Here, there or everywhere?

In a comment Richard Passmore asked...

We have been thinking about desert fathers (here) and was wondering if there were any connections with your links to celtic fathers what they teach us about how you balance withdrawal and engagement,

I thought that it warranted sticking up as a post... cause I think there could be some useful discussion here... and the original post was a few days ago, so may be missed...

It is fascinating... with the Celtic monastics you do get a tension between the solitary hermits/the isolated communities and the missionary/wandering monks... there is the well known communities e.g. Skellig who looked to the Desert Fathers... and sought the 'Desert in the Ocean' - the sense of being away from 'civilisation', being in the wilderness where the voice of God is not drowned out by the clamour of life... but of course there are also the famous missionary monks - Aidan, Patrick, Killian, Chad etc. - I guess Brendan sat somewhere in between - He travelled and set up monastries, but it feels like Mission happened almost as a bi-product of being on the journey, the aim of the journey was to get closer to God/reach the prophetic 'Holy' land... Mission happens as the journeying community encounter people and places... we know that as the Monks traveled new communities sprang up at the places of refreshment and rest.  There is also the sense of both desert and celtic fathers seeking to live more in tune with the rhythms and struggles of the land, of creation... sometimes this meant a pretty harsh life; living simply, subjecting oneself to struggle and physical meditation, even penance (the famous stories of Monks standing up to their waste in the Sea for hours on end - storms and all!)
I think I agree with James when he reminds us...

The desert fathers / mothers headed out into the desert because the Roman culture had imposed a Christian state that didn’t seem very God centred to them.

... Rowan Wiliiams wrote that the original monks and nuns went into the desert becuase the existing church did not accurately reflect the gospel incarnate... so I guess there are four aspects...

1. The need to find place/space/structure to listen to the 'still small voice' of God - reflection, meditation, solitude, rhythm and rule etc. - to foster spiritual formation and accountability.
2. The need to live as part of and in tune with creation - the beauty and the wildness, not seeing humanity as dominant over creation but as a small part of it... and in respect of it!
3. Seeing Mission as something that happens as God leads us on - an intrinsic part of the journey, Kate Tristram, Deputy Warden of the Northumbria Community, Lindisfarne said "Mission is a by product of being on Pilgrimage" rather than a separate activity of a gathered church.
4. The need to seek a model of Christian community which more accurately reflects the Gospel incarnate - simplicity, faith, action, commitment, prophetic, healing, sacrificial/sacramental, hospitable, just, inclusive etc. - and to challenge the existing church where it fails to.

Bonhoeffer wrote,

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.

...and Br Samuel SSF wrote,

The renewal of both the Church and Society will come through the re-emergence of forms of Christian community that are homes of generous hospitality, places of challenging reconciliation and centres of attentiveness to the living God

James in his comment on Richard's blog raises some very interesting thoughts... a call to be more radical, not to desire inclusion in the institution etc. per se... with which I increasingly wrestle and agree with... his most significant challenge is to stop worrying about holding up a collapsing building, but to begin to build a new one... though builders right down through the ages have utilised the stones cut for the original structure to build the replacement/new one... so I guess maybe we are in the co-process of rooting through the rocks to find the ones which fit the holes which we see... and dressing new stones because non of the existing ones will ever fit... so the emerging structure may well be made up of a huge amount of the old building... but it will look completely different because it serves a different people.  Ultimately we cannot discern the missio Dei, if we do not actively listen and build community in a way which fosters listening in it's nature, rhythm and structure... we listen to grow closer to God and God's purpose - God's mission - so we are always open to the next step on the journey - to commit to being a sent community and sent people... and we live for the Gospel incarnate in the culture HERE AND NOW.

Technorati Tags: Blogging: Church: Emerging Church: Mission: Religion: Rhythm: Spirituality: theology

Comments

[richard passmore]

Thanks. I agree with most and particularly at a more trans-local/global level. I guess I am still wrestling with the very local involvement in traditional structures/ expressions of church that just dont seem to be going anywhere.

[Mark]

Richard, no problem... it is a stimulating question... I completely agree with the Global/Local sense... perhaps we are living in a time when 'National' is being replaced by 'Global/Local' in many ways... communication, learning, asociation etc... I too am finding the relationship with the traditional structures more and more troubling... if anything "Fresh Expressions" has made it more difficult for me!

[richard Passmore]

Just discussed it with a mate in response to my post http://www.sundaypapers.org.uk/?p=302 we are going to propose we are let out when the children go out for sunday school, maybe a first step towards a kind of menu approach, so we can try to reconcile the mission and learning part. Still not sure if propping up a dying thing???

[Mark]

LOL... I like that, "The Children, Young People and the Emerging/Missional will now leave us to go to their groups. The Children meet in the Hall, the Young People in the Coffee Lounge and the Emerging/Missional in the Pub down the road!"

[jem]

A few years ago we did away with one talk/sermon and had a menu of short courses etc instead for a short while once a month. It does work in the sense that different groups can have the space to learn and grow in particular themes/areas. We stopped it because more and more people decided to take those Sunday's off...I guess change is good while it's fresh, but there is often a majority who gravitate back to the traditional...I think that is why it is easier to set up something new than evolve an existing group.