What to do? Pray.

Happy Ascension Day!

We are preaching on Sunday, so I've been pondering those readings (Acts 1:6-14) and today's reading from Luke (24:44-53).  Each of these describes what the community did after Jesus was no longer present with them.  In Acts "Luke" says that "they went to the room upstairs where they were staying.  In Luke's Gospel he says that "they were continually in the Temple."  But both readings describe the same action: they devoted themselves to prayer and praise.  Wherever they were, they knew what to do.

These days it may feel more like we're in the upper room than in the Temple.  You may be missing your church, and the general bustle of the world around you.  Or, you may be experiencing too much of it, via technology!  You may feel alone, or you may feel crowded in with others.  Whatever your situation, the message is the same.  This is a time to pray, to bless God.

It's not a time to pray because we're in trouble.  It's a time to pray because it's always time to pray.  But now, as we wait for Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit, we can pray with the memory and the awareness of the generations of other disciples who have prayed in all sorts of places, all sorts of moods and situations.  It looks like Jesus has left, but the Spirit comes and fills us.  Wherever we are.

If you're missing your local temple and your face to face community, listen to George Herbert.
Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise thee.          
  - George Herbert

We are freed from the belief that only one day deserves prayer, and only one place enables us to be heard.  From our upper rooms, together with whoever is there, we can, we will, open ourselves to God.

So, as you're pondering your rule of life in this new time, you can start by praying and praising.  I'm praying for us all, and giving thanks for you and your companionship on this journey.  We never really know where it leads - it wouldn't really be God without the surprise - but we know the Spirit is with us and will lead us into truth.  Rejoice!

A Rule of Life

And more.
I mentioned that monastics are generally governed by a rule.  That's a hard word for many of us.  "Rule" sounds like something to obey, something to get in trouble over.  So let me say a little about a rule, and how you can make one.

First, some trivia.  "Rule" comes from the Latin regula, trellis.  If we grow, we can use a framework and support to guide us.  A rule provides the trellis for our growth.  It names our values and offers guidelines for living them out.

Many of us live with implicit rules: "love your neighbor," "do unto others as you would have them do to you," "eat drink and be merry."  If you have been confirmed in a church (I mean really confirmed, not just going through the motions), you signed onto a rule.  It might have been called a covenant, but it's the same thing.  Values are named, actions counseled to further those values.

So: what are your values?  What do you want to stand for?  What matters to you?
Write them down.  Not a long list, don't get lost in the weeds.  Maybe five values.

Then: what actions will keep you aiming at those and growing on that path, that trellis?  You may get very concrete and specific, or it may be more general.  At some point it helps to have some specifics, so you know how you're doing.

Is prayer important to you?  Then how will you practice?
Is service to others a value?  How about care of the earth?  Health and well-being?  Justice?  What steps will you take to advance - or at least hold the line?

A rule is aspirational.  It gives us something to aim at, not to beat ourselves for failing at.  So you don't need to be afraid to fail.  Failure is how we see our need, and notice what doesn't work.

You can make a rule for yourself, but to really give it teeth I encourage you to join with someone else.  Elizabeth and I read a paragraph from our community Charism, Covenant, or Rule each day and check in on how it's going, and whether it still speaks to us.  Our other Companions check in with us and one another.  Five minutes makes all the difference.

What is the growth to which you're being called?  Who will you grow with?

More on Monasticism

OK, so I began to write about monasticism, but later I kept thinking about it.  The question you might be asking is, Why should I live like this?  Why would anyone live like this?

I could say, if you're called to it you'll want to.  But I think sometimes we can't hear a call until it's distinguished from other sounds by a conversation or an insight.  So, here's my attempt to sketch a distinction.

Many people associate monasticism with renunciation, focusing on what you can't do.  And it's true, traditional monasticism has vows that limit or exclude some activities that most of us like.  But that's not the point.  The point is to share our lives with others on the way to God, centering our lives on God and in God.  Any particular commitments gain legitimacy only insofar as they further that purpose.  So don't get confused by the history: many religious orders were modeled more on a military hierarchy than on a spiritual community.

Monasticism is rooted in the monos - the one.  While living in community, we are thrown back onto ourselves, forced to confront those parts of ourselves that make life difficult for ourselves and others and God.  We aim for the one pearl of great price - knowing God.  That's not to the exclusion of other people - we learn that we will know God primarily through those other people, just as they are.

Having children doesn't necessarily bar you from living a monastic life.  Having a life partner doesn't.  Having a job, civic commitments - we can do all these things as "monastics," grounded in a shared life of prayer and worship.  The distinguishing feature is our purpose.   Where is my treasure?  Where is the center of my life?  What am I about?

Not all lives devoted to glorifying God are monastic.  People can devote themselves to God through lives of active service.  That's good too, but monastic life is centered on prayer and worship in common.  As one of our advisors says, "one roof, one kitchen."  One chapel.  So "ideally" you will do this with others (maybe with us!).  But you can live a version of this with a network of others, sharing prayer and worship and study and the occasional meal.  You can share the hunger for God alone, together.

So why live like this?  Because it brings deep joy.  Because knowing God, knowing God's love for us and ours for God, is a treasure beyond anything on earth.  That's not to denigrate all the other joys in life; it's to say that there's another frontier.  Life together is a life of glimpses of that joy, glimpses of God in one another and in oneself and in creation.  It's a life of shared purpose, strengthening us to be the people we're called to be.  Beyond our wildest dreams, people!  Go for it.

Pachomius

Today the Episcopal Church remembers Pachomius of Tabenissi, the founder of cenobitic monasticism.  "Cenobitic" means living together, rather than as a collection of hermits.  This was a new development when Pachomius began.  His monastery was the target of bishops and priests who feared the independence of the monks from the church hierarchy, and Pachomius returned their suspicion.  The official biography offers a happy ending with "mutual respect" between monastics and the church hierarchy; but in the early Constantinian age, when others forms of diversity were being swallowed up, I'm suspicious that it was more a takeover and compromise than a real rapprochement.  Whatever.  I could say a lot about this, but it's not my focus today.

What matters today is that this form of life continues, in a variety of shapes and sizes, and gives life to many of us.  Elizabeth and I share this life, as part of a larger community that bridges monastic and non-monastic, lay and ordained.  We are not just a couple of women sharing a home, or a life; we are a monastic community, whether we are two or two hundred.  Our lives are centered on prayer, with ministry flowing from that.  Our Rule and Covenant are part of the long line of guides for living this life.  Reading about Pachomius today makes me grateful that this seed keeps sprouting, in hearts and minds and occasionally in whole lives.

I don't write to you as to a spectator in this enterprise.  There is no official checklist to meet before becoming a "cenobitic monastic community."  If you are hungry for that shared life of prayer, hungry enough to change your life, look around.  Perhaps you're married to someone who shares your passion for God.  What would happen if you committed to one another to live according to a rule of life, a rule you created together?  Or perhaps you live alone, and you can't imagine leaving your work or other commitments to find others who share your dream.  What if you asked God to help you imagine?  What if you prayed for a door to open?

Elizabeth and I did not join an existing community.  We made it up, out of threads given us by generations of other seekers.  The Companions are new, and old.  You have the same potential in you.  If you want it, ask.

Yesterday's office reading of the Gospel:  Don't worry about what you are to eat or drink or wear.  Strive for the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and you'll be taken care of.

Do you believe it?  Are you willing to bet on it?  Oh, I hope so!