Working it out - not with a pencil (Law 14)

Many of the discussions I have had with people about the book in the past little while have been about how to live out the 17 Laws. This is a great question but one which, as I am honest about in the Introduction and throughout the book, I have not totally figured out yet myself. I have thought about going on some sort of human experiment like the "what would Jesus do?" experiment that the congregation does in Charles Sheldon's classic novel, "In His Steps". You know: not do anything for a year if it contravened one of the 17 Laws. (I am about to go on two similar endeavours this year: one is for an article about not using a car for a month, and another is for a book I am writing about fasting, but more on that another time).

Over the weekend, I did a comedy show on the Gold Coast for a Christian Singles Conference. I had some 'chores' to do in Brisbane on Friday, so headed to the Coast Friday afternoon, even though the show wasn't till Saturday night. On Saturday morning, I woke up, showered and get ready for the day thinking I would have nothing on at all. I was having a Latte in the hotel lobby before breakfast when I noticed Peter Hobson walking through the lobby. Peter is the miniter at Glebe Rd. Uniting Church in Ipswich where I had spoken/comedied (is that a word) at one of their services in 2008.

We exchanged "What are you doing here" pleasantries and Peter told me that he was doing a session at a conference up the road from the hotel at Robina/Surfers Paradise Uniting Church who's keynote speaker was Shane Claiborne. If you have read 17 Laws, you know that Shane is one of the founders of the Simple Way community in Kensington; a suburb of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania USA (see http://www.thesimpleway.org/) and someone who's ideologies are very similar to mine.

My days program was sealed. I headed to the conference, was blessed with a special day rate (thanks to the church youth pastor and conference host, Ralph Mayhew) and sat back to enjoy a couple of sessions with Shane (speaking, not 'sessions' for those of you with too much knowledge of drug use!)

During the second session, a questions was asked about how one goes about hospitality in such a dangerous environment. This was an interesting question for me for two reasons. One, with a wife and small children, I too wonder about inviting a stranger off the street into my home to practice Godly hospitality. Second, because the answer provided a key to working out the 17 Laws.

Shane said that when they started The Simple Way community, they just had an open house. As a result, stuff went a bit skewey at times and problems reared their heads quite often in the early days. But, he said, from that has come a wisdom from community - together the SW community has worked together to discover what is appropriate and what needs to have some limits on it. I think Shane talks about this a little in "The Irresistable Revolution" too.

For me, this was an important point. As someone who is a bit of a planner, I like to have everything worked out BEFORE I get going on something. And while I know Shane was not advocating being silly about it, there are some things that you just have to step out and work out along the way, not work out with a pencil beforehand.

So rather than trying to work out how to practice the laws and then go do it, I guess we just have to do it and then work out what it means to practice the laws. And this, my friends, is the Laws of Mess in practice right there!