August 24, 2008 - "Vows of Transformation and Service"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Pentecost 14
August 24, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

Series: The New Monasticism

VOWS OF TRANSFORMATION
AND SERVICE

Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20


We continue our consideration of the church as abbey and monastery, living as monks and nuns in the world, with yours truly serving as your abbot.

MONASTIC VOWS

One of the most important things monastics do is take vows. The most well-known vows are: poverty, chastity, and obedience. In the Benedictine tradition the vows are obedience, conversion, and stability (included in those three are poverty and celibacy). We are going to be addressing all these elements of monastic vows, but I want to invite us as a congregation to the Three Vows of Transformation, Service, and Community. We find all three of these described in chapter 4 of Benedict’s Rule.

Esther de Waal writes: “The beauty of the Rule is the way in which the three vows . . . all interrelate . . . They constantly illuminate, deepen and depend on each other.” [1]

Today we’re going to consider Transformation and Service. The following three weeks we will look at vows of Community.

Let’s begin with a brief conversation about vows.

What is a vow? A vow is a commitment a statement or declaration, a pledge, a promise to God or to another person or to a community.

The Bible speaks often of vows. But vows are found not only in the Bible but throughout the ancient Mediterranean. The making of a vow was a way of publicly placing your honor on the line. It was a giving of your word.

VOWS OF CONVERSION / TRANSFORMATION (Romans 12:1-2)

“[The vows] present to people outside of a monastic community . . . three promises that together form one whole process.” [2] The one whole process the vows form is the primary vow - what is called “conversion of life.” It’s what the Christian life is all about.

Benedict and his followers formed a religious order of monks dedicated first and foremost to conversion, a turning to God’s ways. It’s the commitment we make when we enter into the baptismal waters and confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

The word conversion, primarily in evangelical circles, has come to mean a one time moment when you ask Jesus into your heart. The problem with most of us who understand conversion in this way is that we appear no more like Christ in actual practice than anyone else in America. Christians are pretty much like the rest of the culture when it comes to divorce, sexual immorality, and domestic abuse. We don’t stand out as a people set apart, except that we’re more likely to be racist. And the more money we have, the less likely we are to share it with the poor. What we most need are schools for conversion. [3]

Because conversion has negative connotations and makes people think of one-time conversion experiences, I have chosen to call this the Vow of Transformation, and will use the word conversion and transformation interchangeably. And it is a reference to a lifelong journey of change.

Repentance and Transformation: The Call of Jesus and Paul

When Jesus shows up in the Gospels he issues forth a call to “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Paul said, “Do not be conformed to the world. Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Repentance: The First Step Toward Conversion

Repentance is our first step toward conversion in response to God’s grace. It is the good news that another reality is breaking into the world and it demands a fundamental transformation of all who hear it. To be a part of this new world order, this new humanity as Paul calls it, we have to die to ourselves and get “born again” as members of Christ’s body. [4]

Conversion: Metanoia - Change of Heart and Mind

There are two dynamics to repentance: one from the Greek, one from the Hebrew.

The Greek word for repentance - “metanoia” - is about a change of heart and mind. It’s about the renewal of ourselves from the inside out. The mind of Christ is Paul’s word picture for the shape of inner conversion, of what God’s image looks like. Only as we inhabit the mind of Christ do we learn to see what conversion looks like.

Inner conversion means that my false self is dying so that my true self can be given life. Conversion is always about becoming who I really am - a creature created in God’s image. [5]

Conversion: Shuv - Change of Direction

The second dynamic of conversion comes from the Hebrew word for repentance - shuv - which means to turn or return. It’s a physical word, involving bodily movement, especially movement of the feet. To turn toward God is to set one’s feet on a new path, forsaking the road that leads to destruction to walk in the way that leads to life. Conversion is a way of life that must be practiced. [6]

John Stott joins these two dynamics together when he says the Bible demonstrates our need for a double conversion, first out of the world and into Christ, then back into the world with Christ. [7]

So there are internal and external dynamics to conversion.

VOWS OF SERVICE (Romans 12:3-8)

This external dynamic of conversion leads us out into the world with Christ and calls us to make Vows of Service.

Conversion is witnessed in the service that we offer - service in the church as we share our gifts with one another in the Body of Christ - gifts of ministry, teaching, leadership - as well as service as the Body of Christ in the world. The Rule of Benedict (4:14-18) calls us to works of mercy and goodness, to “relieve the poor and clothe the naked and visit the sick and console the sorrowing.”

The church-as-abbey is a church with worship at its heart, but realizes prayer is not enough. We are called to offer hospitality to all and minister to the marginalized, work for peace and justice, and engage the world in mission. Most ministry happens outside the abbey with the abbey serving as a resource of help and hope.

This new monasticism of which we are speaking is not the shaping of what you normally think of as a monastery. It is learning the rhythm of monastic life so that we can better and more faithfully live as God’s people in the world.

