Neo-Monasticism

So I have not been blogging like I have been meaning to.  This blog is my first attempt to really post regularly and now I see first hand why so many people say it is difficult to post as often as they wish.  It is not necessarily that I haven’t had time to blog, I have just allowed other things to take more time.  Sometimes the holidays can bring about more chaos in one’s life, then the peace that is proclaimed at the birth of Jesus.

A few weeks ago, Necia and I were privileged to attend a conversation entitled Monastiscism Remix: Traditional and Neo-Monastic Spirituality in the 21st Century here in Seattle.  Now I realize that some of us have little to no experience with monasticism and the images that come to our mind are extreme stories or Hollywood portraits of medieval life.  Although Neo-Monasticism desires to stand in the line of the tradition of the monastics throughout the years, it is not exactly the same Monasticism.  The first thing to realize is that it is a relatively recent movement that is still learning about how to be in the world.  Also, it finds its roots in the free-church tradition, such as Mennonites, Quakers, Baptists, etc, as well as from the more historical and established churches such as Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox.

Early monasticism in the 3rd and 4th century was a desire for purity as they saw the church being corrupted by the state (aka Roman Empire legalizing Christianity as state religion).  Today this new movement seems to have less of a single focus and rather has many elements and concerns such as simplicity, community, caring for the poor, working toward peace and reconciliation, and creation care to name a few.  In a hundred years when historians look back at this movement I may be completely wrong, but those are my current observations.

Back to the conversation we attended.  It was sponsored by the folks at Mustard Seed Associates.  We talked about what monasticism and neo-monasticism looks like in our present situations.  We learned that some people are living in community and some in solitude, but all are trying to live by a rule of life or better said a rhythm of daily spiritual practices.   These practices range from sharing meals together to serving locally.  There is also an emphasis in acquiring little so that we are free to give more, both regular giving and when the need arises.  There is a lot more to say about Neo-Monasticism, but that will have to wait for another blog.

Thanks to the folks a Mustard Seed for an encouraging time of conversation and great soup!

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