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At this year’s Greenbelt festival, the Moot Community contributed three contemplative eco-spirituality services, Ian Mobsby gave one talk and facilitated a discussion on the emerging church, whilst Sarah Edwards gave a talk and contributed to a panel discussion.  This year, we played host to Mike Angell, and Ordinand involved in a neo-monastic type initiative in San Diego, Karen Ward, the Episcopal Priest and Abbess of the Church of the Apostles, Jon Myers Ordinand with the Bekon collective in Seattle and Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, new monastic also from Seattle.  It was a great success, packed out services and talks all round.  So well done Greenbelt and Moot.  To integrate all our resources at Greenbelt, see the links below.

If you liked what you saw of the Moot Community at Greenbelt – then do make contact and come along to one of our events or gatherings.

1. Information on the music we used at Greenbelt compiled by Jonny Spoor our music master at Greenbelt.

2. Photographs of Mooters at Greenbelt – please add in photos if you have any others to share.

3. Information exchanges going on in our Facebook Moot Group.

4. Information for new people interested in attending moot events or participating in the community – register on this site and see our info for new people

5. Interested in participating in our WEDNESDAY MEDITATIONS, SERUM discussion group or ENNEAGRAM training see here for details

6. Interested in our service liturgies, contemplative and meditative resources – see our mootique.

7. Need more info? click on the contacts for Ian Mobsby for general information, or Jonny our communications person

POSTED 02.09.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

In this, the second of two podcasts, the conversation between Phyllis Tickle and Ian Mobsby continues with an exploration of models of church, participation and commitment to faith communities and new monasticism. We apologise for the loss of sound quality at points in this recording caused by an electrical storm over Phyllis Tickle’s house in the south of the USA. So listen nd enjoy, Phyllis is a great person to converse with.

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POSTED 01.09.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

In this first of two podcasts, Phyllis Tickle dialogues with Ian Mobsby about Emergence Christianity, New Monasticism and Trinitarian Theology. This recording was made in the middle of an electrical storm over Phyllis’s home in the South of the USA. So apologies for the occasional crackle and the reduction in sound at the end of the first recording.

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POSTED 17.08.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

Thinking again of the detail within the virtues spiritual practices and postures document, I am struck by how I and others I know struggle with the false self.  This is the projection of who we want to be, rather than who we are, which we strive to make real which results in us being very hard on ourselves and others because it is centred on our ego – on our must prove ourselves to achieve in life.  This is because of a very deep lie – that we need to achieve for God to love us – conditional love – where to the contrary God is the unconditional love that helps us to change, where we are awakened to a change that is about being more of our real self, and getting away from our false self. Our struggles of countering the construction of a false-self are very difficult – because of our our cultures obsession with consumption, competition and conditional love is all about nurturing a false-self – existing at the surface of the now (the title of my talk at Greenbelt this year).

In his book New Seeds of Contemplation page 34-5,  Thomas Merton said this:

Everyone of us is shadowed by an illusory personal false-self. This is the man I want to be but cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him, and to be unknown by God, is altogether too much privacy.  My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside of God’s will and God’s love, outside of reality and outside of life, and such a self cannot help but be an illusion.  We are not very good at recognising illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves. The ones we are born with and which speeds the roots of sin.  All sin starts from the assumption that my false self – the self that exists only in my own egocentric desires – is the fundamental reality of life to which everything else in the universe is ordered.  Thus I use up my life in the desire for pleasures and the thirst for experiences for power, honour, knowledge and love, to clothe this false-self  and construct its nothingness into something objectively real.  I wind experiences around myself and cover myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and to the world  – as if I were an invisible body that only became visible when something visible covered its surface.  But there is o substance under the things of which I am clothed.  I am hollow, and my structures of pleasures and ambitions has no foundation.  I am objectified in them, but they are all destined by their very contingency to be destroyed – and when they are gone – there will be nothing left of me but my own nakedness and emptiness and hollowness to tell me I am my own mistake.  The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God, for what ever is in God is really identical with God for God’s infinite simplicity admits no division and no distinction.  Therefore, I cannot hope to find myself anywhere expect in God. Ultimately the only way I can be myself is to become identified with God in whom is hidden the reason and the fulfillment of my existence.

I think Merton names here our very real struggle, and by implications, shows why it is crucial that Christianity needs to be about inner freedom of the self alongside outer freedom.  This is why we need spiritual practices, virtues and postures that help us maintain an inner freedom – because even our churches of late – neglect this need for inner discipleship.  To face the false self, we need to seek for God who speaks to us from within as much as we should be seeking for God’s presence in the world and outside of ourselves.  To finish I love this quote from John Finley:

Spiritual practices are a commitment to a daily rendezvous with God where there is no agenda but love to transform our hearts and awaken us.

POSTED 16.08.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments (7)

Moot at Greenbelt 2010.

This talk from Moot’s Ian Mobsby is the first of seven events involving mooters over the weekend at this years Greenbelt Festival in Cheltenham.

Venue: Gallilee (Talks 4 venue)
Time: Fri 27th 6pm

Click here for a full listing of Moot events at Greenbelt 2010.

In 2010, many parts of the western world inhabit a post-secular culture of the spiritual seeker. People are on a journey desiring depth and meaning, but where many still depend on consumptive gratification, debt and addiction to define the self. However, there are other more ancient paths of wisdom that enable people to become more human.  This talk explores the place of the contemplative tradition, activism and praxis as rediscovered by New Monastics, to inform a more just and deep way of living and loving in extended community.

