Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

A Rule for a New Brother

A little book I’ve come back to off-and-on over the years, since the publication of the revised edition in 1986, is the Henri Nouwen introduced Rule for a New Brother. It’s a small format book of only 80-pages, but its opening pages remain deeply captivating and important for those on a journey of exploration in relation to religion and spirituality; for those searching for “God”; searching for their deepest selves. 

In this specific case it’s a “rule” “for [Catholic] men desiring to enter into a religious community.” However, I think, as with St. Benedict’s ancient “rule”, that its application is far broader. 

Nouwen opens his introduction with these words, “This is a rule. Not a rule that restricts freedom but a rule that wants to offer freedom.” This is a “rule”, Nouwen writes, “that wants to teach our heart to love.” 

That’s always a statement worth pondering, especially as we begin to reflect on and name the many many non-religious ways by which people lose their freedom. Very few of us lead a life that is deeply characterised by freedom; and freedom in this sense, doesn’t mean freedom from our relatedness to the “other” – whether a spouse, children etc. What it is talking about is deep existential and human freedom to be truly ourselves and truly (and fully) human – fully alive and fully free! Free from our ever present fears, from anger, from self-hatred, from the past – the list goes on… Freed to love and be loved. Freed to become more fully human and alive, as we have already noted. 

To give you a flavour, Chapter 1 is titled “Seeking God”, and begins:

 

“…Brother,

you want to seek God with all your life,

and love Him with all your heart.

 

But you would be wrong

if you thought you could reach Him.

Your arms are too short; your eyes are too dim,

your heart and understanding too small.

 

To seek God

means first of all

to let yourself be found by him [isn’t it so true that our native instinct is to hide or avoid God?]

He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He is the God of Jesus Christ.

He is your God,

not because He is yours

but because you are His.

 

To choose God

is to realise that you are known and loved

in a way surpassing anything we can imagine…”

 

On Learning to Speak, and the Monastery of the Heart

The Englewood Review of Books has a couple of useful review by two authors that are formative for me: Stanley Hauerwas, and Sr. Joan Chittister. While neither review is without needful critique (especially in the Hauerwas review), they both should serve to encourage new readers to give the three books a read. For more on Hauerwas, and if you want to hear him speak, go here. 

Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian by Stanley Hauerwas. 

Hauerwas presents these writings, as he notes in the introduction, to show the continuity of his work from his academic efforts to his public speeches. To the extent that there is a unifying theme, the author identifies it as learning to “speak Christian” or how to “say God.” Using language as a metaphor, Hauerwas writes about the Christian life as a lifelong attempt at learning to speak. Although this theme is contiguous with the work on character and virtue he has been doing since the beginning of his career, in many ways Working with Words can be seen as a more direct continuation of the themes Hauerwas explored in his 2004 collection Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence. The theme of that collection is Christian life as performance – a beautiful idea that Hauerwas uses to unify theology, ethics, ecclesiology and aesthetics into a life of worship… 

…In “Disciplined Seeing,” an essay that uses C. Kavin Rowe’s World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age to critique the anthropological concept of “global Christianity,” Hauerwas and Brian Goldstone argue compellingly that Acts insists that Christianity and the kingdom of God simply do not exist without the virtuous, enacted lives of believers. Further, Hauerwas writes at length on speech and language as a means and metaphor for living out Christianity…” 

You can read the full review here. 

The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life by Joan Chittister, and Soulful Spirituality: Becoming Fully Alive and Deeply Human by David G. Benner 

“…For both books, the purpose of spirituality is to be life-giving and fully human.  Probably one of the main reasons people leave a Christian faith is because they feel as though their life is choked out rather than fulfilled.  The Church talks about a life fulfilled; yet living in the Christian sub-culture often means the opposite.  Many Christians say that without Christ there can be no happiness, yet often happiness is lost on the Church.  Benner writes, “Spiritual paths and practices that distance us from what it means to be human are not good for humans.” (5) It is a simple yet profound statement often lost by a focus on religious doctrine rather than Godly transformation.  Chittister echoes Benner, stating, “But for one man, Benedict of Nursia, the spiritual life lay in simply living this life, our daily life, well.  All of it.  Every simple, single action of it.” (viii) Spirituality is simple and life-producing…

Many people see the monastic life as highly ascetic, and have also misinterpreted Benedict’s strong sense of seriousness.  Chittister writes, however, “Benedictine spirituality, after all, is life lived to the hilt.” (63) One might be tempted to see monasticism as the degrading of personhood, humanity and individuality, cloistered together in a common life.  Chittister negates this and says that Benedictine monasteries “are not loose confederations of independent individuals.  Neither are they monarchies in which individuals…are expected to give up their right to have their voices heard…” (83) Benedictine spirituality respects the individual and the individual submits willingly in fullness to the common life.  In this spiritual communion, individuals become completely human, fulfilled, and dedicated to God.  She writes, “Benedictine spirituality does not depend on spiritual actions as the hallmark of its quality.  It requires us to do every tangible thing we can to create a human community – as decent and humanly dignified as our own.” (101)