At times that service may issue itself in civil disobedience. The lectionary Hebrew lesson for this week (Exodus 1:8-2:10) tells the courageous story of Shiphrah and Puah, the two Hebrew midwives who disobeyed the king of Egypt and refused to kill the baby boys when they were born. It is the first act of civil disobedience found in the Bible. And it reminds us that sometimes our conversion calls us to disobey government and law. There is a political side to our conversion. We are to be a people who stand for peace and justice in the world, especially for the poor.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Compassionate, self-giving service is the proof of an authentic spirituality, the evidence of a mature Christian life. It naturally springs from the heart of monks and nuns in the world. Naturally because the monastic heart has been nurtured and shaped through spiritual practices.

Contemplation

There is the spiritual practice of contemplation. Contemplation is the movement of the self toward union with God. Nurtured deep in the heart, expressed in love for others. Mother Teresa is often cited as an example of one who lived a Christ-like life. Rarely does anyone explain the years of contemplation that Mother Teresa practiced in order to become the kind of person who could serve as Christ served. Contemplation is the way God has opened for us to receive the mind of Christ. [8]

Solitude

Contemplation happens in solitude. Solitude is the place of our own conversion. Ruth Haley Barton says, “In solitude we stop believing our own press.” [9] The practice of solitude.

Study

And there is the spiritual practice of study. Our scripture lesson this morning calls to renew our minds. One way we do this is through study.

Benedictine monks and nuns are traditionally identified with scholarship as well as prayer. One monk titled his book about monastic culture The Love of Learning and the Desire for God [9b]. This congregation shares the same heritage of scholarship. But we must make sure our love of learning is rooted in our desire for God. One way of joining the two is through lectio divina, a prayerful reading of scripture practiced here each Sunday evening.

Celibacy/Chastity

And we really can’t talk about monks and nuns without addressing the spiritual practice of celibacy or chastity. Paul talks about presenting our bodies to God as part of our worship. That means what we do with our bodies matters.

Monks and nuns who enter monasteries take a vow to refrain from sexual relationships. Celibacy is about sexual fidelity as well as abstinence. Celibacy is a curbing of natural desires that allows one to stay focused and faithful. Celibates aren’t alone in learning to say no to sexual impulses. Married people have to do the same if they are going to remain faithful to their vows. Celibacy allows the sexual impulse to be channeled into self-giving love. So does marriage. Just as monks learn lessons in love by practicing celibacy, married people learn about loving by committing to faithfulness in their families. Chastity isn’t just for celibates. [10] And it’s not just about sex.

A couple of years ago I told the story about a birthday party for whores. A grandmother told me later that week she had to explain to her granddaughter what a whore was. And in her great wisdom, that grandmother told her granddaughter, “A whore is someone who does something for money that they should do for love.” It’s the best definition I’ve ever heard because it makes the word more expansive than sexuality.

So we’ve talked about the spiritual practices of contemplation, solitude, study, and chastity. There are others we will address throughout this Fall.

But speaking of spiritual disciplines, Annie Dillard says, God does not require nor demand them. You do not have to do these things - unless you want to know God. They work on you, not on God. You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it. [11]

TRANSFORMATION AND SERVICE:
PERSONAL MATURITY AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH

We engage in spiritual practices to grow and mature as human beings made in the image of God. Conversion is a personal commitment to facing up to the demands of growth and change in our lives. Maturity comes only by confronting what has to be confronted within ourselves. [12]

As the church we must be intentional about why we meet together. We are here for the purpose of personal transformation in the image of Christ for the sake of the world. And to do so in community. If we’re not intentional we forget why we are here. “We become consumers of religion rather than cultivators of a spiritual life.” [13]

At times the church has been known to make the way of Jesus seem less demanding - no sacrifice, no giving of self, no change required - in order to help spur church growth. We want to do things to attract people and make them feel comfortable, and the teachings of Jesus don’t always do that.

Monasteries also have to be about the business of recruiting new monks, which gets tougher and tougher in today’s society, as vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are not rising in the polls as preferred lifestyle choices.

One day a perspective recruit shows up at a monastery and is warmly welcomed with the generosity of Benedictine hospitality. He is chauffeured around the monastery grounds in a shiny new car; he’s presented with a lovely keepsake at the monastery gift shop; at dinner he is lavishly served a fine feast at the head table with the abbot and prior; and all this is followed by a nice after-dinner drink in the monastery recreation room. Finally, as it is time to go, the young recruit is asked if there is anything more he’d like to do or see to help him with his decision. “Yes,” replies the young man, “If this is poverty, show me chastity!” [14]

CONCLUSION

While there is an attraction to the way of Jesus - living for something greater than yourself - it is a costly and demanding way. It is the way of transformation and service.

The call to transformation is a call to grace. The daily confession of monks and nuns is this: “Everyday I say to myself - Today I will begin again.” Transformation is the work of God’s grace within us.

Some of us will wear ourselves out trying to change ourselves before we realize that it is not about fixing what is wrong, but about letting go of old patterns that no longer serve us well. [15]

Monks vow themselves to conversion of life. They promise that whatever happens, they will keep themselves on the hard course of becoming more authentically human and Christlike. That’s conversion. Shutting the door to yesterday and starting over, every single day of your life.[16]

Transformation is a very slow business if it is to be authentic. It’s purpose, says John Calvin, is to restore in us the image of God that has been disfigured. This restoration does not take place in one moment or one day or one year. It is the work of God is us throughout our lives, ending only at death.

