urban covenant communities - since I wouldn't make being a monk :-)
Thanks for your prayers, mum is out of surgery, and on a ward in the hospital overnight. Home tomorrow hopefully... Now, we wait for results...
*More things I like*
~Cardinals
~Sunrises when you are driving east
~Phone calls from friends
~discoveries
~replacing ‘clergy’ with ‘celery’ – quite an amusing mistake to make throughout a document
~peace movements
What is a Dill pickle…?!!
Well. It is a cucumber, transformed by vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and dill… It is crunchy, sharp, and bitter. They are preserved in a glass jar. They are juicy, and satisfying. Deeply delicious, they complement any meal.
The MacDonald’s slices that are in a burger are a greenish parody, do NOT consider these to be dill pickles.
Here is one page I found: dynamite dills
Urban monasticism
There are various groups that I’ve read about that practice urban monasticism. Some are in ‘communities’ like the Northumberland community: they don’t live together, meet infrequently, but share a common ethos. The ones I am most attracted to are a bit more intentional than that. They meet frequently, eat, and have several vows. The book ‘Colonies of Heaven’ [by Ian Bradley, I have it if you want to borrow it] reflects some of the ideas. These include things like: learning, hospitality, feasting, fasting, praying, caring for the poor, reading Scripture, creativity. He is advocating this ‘celtic way’ as a way for the church writ large, and I find much of what he says very compulsive. Of course, it is also deeply challenging and quite radical. Other groups will follow ‘the hours’ idea from the early monastics– stopping at points in the day and reciting prayers simultaneously [though physically apart]. I find that an interesting idea also.
There is at least one that is based on the Mustard Seed Order, via Zinzendorf -
Mustard seed order
And their rule is: True to Christ, Kind to people, gospel to the nations …
Another US based one [New monasticism] that I’ve been looking at has these ’12 marks’ - it sounds very ‘prophetic:
They say: May God give us grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to discern rules for living that will help us embody these marks in our local contexts as signs of Christ’s kingdom for the sake of God’s world.
Interesting, hey? There are, of course, questions. The idea that this is a lifelong vow appears in a lot of them which is very challenging in our culture. (I think other things are quite interesting so, for instance the OMS says that if you are married, you must have the support of your partner, or this would likely not work) What else? They come up in a lot of emergent type books, which is where I stumbled across them. I had, however, already read Colonies of Heaven and had been deeply impacted by it – quite compelled in fact. And I also stumbled across the idea in Wesley via Viney (at least what I’d call the dna of it):
So… that’s my ‘brief introduction.’
Read these today as the Canticle and blessing for the day, and I leave them with you:
Canticle
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
*More things I like*
~Cardinals
~Sunrises when you are driving east
~Phone calls from friends
~discoveries
~replacing ‘clergy’ with ‘celery’ – quite an amusing mistake to make throughout a document
~peace movements
What is a Dill pickle…?!!
Well. It is a cucumber, transformed by vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and dill… It is crunchy, sharp, and bitter. They are preserved in a glass jar. They are juicy, and satisfying. Deeply delicious, they complement any meal.
The MacDonald’s slices that are in a burger are a greenish parody, do NOT consider these to be dill pickles.
Here is one page I found: dynamite dills
Urban monasticism
There are various groups that I’ve read about that practice urban monasticism. Some are in ‘communities’ like the Northumberland community: they don’t live together, meet infrequently, but share a common ethos. The ones I am most attracted to are a bit more intentional than that. They meet frequently, eat, and have several vows. The book ‘Colonies of Heaven’ [by Ian Bradley, I have it if you want to borrow it] reflects some of the ideas. These include things like: learning, hospitality, feasting, fasting, praying, caring for the poor, reading Scripture, creativity. He is advocating this ‘celtic way’ as a way for the church writ large, and I find much of what he says very compulsive. Of course, it is also deeply challenging and quite radical. Other groups will follow ‘the hours’ idea from the early monastics– stopping at points in the day and reciting prayers simultaneously [though physically apart]. I find that an interesting idea also.
