Tag Archives: new monastacism

Desert Rhythms: Part 2

I have just completed a month reflecting on Mark 1 and the rhythms of Jesus. The following is a nice visual of His being with God (contemplation) and His doing (activity). So the question is what might it look like for us to withdraw to a desert in our daily lives, to engage in the rhythms of Jesus of “Being with the Father” and “Doing/Activity.” The following are a few suggestions, many of which come from David Benner’s excellent new book Opening to God. • Pause for Sabbath for 24 hr. each week (Stop, rest, delight, contemplate). • Pause for Daily Office two to three times a day. • Sunday worship/Small group– to worship/sit under the Word. • Read a passage of Scripture and listening for God’s personal word to you. • Light a candle in your home. • Allow music to draw your spirit to God’s Spirit. • Review your day and noticing. Read more.

Desert Fathers and Western Christianity

Over time I have become more convinced, not less, of the application of the radical simplicity of the Desert Fathers of the 3rd t0 5th centuries. They fled to the desert in order to seek God and eventually serve as a life raft for a church that had become almost indistingishable from the world. The church in the West is in a very similar state. The answer begins with us as pastors and leaders of God’s flock, I believe. As Tolstoy once said, “Everybody wants to change the world, but noone thinks of changing himself.” I think he was right. There is only one pathway – the pathway of Jesus. Ronald Rolheiser in The Holy Longing outlines this as the only way to profound transformation. We repeat it over and over again in our walks with Christ. 1. Name your deaths (Good Friday) 2. Claim your births (Easter) 3. Grieve for what you have lost and adjust to the. Read more.

"Madness" as Our New Christian Identity

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and whey they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘Your are mad, you are not like us’” (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Benedicata Ward, SLG, 5). Imagine the Body of Christ choosing to live a contemplative life of Daily Offices, Sabbath keeping, meditation on Scripture throughout the day, simplicity of life, a commitment to purity of heart (watching our intake of information/media/etc. for the sake of seeing God) – yet all the while activing serving others and making Christ known to others. Imagine the impact of our evangelical churches around the world filled with people who are not consumers of religion for a better life but men and women filled with passion for God and delivered from this present evil age! How can we escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world (that is our present worldly church mindset) and choose. Read more.

New Monasticism and the Community of Transfiguration

I just finished reading Community of the Transfiguration: The Journey of a New Monastic Community by Paul Dekar. It is the story of a 25 year journey of a small, missional, evanglical Baptist church in Australia moving from a church to a community to a monastery within their denomination! Can you imagine an intentional monastic community within an evangelical denomination today in North America? Paul Dekar, the author, is a professor at Memphis Theological Seminary. He presents a strong argument in his opening chapter that every 400 years in the West there is an upsurge in monastacism, and we are now living in the beginning of such an new movement. What makes this unique, in his opinion, is that it seems to be emerging within Protestantism and not Catholicism or the Orthodox church. I am not sure about these trends of church history, but I am sure that something radical is desperately needed and that monastacism holds a. Read more.

Rule of Life NLF Part 1 (with commentary)

The church, in the Western world in particular, is in serious trouble. The culture has so overwhelmed us that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the church and the world. Historically, when there has been decline in the church, often new monastic movements have emerged (e.g. desert fathers, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, the Cistercians). I interpret the yearnings of the emergent movement and the younger generation towards the contemplative as a cry for something different, a cry for God. I bring with me a strong ecclesiology. I believe God loves the local church bought at the price of His Son’s blood, and the development of mature, healthy communities is essential for global mission. So, after 4 + years of ponderings, I have written a Rule of Life to pilot in our local, missional, evangelical church. I believe that simply calling people to spiritual disciplines as we have for decades is not. Read more.

Finding Rhythms in an Interrupted Life

I am convinced living rhythmically is one of our gifts to our 24/7 world and a key to walking with God. Yet my life, like most, is full of interruptions. I love and affirm Wayne Mueller’s words in his book on Sabbath and our need for rhythms: To surrender to the rhythms of seasons and flowerings and dormancies is to savor the secret of life itself. Many scientists believe we are “hard-wired” like this, to live in rhythmic awareness, to be in and then step out, to be engrossed and then detached, to work and then to rest. It follows then that the commandment to remember the Sabbath is not a burdensome requirement from some law-giving deity — but rather a remembrance of a law that is firmly embedded in the fabric of nature. It is a reminder of how things really are, the rhythmic dance to which we unavoidably belong. Yet last week I experienced a classic challenge of having. Read more.

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