The good news of the gospel isn’t that you’re OK and I’m OK, but that we are accepted by God as we are and that God can transform us all into the people we were made to be. It’s not that you can be whatever you want to be, but that you are free to grow up with God’s people into the full stature of Christ.

Personal transformation, living in community, serving Christ in the world. That is our calling.

_________________________

1. Esther de Waal, Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict, Liturgical Press, 2001, 55
2. Esther de Waal, A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, The Liturgical Press, 1995, , ix
3. Jon Stock, Tim Otto, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism, Cascade, 2007, 27-28
4. Ibid., 27
5. Ibid., 33
6. Ibid., 29-30
7. Quoted in Andy Freeman and Pete Greig, Punk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing, Regal, 2007, 111

8. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, “Commitment to a Disciplined Contemplative Life,” in Schools For Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism, Rutba House, 2007, 164-167
9. Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Zondervan, 2008, 51
9b. Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, Fordham University Press, 1982
10. Lonni Collins Pratt and Father Daniel Holman, Benedict’s Way: An Ancient Monk’s Insights For a Balanced Life, Loyola Press, 2000, 60-61
11. Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper and Row, 1982
12. De Waal, Seeking God, 75, 78
13. Dennis Okholm, Monk Habits For Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants, Brazos, 2008, 35
14. Linus Mundy, A Retreat with Benedict and Bernard: Seeking God Alone - Together, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1998, 89
15. Barton, 53
16. Pratt and Holman, 121

August 17, 2008 - "On Being Monks and Nuns in the World"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Pentecost 14
August 17, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

Series: THE NEW MONASTICISM

ON BEING MONKS AND NUNS IN THE WORLD: THE CHURCH AS ABBEY AND MONASTERY
Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:10-20

A Personal Word

I want to begin this morning with a personal word about my own life. Like so many of you, my life is full of responsibility and demand. With work and family and a desire to make a difference in our community, our minds and our bodies can become exhausted. Over the past few years, I have become increasingly frustrated with my ability to do what I feel I need to do and at the same time to live the life God is calling me to live in the way God is calling me to live it. I don’t believe I am alone in this struggle. I think there’s always been just enough selfishness within me and sense about me that I don’t do myself in completely by trying to do everything.

About five years ago I turned my Sabbath from Friday into Monday because come Friday there was always something still to do - a visit to make, a sermon to prepare. And I have been pretty good about reserving Monday for relaxation usually in a bookstore somewhere. But Tuesday through Sunday is where the struggle comes in. My life often feels scattered and disordered. My spiritual life at times seems empty. And I don’t believe that’s how God wants any of us to live.

About three years ago I made my first trip to a monastery, St. Meinrad’s Abbey, northwest of here in Indiana. I lived for a week in the beauty and serenity of that place, and even fantasized about life as a monk.

A little over a year ago I stumbled upon several books about monastic spirituality. And though I’ve not been able to put as much of it into practice as I would like, I have found myself being drawn to the order and rhythm of monastic spirituality, and I want to share some of that with you.

I want us to spend this Fall learning from the monastery how to order our lives and in a sense live as monks and nuns in the world. The thought of my daughters becoming nuns excites me. The idea of my wife becoming a nun - not so much!

I also want us to think about how our church could be a reflection of an abbey or monastery. And I want to spend some time this morning trying to explain what I mean.

The Monastic Movement

It is often assumed that monks and nuns enter monasteries to escape the world and that their lifestyles are completely irrelevant to life in the real world. However, monasteries began around the fourth century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and authentic Christianity was replaced by nationalism and the church pledged its allegiance to the state.

Individual Christians took off for the desert because the church and culture were so corrupt, the desert was the only place they could grow as human beings and reflect the image of God. It was not otherworldly as much as it was counter-cultural.

Throughout history, the church has often reflected the culture so much, endorsing the government’s self-serving policies of progress and empire, you could no longer tell the difference between the church and the culture. The church really offered no alternative to culture’s greed and excessive individualism.

Protestants often look back to Martin Luther calling a corrupt church to truth and faithfulness. But we easily forget he was a monk who learned the gospel he preached in a monastery. We forget that much of the so-called Protestant Reformation was driven by the monastic impulse. [1]

The Anabaptist vision from which we spring has monastic roots as they called for voluntary membership in community, a common way of life, a disciplined pursuit of holiness, and leaders elected by the community. They wanted a church that looked like a monastery. [2]

In 1930, German pastor, theologian, and prisoner Dietrich Bonhoeffer experienced in Germany what happens when the church weds itself to the state. And he said, “The restoration of the church will surely come from a sort of new monasticism with the uncompromising attitude of a life lived according to the Sermon on the Mount in the following of Christ.”

In every era God has raised up new monastics to pledge their allegiance to God alone and remind the church of its true vocation. Monasticism has served as a renewal movement for the church, calling it back to faithful living, helping the church be the church by recovering its life and witness in the world.

