Saturday, August 6, 2011

creating community

is community created?
or found?

it appears that st benedict
set about creating community
rather deliberately

on the other hand
maybe that was just a response
to those guys who kept following him around
who wouldn't leave him alone
when he went off alone to pray

reading st benedict's rule lately
reignites my passion for christianity
at least a little
what is it about his words
that inspires me
to want to be good
to want to seek god?

i feel like i'm skating on two skis
i had a long glide
on the track of buddhism
for the past nine months or so
finding there some tools
to deal with life's disappointments
tools that were not easily accessible to me
in christianity
and an inkling of community
among like-minded spirits

but i never shook off
the ski of christianity from my other foot
am i ready now for a long glide on that ski
finding there an inspiriation
a personal call from the mystery behind it all?

am i called to work to build community
among the christians who are already in my life?
or rather to seek out other christians
with whom i might have more in common?

i think there is much in the rule of st benedict
that would appeal to my evangelical friends
would they join me in seeking inspiration there?
or would i be better off seeking out those
who already are drawn to the rule?

just some musings
on a saturday morning

thinking about starting
some sort of group in our home
benedict advises to begin
every good work with prayer

pray for me brothers and sisters

8 comments:

  1. Communities are founded on affiliations through personal interests like collecting Egyptian scarabs, or postage stamps from the South Sudan. Imagine the country just started last month but already they are getting their postage stamps ready and in the future, I think there will be clubs devoted to collecting them and experts who argue that theirs are better than the others'.

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  2. would someone in this damn community like to tell me why it's so phuqqing difficult to post a comment i mean shouldn't community be a place of free express

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  3. o i guess i have to state my full name

    ok

    humble me

    yeah

    that's my name

    tumbleweed

    is what they call me

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  4. anyway sally
    this is the 3rd time i've had to say this

    and i'm allowing the feelings of frustration
    to enter into the discussion

    wilderness
    holy man holy woman go there
    classic paradigm
    old as the hills
    he or she waits around fasting
    praying

    if you do that
    don't forget your
    gaurdian angel
    facundo cabral says
    we are afraid to make friends
    with the one real ally we have
    if only we would it would be
    happiness unimagined

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  5. the rule of benedict presumes soem sort of daily discipline
    he is actually pretty flexible when it comes to
    organizing times for things

    perhaps work out a prayer time
    that people would arrive at
    agree to sit in quiet for 5 -10
    minutes
    recite or chant a psalm
    read from scripture (gospel of the day)
    response psalm
    petitions
    our father
    blessing

    and everyone go their separate ways
    with little fanfare

    a home as a prayer station

    people simply agreeing to meet there
    regularly if not every day

    the nice thing about recognizing feast days
    is that these days can give rise to
    songs that could be sung

    maybe i haven't encouraged you enough
    or maybe i haven't the foggiest idea
    how to go about helping

    but
    nontheless

    i bestow a blessing on your intent
    and you desire

    jh

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  6. this sounds similar
    to what i had in mind

    perhaps a resumption of our
    friday night group
    beginning with a potluck supper
    then open with a sung psalm or two
    (from the st john's psalter)
    leading into contemporary worship songs
    or hymns that people in the group know
    leading into 5-10 minutes of silence (a la taize)
    perhaps with a reading from the rule of benedict
    or other christian literature
    and a reading from scripture
    interspersed with the songs

    then after the silence
    a time of structured sharing
    modeled after my buddhist sangha
    where it is stressed that this is
    not a conversation
    but simply a chance
    for anyone who wants to
    to say what is on their mind
    something they are grateful for
    something they are struggling with
    something that struck them
    from one of the readings
    or that arose within them during the silence
    then end with catholic-style prayer
    two or three lines read from the missal or glenstal prayer book
    followed by a chance for others to offer
    their own single-phrase prayers
    (trying to avoid long drawn out periods
    of sharing prayer requests, which is typical
    in my tradition and instead just
    have people speak their requests
    in the form of actual prayers)

    then close with the lord's prayer
    (thanks for the reminder--
    i had forgotten about that)
    and a benediction

    that's how i've been thinking about it

    the challenge is
    getting people together
    on a regular basis
    when we don't all live together

    its one thing at a monastery
    to walk down the hall to the church
    its another if you've got to drive
    10-15 minutes each way to get there
    that makes it harder to commit
    to something daily
    but i think something
    weekly or bi-weekly could work

    the above outline
    was for an evening meeting
    at our home

    an alternative might be something
    shorter and simpler
    for morning prayer at our church
    leave out a lot the contemporary songs
    sing or recite a couple of songs
    have a short reading
    and then the prayers

    it all sounds good in theory
    but i wonder
    do i have time
    to commit to something like that
    even on a weekly basis

    i had to miss the last two meetings
    of our lenten morning prayer
    because of work-related travel one week
    and illness the next

    ah well
    i place it all in God's hands
    we'll see where he leads

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  7. i meant "sing or recite a couple of psalms" (not "songs") in the 4th to the last paragraph

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  8. my sense
    and i only say thi as a suggestion
    when starting something liek prayer in the home
    less is more

    it might also be beneficial to think of stations
    one night your house the next night the church
    next night another house
    etc.

    i think it's important to start short and simple and allow something to grow

    one song one psalm one reading
    20 minutes
    30 max

    let the community building aspects
    grow out of what is happening

    just a thought

    jh

    ReplyDelete