Monastic Thoughts
So this is what I’ve been thinking about monasteries. Paul and I have always wanted to live life out, long term, with others. We’re not generous or brave enough to live common purse, and we’re too messy to share a kitchen with most kid-free folks (and we pretty much only have kid-free friends.). But nonetheless we keep holding on to this idea of life together – not just metaphorically together in some philosophical way, but physically together as well. We’ve been toying with the idea of the monastic order for a long time. Looking at if for clues for how people in a fragmented, mobile society could live more intentionally together. (Paul also thinks it’s a model that holds clues for how to create family for certain types of folks.)
The thing is, most of the folks we are living with are transitory. They are in school. They are newly married. They are renters. They are travelers, full of wanderlust and love for other cultures. So how do we live together?
So I’ve been thinking, what if we formed some sort of neo-monastic order? What if Paul and I, the stationary property-owning-kids-in-a-local school-steady-job-types acted as the Abbott and Abbotess? What if The Densmore House was home base? What if folks had different types of affiliations with us? After all, the monasteries have tertiary members, novitiates, and full-blown monks. So, what if some folks hung wit hung with us at parties, while others were a part of ThPM, and still others lived near us, or heck, even with us? (Oh, and what if some of those folks even had other worshipping communities other than ThPM? How would that work?)
Monastic orders always had a rhythm of work and worship. What would our rhythm look like? And how could we make it both welcoming to newcomers, but rooted enough for long term folks? How could I as a leader set that rhythm, but allow enough room within it for the members of the order to shape it and add to it?
I’ve been checking out stuff on post-modern “monastic” orders on the web. The few that I’ve found are organized around a common interest like working with kids, or being artists. But if you organize that way, and interests change – what happens to the friendships? Is there some way to be together where you can support and celebrate each other’s passions without all having to share the same passion? Or is that just wishful thinking?
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking bout. I’d love to hear what you’ve been thinking about too.
Great questions…. my wife are i are exploring similar territory with our lives… let’s all compare notes when we’re 90, k? good questions. watching expectantly to see how these get worked out….
awesome stuff you guys are thinking about, can’t wait to hear more about it.
I was talking about community this morning and how frustrated I am with it. We can’t really do it unless we somehow live in walking distance of each other. But I love your ideas and want to keep up on what you uncover.Can we share our passion for worship?
Its all awesome, Rachelle. I think those that are willing to not only talk but begin to step these things out in a real fashion are those that will be commended. Nothing easy about what you are saying here, but as my friend likes to say… Take the hard road - - -
Wow, I just came across this by way of Kevin’s blog, and this is outstanding. My wife Deb and I have been thinking about this very thing ourselves. We have a vision for a new community, with the local community as our common bond. A large old building/house, where several families live. Working in the local community, at whatever job, be it a store clerk, hair stylist, whatever. And serving the local community, volunteering in anything and everything….neighborhood computer training, after-school care, grocery-gophers for local seniors, estate planning services, whatever the local community needs.
I hope it’s not a pipe dream…want it to be real…how…when…
Peace,
Paul
I ran across your thoughts via Kevin’s Kedge…how fun to dream out loud (well, dream digitally…) about this. I’d agree with you regarding not organizing specifically around an activity. Having pursued tasks wholeheartedly with a team, only to have the team scatter when the task was done, I’m leery of making deep relationships based on what I or others do. It seems too transactional. The human heart was never intended to be a player in the market economy. I’m not an anticapitalist, but we would never think of a dollar falling in love….neither should a heart be given in an arangement centered on productivity.
Bless you on your journey -
Randy
Great thoughts, Rachelle. Sounds like the wonderfully idyllic community I’ve always dreamed of. I actually used to think that as a single woman it would be great to have a large house in a college town, and rent out rooms to female students. I’d be the “mom”. But, I never lived in a college town, nor have I had enough money for a large house. It could work here, to rent rooms to ski resort employees and other transients on a short-term basis, but there again, large houses/complexes are in the multi-million $ range here.
There are LOTS of questions, including all those you’ve mentioned. One danger would be that we should be careful not to appear to the world that we are segregating yourselves or attempting to “shelter” ourselves from them. We need to keep ourselves involved in our communities as a whole, and if we spend so much time together focusing on our own little community life, we will be spending less and less time with the community. Perhaps a “goal” of this kind of community would be to find ways of getting out into the community as a team…the process of building the team up to do this would be a community-building effort in itself.
Hey Rachelle, got directed here via Kevin’s blog. I really resonate with your thoughts as well. I long for a community to try this “new monasticism” with. After reading your post I came across an interesting paper on mission, spirituality, and the new monasticism and thought you would be interested. It’s by Craig Gardiner in “Mission and Spirituality: Creative Ways of Being Church”. Its a collection of essays and papers from the UK (Pete Ward and others). Here’s a link to the book - http://www.countrybookshop.co.uk/books/index.phtml?whatfor=1898362289
okay, rachelle…..i, too- with the throng- came across your thoughts by way of Kevin’s blog (whom God has/is using to further shape my thinking on church)
i help lead a young community reaching mostly young adults in a college town doing a whole lot of dreaming along the lines of your thinking here…..inner longings and urgencies that, up until recently, have been relatively nameless, placeless and resource-less (and we are working on all of that)
“transient” and “frenetic” epitomizes our life here where we are and further mystifies a monastic way of life in our context and I wonder as well what our rhythm would “look like”. yet as a few in our community are starting to share these same passions you write about, i am nonetheless heartened and motivated by your thoughts.
glenn johnson
hi - found your blog via Kedge, via Prodigal!
Check out the Northumbria Community, and a book called ‘Colonies of Heaven’ by Ian Bradley(links on my blog). I think you’ll love them!