There is a great deal of writing these days about what Bonhoeffer called “a new monasticism.”

Over the past several years, new monastic communities have been forming all over the world in England, Australia, North Carolina, San Francisco, Memphis, and just down the road in Lexington, Kentucky. Some who live in these monastic communities live together in large houses. Some live in the same geographical area. Most of them have relocated into areas of poverty. Most of them work regular jobs. Some live from a common purse, making sure no one among them is in need, like the early church described in the book of Acts. Others share their possessions in other ways. What they most share in common is a desire to escape the prison of materialism and greed and individualism and make sure everyone has the basic necessities of life. These are communities centered in prayer and discernment. And most make decisions by consensus.

There are monasteries in many different religious traditions - Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and non-denominational. As I was studying this new monasticism I came upon a Baptist monastery in Australia, Holy Transfiguration Monastery (or HTM), which is connected to a local Baptist church and is a member of its local Baptist association. They uphold traditional Baptist principles of the centrality of scripture, religious freedom, priesthood of the believer, and a personal relationship with God. Paul Dekar, a professor of religion at Memphis Theological Seminary is a Baptist and a covenant member of that Australian Baptist monastic community.

Imagine my surprise when I read that in October 2006, members of that monastic community traveled to a place on the Thai side of the border between Burma and Thailand and engaged Karen refugees in conversation and partnership. [3]

Monastic Spirituality: Personal and Communal

So now, what is the nature of this monastic spirituality that binds these communities together? And what do they have to say to us as we ponder what a congregational monasticism might look like? And how can such a spirituality renew our own personal lives?

These are the questions we will we seeking to answer in the weeks ahead, but in our remaining time together I want to give you some idea of what a monastic spirituality is and what it has to say to us.

In his book A Monk In the World Wayne Teasdale writes, “Without doubt, there is great value in spirituality that emphasizes and supports withdrawal from society. But in our time, with its special needs, we require a spirituality of intense involvement and radical engagement with the world. It is in the world that people live their busy lives, and it is in the world that the wisdom of the monks must be made accessible.” [4]

The Rule of Benedict

All monastic communities are bound together by a rule of life or covenant. The most significant monastic rule is The Rule of St. Benedict. [5]

Before I share the nature of Benedict’s Rule, it might help overcome our resistance to a daily rule that governs our lives by acknowledging that we each have a rule of life whether we know it or not. It may be as simple as getting out of bed, picking up the paper, eating breakfast, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, getting dressed, waking the children, going to work, checking your emails, the routine of the work day, coming home, eating dinner, changing clothes, putting the kids to bed, watching TV, reading a book, going to sleep - or some variation thereof. It is our rule, the pattern for our living. The question is: Are we guided by a healthy, balanced, integrated rule and pattern for living?

Benedict wrote in an age that was, in many ways, a world not unlike our own. Benedict was born around the year 480. Rome was sacked for a second time in 455, and in 476 the last emperor was deposed. He grew up watching the demise of the Roman Empire, years of social and economic insecurity. Order had broken down. Institutions that had worked in the past were collapsing. The securities on which people believed they could count were crumbling. Markets were failing, and there was a huge social imbalance by which the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The Church too was being torn apart by internal disputes. [6] Any of that sound familiar?

Saint Benedict entered his cave in Subiaco seeking to make sense of his Christian commitment and to discern God’s way in a torn-apart, troubled society pervaded by a sense of chaos and meaninglessness. Benedict chose to simplify his life in order to be more available to God, to listen and to learn the way of Truth. [7]

Borrowing from previous Rules of other communities, Benedict penned his own Rule, the most famous by far, and it has been guiding monastic communities and personal lives for almost 1500 years. I have one here in my hand. It is a small guide of roughly 9000 words serving to give shape to particular monastic communities. It also has much to say to those who do not live in monasteries.

“The Rule of Benedict is a commentary on the gospel, and it is woven out of quotations from the Bible.” [8] Benedict begins his Rule with a quote from the Psalms: Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days? (Psalm 34:12) [9]. What a beautiful invitation!

The Rule calls us to ask the question: “What kind of life does my heart want?” [10] Buechner says, “We live our lives in search for a self to be, for other selves to love, and for work to do.”

Here is a spirituality that helps us in that search, grounded in questions that are inescapable: How do I live with myself? How do I live with others? How do I relate to the world around me? How do I find time and space for God? [11] “How do I grow and fulfill my true self? Where can I find healing and grow into wholeness? [12] Am I being changed by the power of the Gospel? Am I being changed by the presence of God in my life?” [13]


Thomas Merton, the most famous of monks in the past few hundred years, who spent his monastic life just down the way in Gethsemani, Kentucky, said the whole purpose of the monastic life is to teach people to live by love. [14] Ultimately that is [Benedict’s] question to each of us: Am I daily becoming a more loving person? [15]

Benedict deals with so many issues that touch our lives today: attitudes toward work, the need for recreation, appropriate quantities of food and drink, adequate rest, respect for one another, time for silence, the place of study in order to grow as faithful Christians, and a willingness to listen attentively to other members of the community so that shared wisdom and gifts enrich all. [16]

Billy Joel sings that he doesn’t know why he goes to extremes. [16a] We can relate to what he’s saying. Many of us often wonder what’s wrong inside of us that keeps us from getting a grip on ourselves.

