Simply Complex: the red pill, part four

As a Christian, I yearn for simplicity. Simplicity can be such a foreign concept to (even) Christians in our western culture. I remember one time when I was in a room full of people when I shared how Richard Foster's book Freedom of Simplicity was like a cup of cool water to me. And by the looks I got, I must have had something coming out of my nose when I said it.

::The Rabbit Trail::

Now, I know I reference Wendell Berry in reference to being anti-technology, but that's not all you can get out of his writing. True, he is non-conformist, and some would probably view him as being overly anti-technology. As a farmer, he idealizes a world less connected to energy corporations. His wife types his manuscripts on a type-writer, and he does the majority of his writing during the day to avoid using too much electric light. I'm not quite on the level of Mr. Berry...not by a long shot. I use a computer. I have an iphone. The majority of my reading is done on my Kindle out of convenience. But I need Berry. I think we all need the 'radicals' who are willing to live out their convictions, because regardless if we agree or not, the bravery of it all resonates in us and encourages us to be more radical, even if that just means searching for simplicity. In an interview, Wendell Berry pointed out:

Simplicity means that you have brought things to a kind of unity in yourself; you have made certain connections. That is, you have to make a just response to the real complexity of life in this world. People have tried to simplify themselves by severing the connections. That doesn't work. Severing connections makes complication. These bogus attempts at simplification ignore or despise the real complexity of the world. And ignoring complexity makes complication—in other words, a mess (Smith, 1993).

Well said, my radical farmer friend, well said. Now, Berry has much to say about the economy and global resources...and that's actually the context of this quote. The point being of course, that if we have a complex problem, then our answer and process will be complex. It doesn't work to sever ties in the name of simplicity. So then, flipping the positive and negative in the simple/complex word relation isn't helping...but my point is that simple is not easy.

::Simple Complexity...or Complex Simplicity::

Hopefully, I'll connect my thought process here...

At one point in my life, I would go through my house and un-clutter, and really get rid of anything that did not benefit my spiritual walk. While it would make me feel better, after awhile I just realized that it was a waste of money. It was pious, but misguided. I think it did count, though. It was part of the journey. However, I was responding to conviction, but not to the root of Jesus being my all. So, months would go by, and similar clutter would fill my life. But as I've grown, I've found that when certain parts of you are refined by the Refiner, you just stop caring about the things that have the potential of cluttering life. Maybe that's what Jesus was getting at when He said,

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33).

The anxiety isn't relieved by letting go of our means of subsistence, but by taking up and internalizing the truth that we live for another Kingdom, and for a King who knows how to take care of us. It's amazing how much more efficient we are for the Gospel when we're living out of Kingdom-seeking simplicity. Our 'just response' to the 'real complexity of life in this world' is unabashedly Christ first. And the truthful observation is that sometimes a just response to the real complexity of this world can end up, manifestly, being a really complex thing. That is, before the pruning, when we come to grips with the affect of the world's complexity resulting in many atrocities and injustices, we come to a kairos moment (a defining moment of decision). A choice must be made to act on a conviction or to not act.

Finally, the tensions that I'm learning to live with (still), are what Foster indicated in Freedom of Simplicity (1981).

1. What we do does not give us simplicity, but it does put us in the place where we can receive it. It sets our lives before God in such a way that he can work into us the grace of simplicity. 
2. The paradox of Christian simplicity is that it is both easy and difficult.
3. Simplicity is an inward reality that can be seen in an outward lifestyle. We must balance.
4. The material world is good...but it is a limited good. To deny its goodness is to be an ascetic, to deny its limitation is to be a materialist.
5. Our journey into simplicity will be as intricate, varied, and rich aas human personality itself...the attractive ability to be single-hearted and at the same time sensitive to the tough, complex issues of life (pgs. 9-12).

So I'm learning. Especially as I'm journeying into Missional Community, and what it looks like to be a family on mission. "Light-weight and Low-maintenance" is the way we put it. Maybe forming a family of simplicity is another way to say it.

Reference:
Fisher-Smith, J. (1993). Field Observations: An interview with Wendell Berry. Retrieved from http://arts.envirolink.org/interviews_and_conversations/WendellBerry.html 

Foster, R. (1981). Freedom of Simplicity. NY: HarperPaperbacks.