A while back I finally got round to reading Finding Sanctuary by Abbot Christopher Jamison, the Abbot from Worth Abbey that gained a lot of attention through the BBC TV’s ‘The Monastery’ a few years back. I really enjoyed it and in particular welcomed the chapter on ‘community’, which starts to explore some of what Saint Benedict had to say on the subject. As a result I’ve also started reading further into the Rule of Saint Benedict (having read Abbot Christopher’s new book Finding Happiness and started the Rule of Benedict by Joan D. Chittister) and I’m finding it really helpful in thinking through the whole area of how we endeavour to ‘live intentionally in community.’
In Finding Sanctuary, Abbot Christopher talks of the way Benedict wanted community to be where people can express individuality rather than individualism: “Individualism is simply doing your own thing in your own way and blanking out the other people. Individuality involves bringing your particular contribution to bear on the life of the community…” I have found this a really helpful way to look at the life of community in tension to our culture of ‘me, my and I’.
He also talks of the importance of a rule for community – because it provides an agreed way of doing things, and as a result people know what to expect and what is expected of them, which leads to, “community life sustain[ing] good conversations by encouraging it and contain[ing] good conversation by setting boundaries.” Finally he explains how Benedict put the structures of the rule in place through ritual: “Small rituals can transform ordinary events into powerful ways to build community.”
These points, of rule, structure and ritual, are often seen in the negative by society at large, and yet increasingly I am seeing the liberating role they play in the lives of many, particularly, in monastic communities. A recent example of this was whilst staying at a Franciscan monastery, where I was struck by the rule of silence that was practiced for the majority of each day which enabled the monks to communicate much more efficiently and clearly than most of us stuck in the rule of noise, and also freed them from the need for constant noise amongst themselves.
At House244 we are just starting to work through some of these issues of role, responsibility and leadership – and I’m finding lessons from our monastic relatives really helpful.
Matt– You also might enjoy Radical Hospitality.