Mark Scandrette - Free: Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most

Spending Your Time and Money on What Matters Most

MARK SANDRETT
with Lisa Scandrett

Foreword by Richard Rohr

www.IVPress.com/ books

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com
E-mail:

2013 by Mark Scandrette

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.tm Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

While all stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information in this book have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

Design: Cindy Kiple
Images: town of music: Ken Jacobsen/Getty Images
sketched banner: Aleksandar Velasevic/iStockphoto

ISBN 978-0-8308-9551-9 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8303-3649-9 (print)

Mark

For my father, Rich, who taught me to be intentional, frugal and generous, and invited me to live into the question What Matters Most? And for my mother, Barb, who showed me how to celebrate life, shop resourcefully and love courageously.

Lisa

For my mom, Susan Sands, who modeled contentment and resourcefulness. And for my dad, Jim Sands, who showed me the joy in generosity and trusted God for my future.

Mark Scandrette is the founding director of Reimagine, a center for integral Christian practice based in San Francisco, where he leads an annual series of retreats, learning labs, conversations and projects designed to help participants integrate the teachings of Jesus into every aspect of life through shared practices and community experiments. A sought-after voice for creative, radical and embodied Christian practice, he speaks nationally and internationally at conferences, universities and churches, offering training and coaching to leaders and organizations. Mark is also the author of Practicing the Way of Jesus (InterVarsity Press, 2011) and Soul Graffiti (Jossey-Bass, 2007).

Lisa Scandrette makes a life in the Mission District of San Francisco with Mark, Hailey, Noah and Isaiah. She spends her time teaching kids, facilitating workshops and doing administrative work with ReIMAGINE, and creating with her hands. She specializes in living simply and offering care and hospitality.

For booking information and inquiries visit www.markscandrette.com

Also by Mark Scandrette and InterVarsity Press:

220 pages, paperback, 978-0-8308-3634-5, $15.00

ebook, 978-0-8308-6872-8, $12.00

Take a casual survey of how people practice their faith, and you might reasonably conclude that Jesus spent his life going door to door offering private lessons, complete with chalkboard and pop quizzes. We think about God in the comfort of our own minds, in isolation from one another; meanwhile the world waits for a people to practice the way of Jesus together.

Mark Scandrette contends that Jesus has in mind something more lively for us: not a classroom so much as a kingdom, where our formation takes place not only in our heads but in our hearts and our bodies, and in the company of one another, in a way that blesses the world we've been entrusted with.

In Practicing the Way of Jesus Scandrette draws from his experience as a spiritual director and leader of an intentional community, as well as the best contemporary thinking on kingdom spirituality, to paint a picture of life lived together, in the way of Jesuswhich is another way of saying life lived to the full.

Seek first [Gods] kingdom... and all these things will be given to you as well.

M atthew 6:33

M issy is one of our heroes, not because she is well known but for her hidden life of courage and beauty. We met when she was eleven years old, while Lisa and I were visiting families in a housing project where we organized a weekly kids club. Tall for her age and extremely friendly, she quickly became a part of our lives, helping with kids club, grocery shopping with Lisa or joining us for dinner at our apartment. Her home life was difficult. Dad was unemployed and battling drug and alcohol addictions. Mom was a survivor of abuse, and both parents struggled with bouts of explosive anger. The oldest of four children, Missy was more like a mother than a sister to her siblings. One day she told us that she needed a new Bible to replace the one wed given her, explaining that shed been reading it to the younger children as they fell asleep. It got soiled with urine when her younger brother, who has autism, wet the bed. When Missy was twelve, her dad lost control of his temper and struck her. After he was removed from the home, her mom invited a young man, later incarcerated for child sexual abuse, to live with the family.

Missy found a lot of comfort in the worship songs we sang at kids club, and she asked me to teach her to play the guitar. We helped her buy a guitar, and once a week I would stop by to give a lesson, though we often ended up talking about her hurts, her concerns for her family or why God would allow these bad things to keep happening. When the house was loud and full of unsafe people, Missy would take the children upstairs and teach them the songs she had learned to play. Eventually she and her siblings were placed in foster care.

Despite the pain and obstacles she faced, Missy kept a strong faith in God, love for her family and a vision for her life. While most girls from the projects dropped out and had children before finishing high school, Missy stayed in school and in church, and eventually graduated from community college. She spent much of her early twenties working and volunteering with an early childhood education program in her neighborhood.

Weve kept in touch over the years, and I recently asked Missy what matters most to her. She came back with a quick answer: God, my kids, my healing and my family. Missy has two children, Angel and Isaiah, ages six and seven. Both were diagnosed with severe autism spectrum disorder. Being the parent of a child with severe autism can be a delight, but its not a life that most would choose. Many would say its a life that is chosen for you. As a single parent, Missys life is devoted to caring for her childrens needs. In her words, They consume most of my time, energy and intellect. Being a good parent to these children has many components: creating a calm environment, preparing a special diet, changing pull-ups, maintaining strict routines, practicing effective communication strategies and setting up twice-a-week in-home therapy sessions. She has to manage well the small amount of disability money she receives in order to pay her bills and provide her children with the specialized diet they requirea skill she has learned by necessity.