American culture has experienced a resurgence of interest in simplicity over the last couple years. Peruse the shelves of your local bookstore and you will find them littered with many new books and magazines positing all sorts of suggestions for simplifying your life. Perhaps this trend comes in reaction to the explosion of the Internet and other technologies in the last half-decade, or perhaps it is a response to the escalating commercialization with which we are inundated daily. Within Christianity however, simplicity is more than a fad, it is a recurrent theme in Christian literature - beginning with the Scriptures and stretching through the contemporary writings of Richard Foster, Joan Chittister, Ron Sider and others. Simplicity was a major theme in the works of the Desert Fathers, the Monastics, Francois Fenelon, George Fox and Soren Kierkegaard, to name just a few. Simplicity recurs as a prominent theme in these classics of our faith - I believe - because it is essential to the genuine expression of our faith. In the following paragraphs, I will describe three facets of simplicity that are essential for followers of Jesus: Integrity, Community and Stewardship.

The thought that integrity is a facet of simplicity might never cross your mind, but I am convinced that without integrity any attempts to simplify our lives are futile. Perhaps I should begin by defining integrity; the English word "integrity" comes from the Latin word "integer" (Yes, like the whole numbers in math!) and means "wholeness." One could also think of integrity as the opposite of Sin, since Sin is a fracture that separates us from God. Thankfully, Jesus - by the sacrifice of himself - has healed that division, and in Him we stand united with God. However, although our Sin has been forgiven, we continue to sin. Therefore, Jesus also mercifully drives us to change; as we grow in His likeness, we grow also in wholeness. The wholeness of Christ is the type of integrity that I want to focus on for a minute.

Integrity, for the follower of Jesus, means that every part of our being fits consistently with our beliefs. Such a consistency is particularly difficult because it requires us to know intimately both who we are and what we believe. Society today does not make it easy for us to take such a good, hard, honest look at ourselves. However, if we are, through God's Grace, to grow in our integrity, we must begin to ask ourselves questions: What are my gifts? My vulnerabilities? My passions? My heritage? We must also become firmly rooted in what we believe, primarily through studying the Word. In doing so, we must try to understand its message as a whole, and not merely pick out passages that we like or that make us feel good. We need to ask questions like: What did the Bible's stories mean in the culture in which they were written? How should we apply that meaning within our culture today? What themes are repeatedly emphasized throughout the Word?

Any good dictionary will tell you that the words "wholeness" and "holiness" come from the same roots. Although we often think of Christian maturity as growing in holiness, it is not so often that we think of it as growing in wholeness (or integrity). Integrity, like holiness, is a journey not a destination. A breach of integrity is like a lie, which must be justified if we want to continue to live with it; and as any lying child can tell you, matters get complex pretty quickly as we try to patch one lie with others. Thus, we begin to see how integrity is indeed a form of simplicity. It is a healing, born of God's Grace, which gradually eliminates our need for the complexity of lies, justifications and masks. The Christian discipline of meditation is also an important part of this journey toward integrity, as God uses it to communicate to us the contradictions in our lives that we need to eliminate. As we continue to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and eliminate more and more contradictions in our lives, we will find that we are growing in simplicity and learning to live more harmoniously with our Maker.

The second facet of simplicity that I would like to discuss is community. The phrase “the simplicity of community” might strike you at first as odd, or even perhaps as dead wrong. “Relationships are difficult,” you say, “and even when they're going well, they are quite complex."

Well, you are absolutely right! I am not going to try to dispute that. Relationships with other people are complex, and do require a great deal of effort. However, I maintain that there is an element of simplicity in community that transcends the cost of effort put into relationships, and I would even go so far as to say that it makes that cost seem pretty trivial.

Perhaps I should begin by defining "community. " A community is not merely a group of people, but rather a group of people united around a common focus. The Church has long served as the paradigm of community, whose focus is, and must always be, the worship of the triune God. Worship may come in many forms, but these forms share some common characteristics. One such characteristic of worship is its ability to change us. Richard Foster once observed: “If worship does not change us, it has not been worship.” Thus, true Christian community should be marked by its change; it is always growing deeper into the love and service of God and others.