Chittister’s book is full of spiritual wisdom.  She writes out of a lived spirituality and invites the reader into the spiritual Benedictine community of the Monastery of the Heart…” 

For the full review of both books go here. Reviewing Chittister and Benner’s books together was a useful approach as, for me anyway, it illustrates the tensions inherent in how we engage “spirituality”, and the places from which we come to discussions of spirituality, and also the practices of spiritual formation. In many ways the two authors engagements couldn’t be more different. If you also add the academic perspective (giving voice to spirituality in the academy) you nuance discussions of spirituality even further. It is becoming a crowded field, and that’s before you even begin to add non-Christian understandings of "spirituality" to the mix.

Brian McLaren and Ian Mobsby in Conversation

Paul writes – I really enjoyed listening in on an all too brief conversation between Ian Mobsby and Brian McLaren – Ian in a cafe in London and Brian somewhere in the US (presumably). While only just over 30 minutes in duration there are some gems in it, things that will be affirming to some, and of value to others as the challenges and opportunities that lie before us are highlighted. Church leavers will appreciate some of Brian’s insights around what leaving churches do for people and their ability to create hospitable open-ended space for others. Brian’s comments on liturgy are also useful, and hopefully will encourage some to explore than important theme in more detail (cf. chapter 7 of Eugene Peterson’s Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer; The Spirit of Worship: The Liturgical Tradition by Susan J. White (introductory); Meeting Mystery: Liturgy, Worship, Sacraments by Nathan D. Mitchell (brilliant, academic, and Catholic); The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Ratzinger (again, Catholic, but very interesting). Also useful would be The Rite Stuff edited by Pete Ward; and Living the Eucharist edited by Stephen Conway. Robert E. Webber’s books would also be helpful in exploring the significance of liturgy).

The challenges that our churches face are the challenges that face all of humanity; we’re not exempt and nor should we be uninvolved in working to find solutions to the big challenges around ecology and the environment (pollution, diminishing fresh water etc), the downsides of globalisation, economic inequalities, global health issues (Malaria, HIV/Aids, infant mortality), war and violence etc.

Between Brian and Ian, and while not diminishing the challenges we all face by virtue of our shared humanity, they highlight the “church” challenges (which I’ve expanded on in places) as follows:

1. We have to find a way out of having a strong identity that is not an identity over and against the “other”. For example, does being a Jesus-follower make me a better neighbour to people I don’t like, to those who hold different religious belief or no religious beliefs etc etc?
2. We have a huge challenge around spiritual formation and discipleship. Brian used the term “saintliness”, i.e. do we help people grow in saintliness? I thought of Eugene Peterson and an interview with him – “The Business of Making Saints” – published in the Spring 1997 issue of Leadership. I see its online here.
3. How do we induct new generations (children and youth) into community and new ways of being formed as God’s distinctive people; as Jesus-followers; as human beings created to “image” God and to see that “image” in others? How do we grow them as Christ-shaped, Spirit empowered human beings who are different and make a life-giving difference in God’s world?  How does the Christian narrative, “gospel”, and practices of formation grow rather than diminish their humanity and their experience of life and living?
4. We have to get increasingly comfortable with a "mixed economy" [I prefer “mixed ecology” and term I got from Ben Edson] approach to being church for the sake of the world, and in response to God’s invitations to join in with and partner him in his mission.
5. Sexuality, and ironically McLaren sees the challenges as much bigger than the LGBT ones which many denominations are grappling with. In this respect I thought of Sarah Coakley’s paper which I referred to here.
6. Stopping churches from being so hard on people’s humanity.

You can find the podcast here. 

The Importance of Collective Wisdom and Collective Change

Paul writes – Aware of my own limitations and my need of others (while paradoxically at the same time often struggling with others), I always appreciate books that engage the subject of change, collective wisdom, collective change, and of the importance of and practices of collaboration. One book I’m looking forward to reading is The Power of Collective Wisdom: And the Trap of Collective Folly by Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, John Ott & Tom Callanan 

All the better when the book receives endorsements from the likes of Margaret Wheatley and Parker J. Palmer.

“…When human beings gather together, a depth of awareness and insight, a transcendent knowing, becomes available. Based on nine years of research The Power of Collective Wisdom shows how we can tap into the extraordinary cocreative potential that exists in every group. Collective wisdom is elusive and unpredictable – it can’t be willed into being, but the authors describe six commitments people can adopt that will increase the likelihood of its appearing. Stories and historical examples throughout serve to illuminate and illustrate how collective wisdom has emerged in a range of settings and through the lives and traditions of varied cultures. Equally important, the authors describe how to recognize the pitfalls of polarization or false agreement, either of which can lead to collective folly – a phenomenon with which recent history has made us all too familiar. And they offer a set of practices to help readers maintain the key lessons of the book.” 

