The eCrozier

I want to let you know about a DVD that Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Lauren Winner have produced. Jonathan is an acquaintance of mine from Durham, North Carolina who is one of the leaders of the New Monasticism movement. Lauren is a friend who is a professor at Duke Divinity School. Both are in their 30s and speak powerfully to young adults about the richness of classic Christianity. Their DVD is a five-session introduction to the classics of our early Christian mothers and fathers. You can order it here. It would make a great Lenten study.

http://www.paracletepress.com/discovering-christian-classics-5-sessions-in-the-ancient-faith-of-our-future.html

There’s a YouTube piece on it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ_EpGUAu50

Lauren & Jonathan introduce viewers to these ancient witnesses that transcend time and have shaped the faith of thousands. For example, I remember reading Antony of Egypt for the first time as a seminarian. In Antony, I found a spiritual guide who took Scripture seriously and demanded I do as well. And even though cultures, continents, and centuries separate us, he has been a consistent catechist of my faith. St Antony always demanded that Christianity was not only a way of belief. He lived Christianity as a way of life. Christianity is something one does and not merely what one believes. In that sense, Christianity is more verb than noun.

And speaking of doing, check this out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10993749

The Reverend Zoltan Lendvai, a Roman priest from Hungary, reaches young people with the Gospel by skateboarding with them (the pictures of Fr Lendavi on his skateboard wearing a Cassock are worth going to the link). Now I am not suggesting any of our clergy take up this particular evangelistic strategy (our health insurance rates are high enough as is), but going where the people are and connecting the Gospel of Jesus with their lives as they are has to be at the heart of any strategy we employ. So, figure out something a bit less bone-crushing and then do it. Get out there. There is a world of people waiting to hear the truth that there is a God who loves them more than they could ever imagine. And the best way for them to hear that truth is for us to show them it is true.

+Scott