

  If I can help you, yo have whatever I can give, but I will not claim it to be much…

4:37 PM me: great. this is encouraging. at times i get overwhelmed with the task of “casting vision of the good news” to people who have no concept of it and seem not to want it at all. it seems you’re equally as frustrated with people who just want to remain isolated and selfish.

4:38 PM Greg: I think I am past being frutrated, but that leaves me -

4:39 PM me: its great to discover that i’m running beside others like yourself- those who are truly desiring another way of life - another economy of God’s shalom

 Greg: angry is the word that comes to mind - but it is an angry at myself that asks “What are you goign to do about it?”

4:40 PM Yes, It is good form my perspective to not feel alone as well

  It helps me to be bolder

  and less fearful

4:41 PM me: that to me is good news! that to me is part of what the “church” is - learning to get over ourself and learn from others/love others.

4:42 PM Greg: yep

  a thought about your friends blog…

4:43 PM It seems like pretty much what you read from SC/HC advocates until he says, “and nobody needs to have more than two of these centered groups..”

4:44 PM At that point my interest is piqued as I have been wondering how to get the tow house churches I am working with out of thier “church in a box in a home” mentality of being happy with their circumstances and loving each other - but not reaching out to anyone else

4:45 PM And is it as simple as implementing a “2 group” expectation?

4:46 PM Your “safe” group where you are built up and encouraged - and your “dangerous” group where everything you are is on the line with Jesus?

 me: i like the language there

4:47 PM Greg: I’m wondering if I shouldn’t modify his thought to everyone NEEDS be involved in two groups to be trulyhealthy

4:48 PM I have been at the point of simply wanting to disband the whole thing just to try and split them up - but the truth is they do a LOT of ministry together. But it seldom involves more than them packing boxes or writing checks

4:50 PM Itis weird, but if churches were suddenly the targets of terrorists and people began meeting in homes

  each one of them could and would lead a SC

  But to reach out to the world around them in this way is beyond their willingness to do

4:51 PM I do have to smile, though, at the thought of Jesus drawing out the fractal diagrams in the dirt for his disciples…

4:52 PM me: ha, yeah

Part of being a disciple of Christ is learning to live in God’s governance; his new economy. In America, we tend to see capitalism as the foundation for our society - production and consumption are the backbone to its market economy. Capitalism tends to put competition at the top of a short list of values for its citizens. We see the vicious, unjust effects of this all the time - the rich are taxed much less than the poor, unemployment, concentration of political and economic exploitation, and environmental rape.

Maybe its time in God’s Kingdom to function more organically in a new economy.

I just found out about time banks! They are really sweet way to use the currency of time to provide services to a local community.

The concept is simple. For every hour you give in service to another Time Bank member, you earn one Time Dollar. You can now use this Time Dollar to spend on a service someone else offers in the time bank community.

Time Dollars are a community currency that members earn by using their time, energy, skills, and talents to help others. Time Banking is about local individuals, organizations or business’s helping each other in one-to-one exchanges or in group projects. Members help rebuild neighborhood networks and strengthen communities. There are lots of time bank communities that set up shop on the internet as a way to search available services and meet their neighbors.

What an amazing way to (1) save money (2) participate in a local, neighbor centered economy and (3) experience the redistribution of wealth and resources. Imagine seeing a white collared businessman doing taxes for a Mexican immigrant family who earned their Time Dollar repainting their black neighbor’s house, who got his Time Dollars by going grocery shopping for the elderly woman across the street. Imagine the crime rate going down as neighbors get to know each other and watch out for each other. Imagine an investment into your own local economy!

“Give and you shall receive” - God’s economy doesn’t include dolla billz, he was talking about relationships!

Maine Time Banks - a time bank up in Portland, Maine

Start Your Own! - no matter how big or how small, why not begin one in your neighborhood?

Living In Story- Reciprocal Missionality in the Image of God - Ron Pate’s participatory seminar that clued me in to time banks. He is a part of SCUPE (Seminary Consortium of Urban Pastoral Education) in Chicago. SCUPE helps communities in Chicago start timebanks (they call it Abundance in the Beloved Community, or ABC’s).