 

The Power of Collective Wisdom is a foundational book for an emerging field of study and practice relevant to everyone seeking more effective and satisfying ways of working with others…”

For more, visit the publishers website which includes an excerpt and Amazon.com for reader review/feedback. 

“…Collective wisdom refers to knowledge and insight gained through group and community interaction. At a deeper level, however, it is about our living connection to each other and the interdependence we share in our neighborhoods, organizations, and world community…”

Margaret Wheatley writes - “Weaving together their diverse experiences and with beautifully blended voices, these authors re-introduce us to the joy of working together. Humans everywhere can be wise; it’s our birthright. Yet wisdom appears most readily when we are willing to be together, in patience, acceptance and curiosity. This gift of a book reacquaints us with this fundamental human experience and provides gentle, skilled guidance for how we might encourage wisdom to enter us.” 

While Parker J. Palmer writes - “The Power of Collective Wisdom is an important book, not least because of the second, sotto voce part of its title: “...and the trap of collective folly.” We Americans have a long way to go in learning how to access the wisdom of community, despite example after homegrown example of how powerful it can be in everything from technical creativity to peace-making. This book, full of experience-based principles and practices, can help us do exactly that, freeing us from the cultural trap of radical individualism. Equally important, it can help us avoid the power of collective folly -- and, I might add, collective evil -- of which we have seen too much in our time. For anyone who gathers with others in hopes of finding a better way, this book is a must-read.” Parker J. Palmer.

From the same publisher, and related to the important practice of appreciative enquiry is The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair co-authored by Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea. Again, Wheatley and Parker Palmer are associated with it.

Both of these books, it seems to me, get at the important change happening and needed in the field of leadership and leadership practice. 

I think that Len Hjalmarson, by a different route to this post, brilliantly gets at this in a recent post when he talks of the leader as a “synergist”. He quotes Lawrence Miller (author of this book): “…a leader who has escaped his or her own conditioned tendencies toward one [leadership] style and incorporated, appreciated and unified each of the styles of leadership on the life-cycle curve. The best managed companies are synergistic.”

NZ Conference: Peace on Earth: Anabaptism and Ecological Action in Aotearoa

A Colloquium co-sponsored by: A Rocha Aotearoa/NZ (ARANZ), the Anabaptist Association of Australia and NZ (AAANZ), and Urban Vision. 

Saturday 29th May, 2010 (9am to 5pm) Venue: Ngatiawa (Urban Vision Community) Reikorangi Valley, Waikanae, 1hr from Wellington.

We are seeking papers/presentations that will engage with either one, or both, of the following themes:

1. Anabaptism and its faith expression in the Aotearoa / New Zealand context.
2. Christian (or, more specifically, Anabaptist) responses to the environmental crisis.

If submitting a proposed paper, please: (1) indicate what sort of time slot you are applying for, (2) include a 50-100 word abstract of the proposed paper. 

These should be sent to Andrew Shepherd here, or, if necessary, by post to: Private Bag 9036, Wanaka 9343. These need to be received by May 3rd, 2010.

PDF Flyer below.

Download Peace on Earth Colloquium

Growing Slowly in Secret

Paul writes – Michael Volland drew my attention again to a issue 29 of Encounters on the Edge, which featured  Northumbria Community and reflected on “Monastery and Mission”.

Michael says:

George Lings writes lots of good stuff in this issue – but this observation about founders of religious orders or communities really struck me and I wanted to stick it up here – just by way of sharing something you might not otherwise come across :

“‘…hidden gestation is common to a few founders. Francis did not intend to found a religious order nor establish a community but to live life in accordance with the Gospel. Brother Roger of Taize went from Switzerland to Burgandy by himself in 1940. The first other monks only joined him at Easter 1949… After the annunciation, Mary went off to the hill country and this most famous gestation was thus also hidden. I long for today’s initiatives to dare to take time to let what is conceived within them grow slowly in secret.’ (p.13)”

I like what he’s saying. It’s an appropriate reflection for this Advent season. I have many dreams and on a good day I sit comfortably with that. On a bad day I wonder if I’m just lazy and lack the energy and focus to turn dreams into reality.

If you can get a copy of this issue of Encounters on the Edge, I highly recommend it.

I also appreciated, from another source, this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

'The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this'

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in a letter to his brother

Michael Volland Reflects on Nu-Monasticism

  Paul writes – Michael Volland (author of this recently published book, which I hope will become available on Amazon.uk) offers some brief reflections on a recent gathering of groups and people in the UK wanting to explore “Nu-Monasticism”.