Benedict can help. Five activities are rhythmically woven together in one chapter of the Rule - prayer, work, rest, study, and eating - all to be done in proper measure. Benedict prohibited extremes. He says, “Moderation in all things except in zeal for Christ.”

A high school girl back from a week at a Christian camp and told her father that she knew it was time to come down from the mountaintop and enter back into the real world. Her wise father answered her, “You were in the real world!” That is, the mountaintop experience of Christian community that she found at camp more closely approximated the world as God intended it at creation. What we have made of “the world” into which that young girl reentered after camp is not the way it was meant to be. In fact, most of us in “the world” live on the surface of life without really knowing the true depth of life.

So to those who would say that the monastery is not the “real world,” one could say that the monastic life actually takes us far deeper into the real world than life outside the monastery. It is certainly more significant than flipping hamburgers eight hours a day and asking customers if they want to super-size that, or spending four hours a day the average American does watching television. Is the monastic balanced life, which puts possessions and relationships and the life of the soul in proper perspective, less real than our consumptive preoccupation with gadgets, television, celebrities, war, and spirit-numbing work? Who has distorted reality? Who lives in the real world? The monk or the materialist? [17]

It has been said that the Rule’s strength is “to be a witness to normalcy.” [18]

Mike Yaconelli said, “What keeps many of us from spiritual growth is not sin but speed.” [19] And in a world that keeps asking us to go higher and faster, how do we begin to go deeper, into the place where God lives and moves and has his being within us? [20]

Benedict insists that since body, mind, and spirit together make up the whole person the daily pattern of life in the monastery should involve time for prayer (for the spirit), time for study (for the mind), and time for manual work (for the body). All three should command respect and all three should equally become a way to God. The days of Benedictine monks are patterned on the rhythmic succession of these three elements: prayer, study, work. Four hours each day were devoted to liturgical prayer, four to spiritual reading, and six to manual work. It is surprising to many that monks actually spend more time in manual labor than prayer. The framework of each day is shaped by the opus Dei, the saying of the offices, daily prayer, the worship of God, which is at the center of the monastic life. [21]

Journey Inward, Journey Outward - Alone and in Community

Christians yearn for a way of life that is whole and holy, a form of life that is rooted in Christ and deeply connected with others. [22]

Monasticism, old and new, leads us on a “journey inward, journey outward” - alone and in community. There is the inward journey toward prayer and solitude, study and contemplation; and the outward journey pointing us toward mission in the world through lives of service, compassion, and the work for social justice.

Elizabeth O’Connor said that we make the journey inward so that we can make the journey outward. She was talking about our being drawn to a deeper sense of communion with God that will somehow equip us and strengthen us and shape us so that we might be more like the Christ that we are to be for those who are given to us. If there is not time set aside for the journey inward, then there will soon be not enough energy left for the journey outward. [23]

Living as “active contemplatives” is the balanced role most monastics communities strive for. [24]

Other Rules/Covenants of New Monastic Communities

Monastic communities have not all been uniform. They have been shaped by the historical circumstances in which they live. But common to them all is a rule of life or covenant that binds them to one another and shapes their life together as they seek a faithful life, deepening their own relationships with God, with others, and in service to the world.

These rules of life are marked by the rhythm of the early church where we read in the book of Acts they were devoted to the apostles’ teachings and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They impacted the city around them, enjoying the favor of all the people (which would have been the poor), and many others were joining them.

Holy Transfiguration Monastery (HTM) in Australia is a community rooted in
- prayer
- Bible study
- accountability in the use of time and money
- working for peace, justice, and the integrity of creation.

At the heart of its vision, the Caritas Community in Memphis, Tennessee seeks:
- to form relationships with neighbors and experience their joys, celebrations, and struggles;
- to help all people - not just Christians - to recognize how God is working in their lives;
- to assist members of the neighborhood open to empowering themselves;
- to identify and develop the leadership capabilities of the people;
- to assist in the spiritual transformation of the neighborhood;

- and to establish and encourage partnerships that will provide economic opportunities in the neighborhood. [25]

A monastic community in Melbourne, Australia made up of members from Clifton Hill Baptist Church identified four principles that would shape their common life:
- a community whose devotion is centered on Jesus Christ,
- members who acknowledge their dependence on God’s grace and seek to share it with others,
- a community that exists for the sake of others, notably, “the little people of the world,”
- members who understand community as a place where they can discover their God-given gifts, develop them, and use them within the context of the community’s developing mission in the world. [26]

Pete Greig from England has put out a call for “third millennium monasteries”
- where people would pray 24-7
- where the poor would be served,
- the gospel shared
- and arts and hospitality practiced. [27]

These are Christian communities that desire to be places of prayer, mission and justice centered on Jesus. They know prayer without mission is empty. Missionary C. T. Studd said, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bells - I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” A monastic model of an abbey church allows us to do both. There are the bells that call us as monastics to prayer. And there are the cries of the suffering and poor that call us to engage the world with the good news.