There is at least one that is based on the Mustard Seed Order, via Zinzendorf -
Mustard seed order
And their rule is: True to Christ, Kind to people, gospel to the nations …
Another US based one [New monasticism] that I’ve been looking at has these ’12 marks’ - it sounds very ‘prophetic:
1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.
3) Hospitality to the stranger
4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities
combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
5) Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the
community along the lines of the old novitiate.
7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
8) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.
9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
10) Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.
11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.
They say: May God give us grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to discern rules for living that will help us embody these marks in our local contexts as signs of Christ’s kingdom for the sake of God’s world.
Interesting, hey? There are, of course, questions. The idea that this is a lifelong vow appears in a lot of them which is very challenging in our culture. (I think other things are quite interesting so, for instance the OMS says that if you are married, you must have the support of your partner, or this would likely not work) What else? They come up in a lot of emergent type books, which is where I stumbled across them. I had, however, already read Colonies of Heaven and had been deeply impacted by it – quite compelled in fact. And I also stumbled across the idea in Wesley via Viney (at least what I’d call the dna of it):
“… each is to bring what cash they have and put it together. If any own small debts, they are first to be paid. Then each abiding in their own dwellings, and following their business as they do now, are to bring weekly what they earn and put it into one common box, out of which they are to receive weekly as much as is thought necessary to maintain their families, without reflecting whether they put much or little into the box …”Anyway, as I said, I like it. It seems good to me.
So… that’s my ‘brief introduction.’
Read these today as the Canticle and blessing for the day, and I leave them with you:
Canticle
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
posted by erdreid at 03:17
5 Comments:
Wasn’t Methodism from the beginning a type of ‘New Monasticism’, or, in other words, a kind of ‘religious order’ within existing ecclesial communions? If this is the case, should those of us who have inherited the Wesleyan tradition do church in the traditional way? Shouldn’t we have a vision of working with and renewing the church universal?
-G
right. i agree with both comments. it was. and it should. how?
Hi Deirdre,
Just caught up with your questions down the page about the Orthodox Church on violence and war/peace issues.
There is a man who lives in the Netherlands named Jim Forest that directs the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. He was friends with Merton and Dorothy Day back in the 60s. I spent several days with him back in October, and he is a very sweet and good man. And wise.
The gist is this:
Jesus never killed any body, and no one has ever been made a saint for shedding blood. Yes, there are some soldier-saints (George, Demetrius), but most of the holiness that shone in them has to do with their renouncing violence.
The late Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (who Derek and I met in London years ago), never liked the term "pacifist" because it reminded him of "passive" and this is the never the Christian's calling. Rather, we must have an active resistance to evil, if if that resistance is found in the stillness of prayer.
Jim Forest, talks about how the root of war is fear, and that the antidote to fear is to be found in love of our neighbour. And who is our neighbour? The person we are with... NOW...in the present moment.
Thus, there is no "Just War" theory in the Orthodox Church (though I am sympathetic to this strategy in the West which was originally an attempt to limit war not to justify it). For the Orthodox, war is always seen as a failure and sin that must be repented of and healed.
Hope this helps some.
With love in the Lord,
Matt
I’m sure there are many answers rather than a single answer as to how we might be faithful to the Wesleyan tradition. The formation of ‘new monastic communities’ strikes me as a way of being faithful to ‘primitive’ Methodism. Religious societies were the basic structure of early Methodism and an aspect that slowly died out in the nineteenth century (although surely there have always been a few active societies). I believe Zinzendorf’s Order of the Mustard Seed had the same goal of renewing the church from within rather than splitting off into a new sect. The real difficulty is the commitment it takes to form religious societies. If we were to emulate the early Methodist societies then we would have to meet together weekly and be honest, open, and accountable to one another. (This requires vulnerability, and, of course, trust that what is said in the society stays in the society). We would challenge and sharpen each other’s faith and we would have a larger purpose of serving the community around us. Perhaps vows would be appropriate or at the least ‘rules’ to live by.
I have been away in London, but I see G has been busy responding... I must do some reading up on these things. My gut instinct is that this is more or less what we were hoping for our small group. But let me read, and then I will try to write a coherent response :). When is a good time to call you again?
i
Post a Comment
<< Home