“…Ian Adams of CMS [and Maybe] …[spoke] of the possibility of community being mission. He looked at the three ‘areas’ of ‘cave, refectory, [and] road’ – as examples of different environments for the monastic (on the edge, commitment to place, & traveling). He spoke of his vision to see lay people banding together, following a rule of life, and networked with other bands…

...[When] asked about his beliefs, [he] would respond: ‘I’m rooted in the Jesus tradition and am trying to change the world for the better’…

Mark Berry of Safespace in Telford went next, saying that in his experience, spiritual tourists were rare, and that ‘hurting people’ were common. He explained that people want to explore things that might make them better. People want healing – and are seeking the removal of angst, but they don’t ‘do’ spirituality because they don’t have a language or framework for it. He spoke of ‘embedded community with embedded faith’ as a response – living alongside…”

You can read his whole post here.

New-Monasticism - “totally Unnecessary as a means of renewal.”

Paul writes – In the latest issue of On the Road (the newsletter of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand – attached as a PDF below) Australian Dave Andrews (brought up as a Baptist) critically reflects on monasticism old and new. Here’s an excerpt:

“…I think we need to critically reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the way these saints lived their lives - and embrace their mysticism but eschew their monasticism.

 

I believe we should resist the call to pursue renewal through monasticism for ten reasons:

 

1.      It has no biblical basis.

2.      It encourages self-abnegation.

3.      It requires subordination to a hierarchy.

4.      It typically involves separation from the community.

5.      It principally involves imposition on the community.

6.      That imposition may involve exploitation of the community.

7.      The ‘monastic cycle’ tends to move from devotion to decadence.

8.      Monastic organization makes monastics susceptible to appropriation.

9.      Monastic isolation makes monastics vulnerable in times of persecution.

10.     Last but not least, monasticism is totally unnecessary as a means of renewal.”

 

I have a significant regard for Dave, his thinking and his practice, so his reflections on monasticism old and new require some serious engagement.

 

I referred to the last issue of On the Road here. Gordon Preece, another excellent thinker wrote an article “Everyone a Monk”. Anyway, he responds to Dave in the latest issue below. Dave Barnard, a kiwi also responds to Andrews.

 

All in all this is a very useful debate. Thanks to the Anabaptists for inviting us into the conversation (or for drawing us further into it) in the last two issues of their newsletter.

 

Download On the Road - June 2009

Everyone a monk: historical connections between Anabaptism and Monasticism.

Paul writes – The latest issue on On The Road, the journal of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand is out, and it is themed around this years conference on “New Monasiticsm”. The stand out reflection (for me) is a lengthy article by Gordon Preece (the title of which is the title of this blog post).

Here’s an excerpt:

 

“…The trouble with being asked to talk about monasticism is that it could be habit-forming; I’ve now been asked to turn my Australia Day AAANZ conference talk into an article. The real issue though is whether the combined strengths of monasticism and Anabaptism (AB) can provide holy habits that may sustain us in our journey towards the city of God in the new Dark Ages of global economic and ecological meltdown…”

Preece’s article begins on page 7 of the PDF attached below. Those with an interest in New Monasticism will find this a fascinating issue. Enjoy.

 

Download On the Road - March 2009

ReMonking the Church after Christendom

Paul writes – I came across this interesting list of transitions recently:

The emerging culture of post-Christendom is characterised by seven transitions:

 

·             From the centre to margins: in Christendom the Christian story and the churches were central, but in post-Christendom these are marginal.

·             From majority to minority: in Christendom Christians comprised the (often overwhelming) majority, but in post-Christendom we are a minority.

·             From settlers to sojourners: in Christendom Christians felt at home in a culture shaped by their story, but in post-Christendom we are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home.

·             From privilege to plurality: in Christendom Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many in a plural society.

·             From control to witness: in Christendom churches could exert control over society, but in post-Christendom we exercise influence only through witnessing to our story and its implications.

·             From maintenance to mission: in Christendom the emphasis was on maintaining a supposedly Christian status quo, but in post-Christendom it is on mission within a contested environment.

·              From institution to movement: in Christendom churches operated mainly in institutional mode, but in post-Christendom we must become again a Christian movement.

This is a context in which as Christians we will need to dig deep and find resources to be followers of Jesus in a culture that offers little support and plenty of disincentives. The new monasticism movement is a search for such resources.

Form this little paper. You may also find this summary of a May 08 conference on New Monasticism. Finally, the latest copy of On the Road (Sept. 08), the journal of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand Inc. features as its theme so-called “New Monasticism”.  Attached below. At some point it will also be up on the Association’s website, here. Note too their conference on the theme of new monasticism early next year. Might be worth a trip to Melbourne... for some of you.

Download on_the_road_sept. 2008.pdf