POSTED 11.08.10 BY: DJHarris | Comments Off

Moot at Greenbelt 2010

This Panel Discussion led by Ian Mobsby is the third contribution involving mooters in the Greenbelt Festival over the weekend in Cheltenham

Venue: Winged Ox (Bar)
Timing: 60mins, Saturday 2pm
Venue: New Forms

The Emerging Church emerged in the early 1990s, and much has been written about its dreams and hopes in the UK and abroad.  Some have said it appears to be little more than a holy donut, big at the edges but nothing at its heart.  Some are strong on community and worship, but somewhat dismissive about mission.  So is the Emerging Church in the Bag?  Is the Emerging Church Dead?  This panel will seek to explore the significance of the Emerging Church.Join Ian Mobsby and other practitioners as they breathe life into the dry old bones.

Participants: Dave Tomlinson, Karen Ward, Mark Berry, Vanessa Elston, Ian Mobsby

POSTED 08.08.10 BY: DJHarris | No Comments

Here are the details of Moot goings on at Greenbelt:

At this years Greenbelt Festival Ian Mobsby and Sarah Edwards are speaking and leading panel discussions, Moot is facilitating 3 Services in the new Eco Spirituality Abide Venue.

1. Talk: Ian Mobsby
Venue: Talks 4 (Galilee)
Timing: 60mins, Friday 6.00pm
Title: Beyond the surface of the now

2. Worship: Eco-contemplative
Venue: Abide Eco-Spirituality Tent
Timing: 50mins, Saturday 12 mid-day
Title: The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, timing: 1 hour

3. Panel Discussion led by Ian Mobsby
Venue: Winged Ox (Bar)
Timing: 60mins, Saturday 2pm
Title: In the bag? Is the emerging church dead? Join Ian Mobsby and other practitioners as they breathe life into the dry old bones.
Participants: Dave Tomlinson, Karen Ward, Mark Berry, Vanessa Elston.

4. Meet the Mooters!
Venue: Jesus Arms
Timing: From 3.45pm, Sunday
For those who are moot-curious, join community members for a drink in the Jesus Arms beer tent at 3.45 pm on Sunday to find out more about who we are what we do. This will be a chance to meet individuals in the community in a relaxed atmosphere. Children welcome. If you don’t see us inside the tent, find us by calling this number: 07846547559.

5. Worship: Eco-contemplative
Venue: Abide Eco-spirituality Tent
Timing: 50mins, Sunday 7.30pm
Title: The Cosmic Voyage of ‘Human Becoming’, timing: 1 hour

6. Panel Discussion involving Sarah Edwards
Venue: Talks 3 (Bethlehem)
Timing: 60mins, Sunday, 5pm
Title: The Capital problem – Credit-crunch. Recession. Depression. Are we waking up to the fact that capitalism is finally broke? Is there a new, softer, kinder, gentler edition of socially-responsible capitalism set to save the day… or is someone having a laugh?Chair is Rhian Roberts and panellists include Sarah Edwards, Oliver James and Paul Chandler.

7. Worship: Eco-contemplative
Venue: Abide Eco-spirituality Tent
Timing: 50mins, Monday, 1.00pm
Title: Encountering God through the Spirit, Nature and Life

8. Talk: Sarah Edwards
Venue: Talks 3 (Bethlehem)
Timing: 60Mins, Monday, 13.45pm
Title: Robin Hood Tax: is it just another form of aid? A talk by Sarah Edwards, head of policy & campaigns at international development charity, Health Poverty Action.

POSTED 02.08.10 BY: jonnyspoor | No Comments

In 2009, some will know that the Fresh Expressions initiative in the UK sponsored a Symposium day to explore New Monasticism. This gathered a number of participants from traditional and new monastic communities. The papers presented on that day are about so to be published by Canterbury Press in the second of a series called Ancient Faith Future Mission, which will explore Fresh Expressions and New Monasticism.

Additionally, after discussions with a number of different parties, we have agreed to fund a New Monastics Network Ning for a year, to help build up the network of new monastics in the UK, and promote a number of new events and gatherings planned for 2011. So we are now encouraging people who are involved or interested in new monastic models of missional communities, to join with this Ning group – so follow the link and participate in what seems to be a growing and interesting new movement of the Spirit. Click here to go to the site, and join with what seems to be bubbling up. Let’s see what will happen.  Mooters – you are more than welcome to get involved in the Ning site.

POSTED 30.07.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments

In this podcast interview, Brian McLaren dialogues with Ian Mobsby exploring the future of church and mission in the US and UK. Brian is an international author, speaker and pastor associated with emergent and emerging church in the USA and around the world. Brian addressed the International Anglican Lambeth Conference in 2008. In this podcast, a wide range of issues are discussed including new monasticism, mission to spiritual seekers, and the challenge of church in the twenty first century.

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 Church, Mission and Saintliness [32:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

POSTED 20.07.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments (1)

The Nomad Community, a missional community in Nottingham in the UK have broadcasted a discussion between Ian Mobsby and Tim Nash.  They explore new monasticism, emerging church, fresh expressions of church and Ian’s book – the becoming of G-d.

To listen to the podcast click here

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POSTED 11.07.10 BY: ianmobsby | No Comments