Monasticism has much to offer people who live their lives outside a monastery:
- a rhythm to life of prayer, study, rest, and work,
- a strong sense of community
- a lifelong commitment to conversion and transformation

As followers of Jesus we are all of us seeking a rhythmic life of prayer, study, rest, and work in community with the goal of personal transformation in the image of Christ for the sake of the world.

Monasticism provides a model for us.

A Baptist Abbey in Crescent Hill?

So: Is it possible for a congregation like ours to serve as a new monastic community? A type of congregational monasticism? Could we be a Baptist Abbey here in Crescent Hill?

I am drawn to the monastic image of congregational life for a couple of reasons:

One is personal. I love monasteries and I need the rhythm it provides. My life too often feels chaotic, and I think the monastery has something to teach us about creating a rhythm to our lives in a world outside a traditional monastery.

And two, we are as a congregation more contemplative in nature. So are monasteries. And I think many of us would feel at home there. However, the monastic life can also stretch us because monks and nuns spend more time in actual work and service to others than they do in prayer.

To become monks and nuns and to establish an abbey and monastery here is not to cloister us in from the world. It is a place where we learn to listen to the voice of God, intentionally give ourselves over to transformation, live in community, as a witness to the kingdom of God, seeking to transform the world.

I do not know where this will take us. I only know it is a place I am feeling led. I am longing and I sense among you a longing for transformation and a desire to minister in our community.

I want to invite those of you who would like to consider engaging in personal monastic practices to join me in a small group exercise this fall. Send me an email or give me a call this week if you are interested.

The Communal Nature of a Faithful Spirituality

Let us never forget the communal nature of monastic spirituality. Rare is the monk who spends his day alone. It is about living in community and sharing a common life. That’s because of the communal nature to scripture: almost all the you’s are plural. The New Testament calls us to be a holy priesthood. The psalmist proclaims, “How good and pleasant and beautiful it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.”

The “Mon” in Monasticism: Seeking God

Monasticism is also deeply personal.

I think for most if not all of us, there is a monk soul deep inside longing to be fed. It is that solitary place in every human soul. Monasticism isn’t about achieving some sort of individual or communal piety. The “mon” in monasticism points to one purpose, singleness of heart, which is seeking God.

We don’t come to a church or a monastery to follow techniques and methods and schedules; we come to seek and find God. [28]

Prayer. Work. Silence. Simplicity. Solitude. Humility. Conversion. Community. Faithfulness. These are stepping stones on our path of seeking God. [29]

The prophet Jeremiah said: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (6:16).

So, in the words of St. Benedict: Let us set out on this way with the Gospel as our guide. [30]

_________________________

1. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today’s Church, Brazos, 2008, 51
2. Ibid., 52
3. Paul Dekar, Community of the Transfiguration: The Journey of a New Monastic Community, Cascade, 2008, 62
4. Wayne Teasdale, A Monk in the World, New World Library, 2002, xxii
5. St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict, ed. Timothy Fry, Vintage Spiritual Classics, 1998.
6. Esther de Waal, A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, The Liturgical Press, 1995, vii, x
7. Elizabeth Canham, Heart Whispers: Benedictine Wisdom For Today, Abingdon, 1999, 56-57
8. Abbot Christopher Jamison, Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life, Liturgical Press, 2006, 7
9. St. Benedict, Prologue, 14-16
10. Canham, 149
11. de Waal, vii
12. Esther de Waal, Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict, Liturgical Press, 2001, 29
13. de Waal, A Life-Giving Way, x
14. Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, New Directions, 1975, 333
15. de Waal, Seeking God, 13
16. Canham, 12
16a. Billy Joel, Storm Front album, "I Go to Extremes", 1989.
17. Dennis Okholm, Monk Habits For Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants, Brazos, 2008, 31-32
18. de Waal, Seeking God, 92
19. Mike Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality, Zondervan, 2002, 96
20. Robert Benson, A Good Life: Benedict’s Guide to Everyday Joy, Paraclete Press, 2004, 5
21. de Waal, Seeking God, 89
22. Jon Stock, Tim Otto, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism, Cascade, 2007, viii
23. Benson, 40-41
24. Linus Mundy, A Retreat with Benedict and Bernard: Seeking God Alone - Together, St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1998, 60
25. Dekar, 25
26. Ibid., 37
27. Andy Freeman and Pete Greig, Punk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing, Regal, 2007, 53
28. Mundy, 39
29. Mundy, 105
30. St. Benedict, Prologue

August 10, 2008 - "Walking on Water"

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Pentecost 13
August 10, 2008
W. Gregory Pope

WALKING ON WATER

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b;
Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33

When I called Andrea this week to ask if she would read the scripture lesson in worship, I told her it was the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water, and since that is what we are expecting her to do, it was only appropriate that she read the text. And she still agreed to do so. Andrea, I’m just kidding. Mostly.

