THE SEVEN SOCIETY

So I haven't really blogged too much about this, but it's something I feel I ought to share in the interest of showing you a somewhat "fuller" picture of us and our life...since we spend a good deal of our time involved in it...

Part of the reason we moved to San Francisco (I have blogged about earlier, I know) is to be part of a community of kindred spirits. It seems that in our short lives, we have been a part of several communities, locally and internationally, and we wanted to find a place where we could set down some roots.

We, of course, considered several places to live, but San Francisco just made the most sense for this season of life. And it continues to.

So, in attempting to put some structure around this Common Kingdom Life that we're attempting, we took vows a couple weeks ago. There are seven vows, all rooted in the Way the Master lived. We, along with a dozen or so others (who have been working at pounding these out way longer than us), drafted up and conversed for months about what sort of Common Rule (or vows) we would take as a community, how long they would be for, how we would encourage folks to honor their vows, etc.

It's been a beautiful thing. We were a little put off at the vows seeming "prescriptiveness" early on, but once a part of the community, we found them easy to embrace...and, in many ways, we were already embracing many of them on an informal level.

So, a couple weeks ago, a bunch of us met at Mission Dolores Park and took these vows publically, with friends and family present. It was a beautiful thing.

We've realized that taking vows is evolutionary, not all-at-once. That is, introducing these new practices into one's life requires time and adjustment. So we are attempting to spend several weeks on each vow, listening to other voices in the community, sharing, helping along, etc.

We call ourselves the Seven Society...we want to create a counter-culture of mutual encouragement, missional-artifact creation, rootedness, mission of healing, balance and integration...in short, Kingdom lives.

Right now, we are working through our vow of simplicity. We'll be meeting several times in November and December to share budgets and finances, we will inventory all our possessions, we will be getting rid of our excess, etc. It's a beautiful thing...particularly in a season like now.

I've said to friends that I hope my life is at least good prophetic theatre. Doing stuff like this is difficult for me, but it also feels true to me. So here we are, attempting to follow the Master in our unique time and space, amidst friends, in San Francisco. And that's all I have to say about that...for now.