Updated S3 Presentation

2008 Presentation slide 4

sorry about reverse order...

2008 Presentation slide 2

Prayers in the Mountains

In early May, the Methodist Monastics geared up and headed to an area just North of Smoky Mountain NP near Hot Springs, NC. Over three days we completed our trek. At the scheduled hours we stopped for prayer using the Glenstal book as our guide.

We hiked in under the cover of near-darkness and found the only suitable campsite for several trail-mies. Morning light revealed the weightiness of our packs and several group members decided to scale down to necessities requiring a short trek back to the trailhead.

The up and down hiking provided a rhythm that was less welcome than the rhythm of the prayers. On day two, we pushed past our designated campsite in order to shorten the final day's hike. After a night at a beautiful campsite, we hiked out to enjoy some down time in Hot Springs.

A Great Trip

June 2007 I traveled to Chicago in order to spend time at the Monastery of the Holy Cross.  This by far was the best trip I have taken as a pastor.  

Probably the most reluctant of the group to study monasticism I waited until the last minute to get serious about planning my trip.  In the spring of 2007 as other group members went on their trips to monasteries throughout the United States I wondered why we hadn't chosen something different to study.  Why were we studying the monastic lifestyle?  Why hadn't we chosen something more exciting such as the similarities between Christianity and baseball or Christianity and fine dinning.  Why was I going to a place where people did not talk on purpose?  Furthermore why was I going to such a great city as Chicago in order to spend time with people who chose not to talk for large portions of the day?

I would not know the answer to these questions until I arrived in Chicago.  Upon arriving I noticed a sign on the front door asking for visitors to just ring the bell once.  I don't remember the exact words, but underneath that request were some words explaining that it might be a lengthy time before someone came to the door because of prayer.  Well, that was different and oddly comforting.  I rang the bell and no one came.  What to do?  In a world of instant gratification I was going to have to wait.  One would think this to be a terrible inconvenience, but it was great!  I had nowhere particular to be and I had rang the bell so there was nothing left to do.  I sat!  As I sat I couldn't remember the last time I just sat.  It was great.  I had flown all the way to the big city of Chicago just to remember how to sit.  I thought back to my early childhood and all the evenings my family just sat on the front porch of Nanny and Papa's house.  We used to love to just sit for a while. 

It wasn't long before Brother Edward came to introduce himself and show me to the place I would be staying.  Most days I am in charge of all my daily necessities such as food, comfort, and shelter.  On this day God was taking care of these needs through Brother Edward and the monastery.  Brother Edward explained that I could take a nap on the couch if I wanted or I could come to the next prayer time, it was totally up to me.  I slept!  With all my needs for food and a place to stay taken care of I slept good.  

To make a long story short, the prayer times were great, the silence was golden and the hospitality was simple and appreciated.  I communicated more with God on this trip than at any time I can remember.  I filled notepads with thoughts I'm sure God had tried to communicate to me for months, maybe years.  

While meeting with Brother Edward on the third day I asked why monks pull away from the world.  (I knew so very little about monasticism.)  He explained the origins of the orders and how monks would go out into the desert to do battle with satan in prayer.  He explained that this battle was on behalf of the believers.  Then he asked me a curious question, he asked why the church in our world doesn't look more monastic.  That was a good question.

Now the question for me a year and a month later is why doesn't my life look more monastic?  If this was the best trip I've taken since being a pastor why haven't I taken another like it?  If waiting was so great why I am I so impatient?  If allowing God to take care of my needs was so comforting why am I such a control freak?  Those are great questions.  

The Wandering of the Methodist Monastics Leads to the Mountains

A journey is not really a journey when you start at the end. That's my philosophy anyway. After each spending time in a monastery, we are now planning a backpacking skeet adventure. The plan is to spend 4 days living in monastic-inspired community while backpacking and camping through the Smokey mountains. We will follow a pattern of prayer and silence while hiking, and setting up camp each day. Will we all survive? Stay tuned...

Getting Serious About Retreat

I am the last Methodist Monastic to be un-retreated. That is, everyone else has done their thing in some way: Jacob to AZ, Mark to KS, Peter to KY (hee-hee), Tommy to DC, Chip to Chi-town. I alone have not monasticized. Well, enough. After a helpful group meeting last Monday to talk about our focus and re-focus, I decided that it was time to suck it up and find a trip.

I had really hoped to go to an Eastern Orthodox monastery since the rest of the crowd had gone the Benedictine route. However, it did not work out. I could not find one that felt right. So, I too decided to go Benedictine; it has become a de facto pillar of our S3 focus, I think.

I started out on Friday, armed with my home computer, DSL, and a search engine. In all I spent about three hours working all kinds of possibilities; researching monasteries, flights, costs, etc.... I continued to be frustrated with the reality that at all of the Catholic monasteries, I, as a non-Catholic (even though an ordained one), cannot receive holy communion. This is an awfully discouraging rift in the body of Christ, but I know we are all in conversation.

That is when I came across a very interesting possibility: an Anglican Benedictine order. Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, has a very handy website that I discovered in my research. And it seemed like a godsend. Everything seemed perfect, including, of course, their open communion table! I explored the possibility and was excited that I would fly into NYC and catch a shuttle to Grand Central Station and from there take the Metro-North Railroad to Poughkeepsie, NY, before my final stop in West Park. It was looking very promising...until I called the monastery. The dates of Oct. 1-5, were booked solid and that was the only time the rest of this year I could go. Crestfallen is the right word.

But after a short break to get my chin up off of my chest, I went at it again. More and more searching I did. There were not any more viable Episcopalian possibilities, as much as that disappointed me. But, we are working on a $400 budget. Back to Catholicism. I poured through an online database of monasteries. Then, I found the Abbey of the Genesee, a Cistercian community in Piffard, NY.


My wife is from Rochester, NY, through which the Genesee River runs and which is about 35 miles from Piffard. She had mentioned this Abbey before; monasticism is something she explored, spending a month at St. Benedict's in Collegeville, MN, herself once. With my in-laws close by and reasonable airfare from Nashville to Rochester (which is remarkable, too, as Rochester is one of the most expensive flight destinations in America), things were shaping up. I was convinced. I would try the Abbey. I sent off an email to Fr. Jerome as listed on the Abbey's website and went to bed awaiting an early morning reply.

About 8:30 AM, I checked my email and got my reply. "The angels must be praying for you,"Fr. Jerome wrote, "I had one more room in the guesthouse for the time you requested. We'll see you in October." I emailed back to confirm; found a good flight on Northwest Airlines; and now I am really looking forward to this adventure. There's a reading list on the Abbey's website and some guidelines for preparing for retreat. So, I am squarely back in the fold with the Methodist Monastics. I am on board and ready to explore what the cloistered life may have to offer to us non-oblates. May Fr. Jerome's angels keep praying for me ;).

Another Mainliner "Flirting" with Monastacism

Guys, I've heard about this book several times now, most recently on a podcast recorded at Columbia during a mainline emergent conference in January.I'm sure your bullpen of books is like mine, but I'm hoping to see what author Karen Sloan's experience has to say about our own.

Here's a link if you're interested.