Tim Flanders
27-09-2008, 06:09 PM
timothy, a slave of Messiah Yeshua for the proclamation and establishment of the eternal and everlasting Kingdom of G-d on Earth, so that His name may be hollowed and His will be done; to you, my fellow pilgrims and workers for the Glory of the L-rd of Hosts, Blessed Be He.
Grace and Peace to you from G-d our Father and the L-rd Yeshua HaMashiach.
I write this post because I desire to speak about the phenominon of "new monasticism" in America, inspired, just as Athanasius' Vita Antonii, by a widely circulated work by a brother by the name of Shane Claiborne, that is, The Irresistable Revolution.
I am unaware of any other postings to this effect, however I must admit and subsequently apologize for the fact that I am entirely new to not only Monachos.net, but Orthodoxy Herself.
However, I intend to tell you of my (our) own pursuit of an urban monasticism and its effects on our lives. I hope that this will encourage you, and that you can encourage us, that we may edify and admonish one another, from novice to elder, from disciple to father.
After about 5 months of fasting and praying and discussing together, I and around 6 others (the group changed people throughout this Journey as The L-rd saw fit) finally found a house in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a place that is pretty run down by violence and addiction.
We take our inspiration from such works as Shane Claiborne, Scott Bessenecker's New Friars, and our relationship with a prayer house downtown that takes in addicts.
We began our monastic dream with a conversation, and once we had a house we continued that conversation, and this post itsself is simply the continuation of that. We have been living in the house for a period of about a month and so far we have developed certain practices and rules for ourselves of which I will try to describe.
First, we began a rhythm of the hours, based on a seven a day schedule: 6a, 9a, 12p, 3, 6, 9, 12. Most of us our students, so usually we are only able to be together praying at 6a, but whenever we are together or alone, we pray at these times. Two of us have been trying to learn more about the rotation of the Psalter in the Hours, because right now we are simply praying as we feel best.
We took our attic and made into a sancuary, taking off our shoes and coming together once a week on Wednesday to pray and worship the Holy One together. This we do with music, with words, and with silence, and with bread and wine. Sometimes there is leader, sometimes we pray as best, but all things to the grace of the Spirit.
There's a tension between our internal community that we seek and the external community which we seek to build. There are 3 women and 4 men in the house, and the they meet separately each week. But we also, (so far, monthly) hold a Love Feast at our house in which we invite the neighborhood and anyone else to simply share food and love. This is a tradition of the Moravian Church, but it is based on the vein of Acts 2, and on the tradition of communal worship and fellowship throughout the Church.
But it has been hard to reach out to our neighbors. One thing, 5 of us are students and we have so little time to actually spend with our neighbors that we wish we weren't in school sometimes. Our next door neighbors are gay coke-addicts who recently beat up our other neighbor whose grandmother gives us peatnut butter and oats. Our other neighbor is a Satanist who mocks us because our coke-addict friends take advantage of our generosity. We are trying to pursue reconciliation between our friends.
In addition to this, we are pursuing ways to live in the Kingdom of G-d within this American culture, dominated by consumerism-fueld oppression and wastfulness. To this end, we "rescue" much of our food (that is, we find it in the trash) and we find creative alternatives to our products. Like sharing a vegetable garden with our neighbor and having a compost pile. We also make clothes and granola, and we'd like to learn to make other things from the scraps of this society.
I think this is all part of the mentality that the Kingdom is one where the most powerless and marginalized of Society are actuallt the one's called Blessed in This Kingdom: the poor. We take our inspiration from the Father and Mothers of Church striving for the face of Christ in the poor. People like St John Chrysostom and Clare of the Poor Clares.
Together we try to find meaning and order to our weeks, living liturgically. We have a tradition of having pancakes on Sabbath morning and making "Indeed" for the L-rd's Day. ("Indeed" is simply a sweet baked good, like a cinnamon roll. The name comes from the liturgy of the West: "Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.) And we are pursuing what types of fasting rhythm we might take, if, as the Didache teaching, we shall fast on Wed and Fri, this would coincide with our prayer times.
