THE COMMON YEAR #beautyinthecommon I am typing this in a hospital lobby just outside Detroit at and designed by veritable gobs and gobs of wonderful 3am as I sleepily but eagerly await the birth of my dear friends from all sorts of backgrounds and perspectives. brother’s first child. The smell of the pizza, Starbucks, and lo mein reminds me fondly of the last 13 hours Each written piece will be broken into what may seem we’ve spent gathered together in this “very hospitally” like peculiar categories: waiting room. Word | Meal | Music | Prayer | Time And while everyone is currently dozing on plastic chairs as the infomercials on the lobby television rage on – the Our hope is that these narratives will be more than room is still electric somehow. There is wonder and inspiring thoughts and truisms and instead will beauty in the air. Even here – even in the stillness of challenge each of us to more fully engage all of life as sweet anticipation not yet realized. deeply sacred. There will be invitations to listen to new songs, share in new meals, and see in new ways. I I want to live my life like this. challenge you to carve out time to really soak in each of these pieces and see just what it is that God might To both await with eagerness the mountaintop awaken in your own heart as you do. moments and to also see more fully and experience more deeply the beauty in the mundane, the “in- So print this framework out. Put it in a binder. And between”, the common. each Monday print out the different narratives that are released and put them in that binder as well. Scribble In 2009 I spent some time, alone and homeless on the notes, draw pictures, write prayers of your own in it. streets of Philadelphia. I chose to do this for a number of Catch glimpses of the Divine in the everyday and allow reasons, but I could never have been prepared for the yourself to be overwhelmed. work that God would begin to do in my heart – stirring as passion for the ordinary, the easily overlooked, We also encourage you to use the hashtag #beautyinthecommon when throughout this year as a way I wrote in my journal these words: not only sharing glimpses of your own story, but so that we can see the bigger story that God is weaving as well. “Some beautiful things are hung on walls, others are Read these tweets, see these images, engage in these locked behind panes of glass. But there is a different, stories as a liturgy of “common” – the reminder that you peculiar beauty here on the street – breathing deeply and are, are our very core, are created for community. both struggle and celebration, brokenness and redemption.” As we’ve said, our goal in all of this is not to convince you, but to invite you – to slow down, to breathe deeply, I believe this to be true more and more each day – that and see fully the beautiful, sacramental moments all God often surprises us, that He is present and moving in around us every single day. both the sensational as well as the subtle. When life has beaten wonder and awe out of us, I can’t help but think I am so honored and grateful that you would come on that He is inviting us back to captivation, to be wide- this journey with us, friend. I think 2016 is going to be eyed once again. a beautiful year. Our prayer for this whole journey is that – instead of Grace and peace, hearing, “do more” we would be stirred “see more”, to stop skimming, glancing – and to see fully the depths; - Ian Simkins the divine presence in all that we do, of living in a @iansimkins world charged with the grandeur of God. So here’s how this all works: “Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.” On the 1st of every month we will be releasing a – Ralph Waldo Emerson song written and recorded specifically for this crazy little experiment – each drafted and composed with a [If you would like to hear the full audio of what “Beauty different topic in mind. Every Monday morning we will in the Common” is all about – you can click this link then be sending you a short narrative piece, authored here: www.bit.ly/TCY-Overview] Beauty in the Common THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 1: 1/4 — Ian Simkins WEEK 2: 1/11 — Warren Anderson WEEK 3: 1/18 — Benjamin Wakefield WEEK 4: 1/25 — Jason Feffer BONUS: 1/29 — Ron Heitman Beauty in the Stillness THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 5: 2/1 — Rosemary Bogdan WEEK 6: 2/8 — Katie Garrity WEEK 7: 2/15 — David Szczepanski WEEK 8: 2/22 — Dan Lovaglia WEEK 9: 2/29 — Stephen Drew Beauty in Community THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 10: 3/7 — LeeAnn Balletto WEEK 11: 3/14 — Kendra Stewart WEEK 12: 3/21 — Josh Ehrmann WEEK 13: 3/28 — Mecca Morrison BONUS: 3/31 — Cherise Glunz Beauty in the Weathered THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 14: 4/4 — Aubree Flickema WEEK 15: 4/11 — David Rausch WEEK 16: 4/18 — Bekah Congdon WEEK 17: 4/25 — Jim Hollendoner BONUS: 4/30 — Sam Wallace Beauty in the Uncertain THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 18: 5/2 — Angela Evanz WEEK 19: 5/9 — C. Rayne Warne WEEK 20: 5/16 — Lindsay Janssen WEEK 21: 5/23 — Kristin Zheng WEEK 22: 5/30 — Alyssa Jones BONUS: 5/31 — Jean Sharp Beauty in the Moment THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 23: 6/6 — Gary Thomas WEEK 24: 6/13 — Zack Salvati WEEK 25: 6/20 — Eli Johnson WEEK 26: 6/27 — Evan Weppler BONUS: 6/30 — Jamie Finch Beauty in the Broken/Healing THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 27: 7/4 — Kirsten Kohlstedt WEEK 28: 7/11 — Alyssa Warner WEEK 29: 7/18 — Bianca Mayoros WEEK 30: 7/25 — Marsha Vaughn Beauty in the Unravelling THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 31: 8/1 — Jennifer Damon WEEK 32: 8/8 — Bethany Suckrow WEEK 33: 8/15 — Nate Baker-Lutz WEEK 34: 8/22 — Tim Kuhn WEEK 35: 8/29 — Tricia Kaufman BONUS: 8/31 — Colette Simkins Beauty in Solitude THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 36: 9/5 — Zach Wooster WEEK 37: 9/12 — Paige Wooster WEEK 38: 9/19 — Jen Kazada WEEK 39: 9/26 — Sara Lawrence BONUS: 9/30 — Timbre Cierpke Beauty in the Unexpected/Plan THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 40: 10/3 — Abby Smith WEEK 41: 10/10 — David Perez WEEK 42: 10/17 — Robert Wallace WEEK 43: 10/24 — Davy Kusta WEEK 44: 10/31 — Victoria Zimmerman Beauty in Chaos THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 45: 11/7 — Justin Banda WEEK 46: 11/14 — Zach Simkins WEEK 47: 11/21 — LeeAnn Balletto WEEK 48: 11/28 — Micah Pierce BONUS: 11/30 — Ed Taylor Beauty in Rest THE COMMON YEAR WEEK 49: 12/5 — Branden Benskin WEEK 50: 12/12 — Allie Crume WEEK 51: 12/19 — Jeremy Yap WEEK 52: 12/26 — Melissa Hoegh BONUS: 12/30 — Fiona Cousino .