Benedict
I just finished reading The Rule o Saint Benedict. I was going to be in a study group at church using this and another book to develop our own Rules, but it hasn't worked out yet. Hopefully it will in the near future.St. Benedict is crazy. Not in the sense of "Hitler is crazy", bit in the sense of "Michael Jordan is crazy". This is a good crazy. And intense crazy. St. Benedict's Rule was written for the monks of his order. This is how everyone in the order should live, work, read, etc. It would be very easy to point out all the parts of the rule that are a bit ridiculous, like a rule against laughing, but that would lead to me thinking that I am better than the Rule and don't need to think about living more like it.
The Rule is basically a way of making sure that all the monks, who were monks precisely because they wanted to live differently than the world around them, would be dedicated to their choice of following God in the midst of a culture and world that was not. Hmm...that sounds a bit familiar.
Maybe I won't start reciting specific prayers and Psalms in a specific order at 6am, 9am, Noon, 3pm, 7pm, 10pm and 2am, but I should probably think about how I can incorporate the Scriptures and prayer more fully into my day. I probably won't start drinking half a bottle of wine a day, the appropriate amount of drink per person according to Benedict, but maybe I should start thinking more about the amount and type of food and drink that I consume.
Blogs
I have started reading other blogs again, which I haven't been doing for a while. To start off with, I'm reading my friends' blogs that I know of and then a couple of religious/theological blogs. Just to get the scope of things I decided to read Tony Jones' blog and John Piper's blog. So far they are a bit different!
Breaking Bread
Tonight is another week of Breaking Bread. We have been working through the book of I Corinthians for a while during our Bible study time. There have been some great discussions, some crappy ones, and a number of people that were either completely lost or not interested at all. Leading a Bible study for 30-60 homeless to semi-homeless, mostly 35-50 year old African American men has been quite a learning experience. At times it has been incredibly difficult, other times it has been fun and hilarious. I have learned a lot about the Scriptures from our guests, about leading a large group, being a facilitator and that I definitely still have a lot to learn. Tonight one of my co-leaders is leading us in Chapter 13. I'll make sure to post any fun stories tomorrow.
Peace
3 comments:
Hey, I'm reading a book about the rule of benedict right now! (I haven't read the actual rule. I think I would probably like it better than this book, though.) I think he has a lot of amazing things to say about community. My question is, how do you live like that outside of the context of a community who is trying to live the same way? Any ideas?
What book are you reading? St. Benedict's Toolbox by Jane Tomaine? If not, I highly recommend that one. Starting to go through that right now.
Living a Benedictine life outside of a community is impossible, I think. However, that community doesn't have to be a monastery. I actually have been thinking about that a lot, so more thoughts will be coming!
I'm reading "Wisdom Distilled from the Daily" by Joan Chittister. I get minorly irritated with her because I don't like her writing style. She spends most of the chapter talking about what the rule isn't followed by all of the terrible things that happen when we don't follow the rule, and after a whole lot of repetition about all that junk, she spends about 3 sentences on what the rule actually is and what it could look like practically.
My bigger problem, though, is that she is a nun. Which is fine. But if you're a nun, living in a Benedictine community, I'm not going to give you a whole lot of credibility when you talk about how the rule is relevant in every day life. You're a nun! You have it all layed out for you in your tidy little community. What do you know about my every day life?
That's the skeptic in me. I try to quiet her as much as possible. On the whole, I think it's helpful to know how people thoughout the centuries have tried to live out this whole Christian thing in holistic ways. So rock on, Benedict! Let's restart a revolution. :o)
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