It is quite an interesting story, this walking on water adventure. It raises questions in many a modern mind. And most of us are familiar with the explanations offered to make the story more believable: Jesus was really walking on the shore, or he was walking where the water was shallow, or (my favorite) he knew where the rocks were.

New Testament scholar Eugene Boring (an unfortunate name for a scholar) puts forth a rather interesting way to look at this story. He calls us to think of this story from a post-Easter perspective as a resurrection appearance of Jesus strategically placed by Matthew at the very center of his gospel. There are notable similarities between this story and other resurrection appearances in the gospels:

There are the disciples out in the boat seeing Jesus on the shore and Peter jumping out of the boat to come to Jesus.

There is the feeling that Jesus is a ghost just like his appearance to the disciples on Easter evening.

We have the disciples worshiping Jesus, which they do at the end of Matthew’s gospel when Jesus utters the Great Commission.

Even those familiar Easter words: “Do not be afraid; it is I.” [1]

We don’t always know exactly how to read the miracle stories in the gospels. But if we could, let us for this morning suspend disbelief and simply enter into the story and listen for God’s word to us.

Following the feeding of the 5000, Jesus tells the disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side. He wants to get away for awhile and pray. Even Jesus needed to pray. So he sends the disciples away and dismisses the crowd. Night falls, and he is finally alone.

But he’s not alone for long. The text doesn’t even tell us he is able to begin praying before a storm has arisen. And he looks out across the lake and sees the disciples’ boat is far from shore and being literally tortured by the waves with the wind against them.

What we have here, says Tom Long, is a symbolic picture of the church - disciples in a boat, called by God, and sent out on to a dangerous, unpredictable sea. The boat is battered by waves and fights the wind as it struggles toward a difficult landfall. How often the church finds itself working and struggling to be faithful in perilous times! [2]

So here are the disciples being tossed around the sea in the middle of a storm. Then Jesus comes to them. But it says he comes to them “early in the morning,” and that the storm began “when evening came.”

Did Jesus leave them out there awhile before going to rescue them? Did Jesus need to pray longer in order to have the strength to save them? Or does “early in the morning” mean something else?

I don’t know what you hear, and I could be making more of it than is really there, but it sounds like Easter to me. Especially following a scene where bread had been broken and shared. “Early in the morning” could be Matthew’s way of speaking life and divine presence in the face of fear and death.

Whatever it may mean, “early in the morning” is a time when it is still dark. It fact, it is the darkest hour of the night.

In the monastic rhythm of daily prayer called the Service of the Hours, the first prayer of the day is called Vigils. Monks walk under the stars in the pre-dawn dark to the church. It is also known as Matins, the night-watch, the times, says Brother David Stendle-Rast, of “learning to trust the darkness.” [3]

You ever been in those kinds of storms where you’ve had to learn to trust the darkness? You’ve been told that Jesus is always there, but sometimes it’s too dark to see and you just have to trust. Scary times.

When Jesus gets close enough to the disciples’ boat, they see him, but they think it’s a ghost, and they cry out in fear. Wouldn’t you? I mean, who’s expecting to see somebody out in the middle of the lake without a boat?

And Jesus, who knows their fear, says to them, “Take heart. Do not be afraid. I AM.”

Just as God named himself to Moses in the burning bush, so Jesus identifies himself as the great “I AM,” the “I AM” who, the psalmist says, “provides a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters” (Ps 77:19).

In the person of Jesus, God is walking on the waters, present in the midst of storms to save us through the storms.

And Peter, who always has the initial courageous impulse to go where no one has gone before, says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

And Jesus says, “Come on.”

And for a moment, Peter is able to walk toward his Lord on the wind-blown waters. It’s yet another picture of what discipleship is all about - obeying Jesus, acting courageously, moving toward Jesus confidently even in the teeth of a storm.

Peter is often criticized for having little faith, but he does ask Jesus to command him to come to him. Peter begins his journey across the water toward Jesus with the recognition that this is not something he can do on his own initiative. Peter’s faith is little, but he at least is beginning to recognize that faith is obedience. [4] And so he takes a step of faith no one else is willing to take toward the Christ who calls him.

Some of you have taken that step. You have left what is known and risked your life to serve God in Russia, Israel, Japan, Costa Rica, Thailand, America. May Say shared her faith story with us last Wednesday night. She told how she felt called to be a missionary. She initially did not want to leave Thailand and come to America. But she told God that if God wanted her to be a missionary to America, she would go. And here she is, along with many Karen brothers and sisters, being the presence of Christ to Crescent Hill Baptist Church and the city of Louisville and in places all over the world.

When I think of what we are trying to do here - live in community together as brothers and sisters in Christ - despite barriers of language and culture - it is astounding. You should hear people throughout CBF and other friends of mine when they hear of what we are doing.

Yes, it would be much easier for us to worship and serve God separately as two different congregations, each of us in our own language. But our efforts to worship and serve together give witness to the unity of the Body of Christ, and in the process of a unity that God is joining together, we are enriched and changed in ways that would be impossible otherwise. We have stepped out of the security of the boat, moving in faith toward Jesus.