However, all of this is under the subjugation of Christ and His Church, and so we offer it to you for your praise and admonishion.
we are yours faithfully and utterly in Messiah our L-rd.
timothy flanders and the Gold Street House
Grace and Peace to you from G-d our Father and the L-rd Yeshua HaMashiach.
I write this post because I desire to speak about the phenominon of "new monasticism" in America, inspired, just as Athanasius' Vita Antonii, by a widely circulated work by a brother by the name of Shane Claiborne, that is, The Irresistable Revolution.
I am unaware of any other postings to this effect, however I must admit and subsequently apologize for the fact that I am entirely new to not only Monachos.net, but Orthodoxy Herself.
However, I intend to tell you of my (our) own pursuit of an urban monasticism and its effects on our lives. I hope that this will encourage you, and that you can encourage us, that we may edify and admonish one another, from novice to elder, from disciple to father.
After about 5 months of fasting and praying and discussing together, I and around 6 others (the group changed people throughout this Journey as The L-rd saw fit) finally found a house in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a place that is pretty run down by violence and addiction.
We take our inspiration from such works as Shane Claiborne, Scott Bessenecker's New Friars, and our relationship with a prayer house downtown that takes in addicts.
We began our monastic dream with a conversation, and once we had a house we continued that conversation, and this post itsself is simply the continuation of that. We have been living in the house for a period of about a month and so far we have developed certain practices and rules for ourselves of which I will try to describe.
First, we began a rhythm of the hours, based on a seven a day schedule: 6a, 9a, 12p, 3, 6, 9, 12. Most of us our students, so usually we are only able to be together praying at 6a, but whenever we are together or alone, we pray at these times. Two of us have been trying to learn more about the rotation of the Psalter in the Hours, because right now we are simply praying as we feel best.
We took our attic and made into a sancuary, taking off our shoes and coming together once a week on Wednesday to pray and worship the Holy One together. This we do with music, with words, and with silence, and with bread and wine. Sometimes there is leader, sometimes we pray as best, but all things to the grace of the Spirit.
There's a tension between our internal community that we seek and the external community which we seek to build. There are 3 women and 4 men in the house, and the they meet separately each week. But we also, (so far, monthly) hold a Love Feast at our house in which we invite the neighborhood and anyone else to simply share food and love. This is a tradition of the Moravian Church, but it is based on the vein of Acts 2, and on the tradition of communal worship and fellowship throughout the Church.
But it has been hard to reach out to our neighbors. One thing, 5 of us are students and we have so little time to actually spend with our neighbors that we wish we weren't in school sometimes. Our next door neighbors are gay coke-addicts who recently beat up our other neighbor whose grandmother gives us peatnut butter and oats. Our other neighbor is a Satanist who mocks us because our coke-addict friends take advantage of our generosity. We are trying to pursue reconciliation between our friends.
In addition to this, we are pursuing ways to live in the Kingdom of G-d within this American culture, dominated by consumerism-fueld oppression and wastfulness. To this end, we "rescue" much of our food (that is, we find it in the trash) and we find creative alternatives to our products. Like sharing a vegetable garden with our neighbor and having a compost pile. We also make clothes and granola, and we'd like to learn to make other things from the scraps of this society.
I think this is all part of the mentality that the Kingdom is one where the most powerless and marginalized of Society are actuallt the one's called Blessed in This Kingdom: the poor. We take our inspiration from the Father and Mothers of Church striving for the face of Christ in the poor. People like St John Chrysostom and Clare of the Poor Clares.
Together we try to find meaning and order to our weeks, living liturgically. We have a tradition of having pancakes on Sabbath morning and making "Indeed" for the L-rd's Day. ("Indeed" is simply a sweet baked good, like a cinnamon roll. The name comes from the liturgy of the West: "Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.) And we are pursuing what types of fasting rhythm we might take, if, as the Didache teaching, we shall fast on Wed and Fri, this would coincide with our prayer times.
However, all of this is under the subjugation of Christ and His Church, and so we offer it to you for your praise and admonishion.
we are yours faithfully and utterly in Messiah our L-rd.
timothy flanders and the Gold Street House