Another Universe?

Last night watching Dr Who I had a thought about the church.

Maybe the church runs at two levels.

The established church of formality, programmes and professional clergy and a broad underground church of grassroots community care love and transformation. I am pretty sure our little community walks a line between the two.

How I got this out of watching the Dr fight against the Daleks I don't know!

But browsing the net this morning I came across this great book

"Radical Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor" which seemed to give more credence to my thinking.

This would seem to be an issue across denominations and theological viewpoints.

The big questions are:

Does it matter?

Where do we fit? and

If we are wanting to live on the edges of church life, what are we doing about it?

Still thinking about answers to this one.

Benedicitine Vows

Fr Dwight Longenecker writes a cool little series here.
http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Benedictine%20Way

Kids in Church

As a community, we have changed from having couples and singles to now also having children from 7 years old and downwards with us.

A question we have discussed is "How do we best meet their needs as part of our community?"

I think we have taken a very Benedictine route, by incorporating them into our prayer and community life so that there is no adults vs children's meeting, but merely families and singles meeting, eating, praying and travelling together. We learn and teach faith by participation, discussing, rite, routine, observation, practice and love.

I hope that as they get older, the unique relationships which my children will form in our community will help them to travel along life's journey with some additional security and more wisdom than just mum and dad's.

Interestingly, Andrew Hamilton and Alan Creech have also written about raising children in the faith at their sites. Check 'em out here

http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2007/07/but-what-about-your-kids.html

http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2007/07/but-what-about-your-kids-ii.html

http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2007/07/if-you-dont-believe-me-then-listen-to-an-expert.html

http://www.alancreech.com/2007/07/train-up-child.html

More blooging

by Chris here.
(Although of an arty farty nature...)

Linkage

Chris has written some birthday and music refelctions here

An Anglican View of the Motu Proprio

Good little Article here - worth checking out.
A few great remarks, many of which echo my own beginning and unformed thoughts on the subject.

"In an increasingly secular would, there is a drastic need to rediscover a sense of the numinous, an echo of the power of the wind which blew over the waters at the beginning of time."

"What I am suggesting is that HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEAM, this IS my body, is a real and true statement, as we Catholics in the CofE believe, and therefore what we have is the life of the world as the centre of our lives, so we need to find a way to celebrate that."

"The Motu Proprio is, in essence, about tolerance and sharing the central truth of the resurrection with as many people as possible, in a way which brings them close to the Wellspring of Truth."

"The Mass is the Mass is the Mass, whether Book of Common Prayer, Common Worship, Novus Ordo, English Missal, the focus is Christ. We know this, because we have seen,like Thomas. Let us show our unity in diversity of expressions of Faith, but let the Christ be evident in our actions and in our worship and in our lives - and stop bickering about stylistics! "

Happy St. Benedicts Day

Happy St. Benedict's Day!

It is a day of celebration in monastic circles, with whiskey, ice cream and chocolate been the order of the day at my favourite monastery!

What does St Benedict, and the order he inspired, mean to me, and us, as a community?

Primarily, for me, it gives us the outline for living the Christian life. In a world which shouts persistently to "do it my way", St Benedict's words speak clearly and persistently - with a lot of common sense.

Listen. Pray. Listen. Work. Listen. Sleep. Listen. Study. Listen. Eat. Listen. Drink. Listen. Speak. Listen. Be silent.

Secondly, it gives me tools for exploring the mystery of God.
The office and liturgy. Being Humble. Lectio Divina. Spiritual Direction. Living in community with all the hard work that entails. Centuries of thinking, delving, reading and writing into the reality of God.

Lastly, St Benedict connects us to a world wide community of people who are seeking after God. My relationship with the monks, and what they have taught me, is strengthened by meeting and talking with people of like mind. Being present at a monastery has introduced me to a world of authors and thinkers previously unknown.

It is Christianity which is deep, and relevant, and fun.

I wonder if Alan, NWC, Dom John or Bryan have anything to say on the matter?

God bless you!

Thoughts in the quiet

Hello friends!

Still here, but insane times of manic buisiness with the end of term upon us all.
I've also been busy applying for a new Job as a campus minister at a local Roman Catholic school, so prayers would be appreciated!

Links for today

Anglo-Catholic Socialism an awesome resource of links and articles from the Anglican left.

If anyone knows of similar groups operating out of the Catholic Left, could you let us know?

Pax Christi the international Catholic peace organization

St Benedicts table a groovy church from somewhere in Canada (Thanks AH!) .... Great name!

and the of course the Pope has let the Latin Mass be used a bit more.
Not sure what I think about this

Bless you!