So, why do we find simplicity in community? The primary reason, I think, is that we are called to be in community with other Christians. Thus returning momentarily to integrity as facet of simplicity, one could say that being in community, for the Christian, is a matter of integrity. There is something innately social about human beings, and indeed, God says during creation that it is not good for a person to be alone (Genesis 2:18a). Additionally, in Hebrews 10:25, Christians are commanded to “not give up meeting together.” Community is essential to our integrity in another way; in community, we ingest the Scriptures in a more powerful way than we ever could on our own. Modern learning theory confirms that study involving social interaction helps us to better retain what we see and hear. Thus, community helps us to know the Word better, a fundamental step toward our integrity.

However, community spurs not only our knowledge, but also our action - a final aspect of the simplicity of community. The accountability and encouragement of community brings forth wondrous deeds of service that no individual (or the sum of all the individuals) could complete. I believe that it is ONLY in community that we can do powerful things like being a prophetic witness to our culture or our government. Additionally, it is only in community that we can adequately fulfil our calling to meet the needs of one another and those of others around us.

In conclusion, I would like to discuss a third and final aspect of simplicity - the one that typically comes to mind when simplicity is mentioned - namely stewardship. Before I begin, however, I must make it clear that this aspect of simplicity takes a backseat to the previous two. That is to say, if we are not striving, through the Spirit, toward a lifestyle of integrity and if we are not actively involved in a community of believers, then any attempt to simplify our lives by becoming a better steward will be hollow and will likely find little success.

"Stewardship," like our previous facets of simplicity, needs to be defined. We often use the term "stewardship" to mean our giving to the local church, but that is only a very small portion of what stewardship is. Being a good steward involves honoring, and thus responsibly using, the things that God has given us. Of course, everything we have is a gift from God, but stewardship is typically discussed in terms of money, time and possessions (perhaps because these are the easiest of God’s gifts to be selfish about). It is difficult, if not impossible, to paint a general picture of the simplicity of being a good steward. As we are reminded in Jesus's parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14ff), we are each given different things, and thus good stewardship will look different for different people. Therefore, I thought that the best way to discuss these would be merely to pose some stewardship-related questions that apply to us all, regardless of the resources that we have been given. (Many of these questions have been inspired by Richard Foster's chapter on "Simplicity" in his Celebration of Discipline, which is definitely worth reading - or re-reading.)

As I look over my checkbook (or planner), do I ask where the money (or time) is going? Am I seeking to honor God or myself with these gifts? Do I spend more on luxuries for myself than on the Lord's work (which is not necessarily just the local church)?

When I go to purchase something, do I ask: "Why am I buying this? Could I live without it? Does the one I currently have still work? Could I possibly borrow or rent it? Is it practical? Or is it merely a status symbol? Could I get by with a cheaper, and less prestigious, model? Am I paying large sums merely for the name on the label? Will it break or become obsolete in six months? Does it respect God's creation? Is it made of recycled materials? Is it energy-efficient? Could I buy it used instead of new? If I'm buying it to save me time, what will I do with the time saved? Were workers oppressed during its production (e.g., in Nike’s sweatshops)? Am I taking on needless debt? Will it distract me from doing the Lord's work?"

When I look around at the things I've been given, do I ask myself: "What things can I give away? What items that I do not use would be appreciated by others? What things could be shared with others, to save them the cost of buying (e.g., lawnmowers, tools)? What skills of mine could be used to serve others? What am I addicted to and at what cost (money and time)? Do I spend more time on things (e.g., television, computers, fitness machines) than I do on people (e.g., building deep relationships)? If so, what things particularly monopolize my time? Am I spending excessive time at work? If so, why?"

And finally, the questions that cut to the heart of the matter: "What will I do with the money and the time that I save by living simply? Indulge myself? Buy more stuff? Or give generously of my time and money to others in need (or to the community of believers)?"

Most Christians would agree that integrity, community and stewardship are essential tenets of their faith. I maintain that simplicity, grounded in these three tenets as I have described above, is no less essential to the Christian faith. Certainly, the abundance of classic Christian literature on the topic of simplicity would seem to indicate its importance. It is my belief that by returning to the pursuit of simplicity - guided by the classic Christian literature - the Church in the United States will better prepare itself to be God’s ambassadors in changing cultural climate of the future.