And as long as we keep our eyes focused on the One who calls us to risk ourselves in faith, we may just find ourselves walking on water, taking part in the miraculous work of God among us.

The other option is to give in to the fear of the wind and sink like a rock. Or worse, just stay in the boat, too afraid to risk ourselves at all. Or worse than that, never get in the boat to begin with.

Peter is to be commended for his willingness and courage to do only what could be done with God’s help. But he is also a reminder that we must not give in to the fear around us. Peter does not begin to sink and then become frightened; he becomes frightened and then begins to sink.

As he begins to sink, he cries for help and Jesus reaches out his hand to lift him up. When Jesus catches him, he asks Peter why he doubted. I don’t think this was a blaming or shaming word. I think Jesus, like any good teacher, wanted Peter to learn from this experience so that he could grow. And by the looks of Peter preaching at Pentecost I think it worked. Soon Jesus will rename Simon as Peter and declare that “on this rock” that at the moment was sinking, Jesus’ church will be built. But first he failed.

Herman Melville said, “[The one] who has never failed somewhere, that [person] cannot be great. Failure is the test of greatness.”

And yet, we do not often see failure as a step on the road to greatness. But if Melville is right, I don’t know about you, but it gives me new hope.

In writing about this story, Barbara Brown Taylor says we might think it would have been a better story if the disciples had all gotten out of the boat and walked on water. But she says that would not have rang as true as this version of risk and failure. The truth about us, she says, is that we obey and fear, we walk and sink, we believe and doubt. Our faith and our doubt exist in us at the same time. [5] Even after Pentecost, Peter will fail again.

Jesus lifts Peter in all his faith and doubt and leads him back to the boat with the other disciples. And once Jesus gets in the boat with them, the wind calms and ceases.

It is hard to read the gospels and not realize that we are called to live risky lives that lead to a cross and include failure. Everything is risky, whether we stay in the boat or get out of the boat. And the fear will never go away as long as we seek to follow Jesus.

The most common command in scripture - do you know it? - is “Fear not; do not be afraid.” I think “fear not” appears so much in scripture because fear is the number one reason we are tempted to avoid doing what God asks us to do.

Many of us learned about fear in our families. What did Mom say when you went outside to play or left for school? It is the rare mom who says, “Take risks today, sweetheart. Embrace danger. Look just one way when you cross the street.” Moms want us to be safe.

But not Jesus. He sends us out in a boat that seems small and frail with great ocean water swelling all around us. Duke ethicist Stanley Hauerwas puts it this way: “Often the church finds herself far from shore and threatened by strong winds and waves. Those in the boat often fail to understand that they are meant to be far from shore and that to be threatened by a storm is not unusual. If the church is faithful she will always be far from shore. And at times we will be commanded to leave the safety of the boat to walk on water.” [6]

At times we may be called to do extraordinary things that call us to risk something big for something good. Things that may seem foolish to us and to the rest of the world, but a calling from God nevertheless.

And every time we get out of the boat, our God gets a little bigger and our faith a little stronger.

We would do well to ask ourselves as a congregation: What are we doing that we could not do apart from the power of God?

We can even ask ourselves on a personal level: What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?

Imagine at the end of your life watching a video of all that God might have done with your life if you had followed and trusted.

Imagine at our church’s bicentennial, a hundred years from now, our descendants watching a video of all God might have done through our church if we had followed and trusted.

The way we live as individuals and as a congregation is a consequence of the size of our God. For many of us our God is too small.

There is a word for the process by which human beings come to perceive the greatness and strength of God. It is called worship. It is what the disciples did when Jesus got into the boat with them and calmed the storm. We need to worship because without it we can forget that we have a Big God beside us and live in fear. We need to worship because without it we can forget God’s calling and begin to live in a spirit of self-preoccupation and self-preservation. [7]

When people and churches get out of the boat, they are never quite the same. Their worship is never quite the same. Their world is never quite the same. Whether they sink or swim, something will have changed. Jesus is still looking for people who will dare to trust him, who will refuse to allow their fear to have the final word, who refuse to be deterred by failure. [8]

Do you want to be safe or brave? You simply cannot be both.

If we choose bravery and pray for God’s Spirit to plunge us on with hope and courage, let us do so with God’s word spoken through the prophet Isaiah carved into the side our boat and written upon our hearts:

When you pass through the waters I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.
For I am the Lord your God, your Savior.
I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name.

And you are mine.
Amen.

_____________________________

1. Eugene Boring, “Matthew,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VIII, Abingdon, 1995, 329
2. Thomas G. Long, Matthew, Westminster John Knox, 1997, 166
3. Quoted in sermon by H. Stephen Shoemaker, “Walking on Water,” May 4, 2008
4. Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, Brazos Press, 2006, 141
5. Barbara Brown Taylor, “Saved by Doubt,” The Seeds of Heaven, Westminster John Knox, 2004, 60
6. Hauerwas, 141
7. John Ortberg, If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat, Zondervan, 2001, 194, 196
8. Ibid., 202-203