No Gifts, Please
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
I remember, when I was in grade school, the first day of school after Christmas break. “I got the Six Million Dollar Man doll!,” I said, or I’d have my new Matchbox car in my pocket, ready to show it off. The first thing said to my friends was a report on what I received at the holiday. I’d listen too to the haul my friends took in for . . .
Welcoming the Guest
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
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On weekdays, when I’m hanging around the church building, the place usually is quiet. The delivery person might bring a package. Someone could drop something off for a fellowship gathering. Maybe a group meeting in the building gathers, but otherwise the place is still. Every now and then, though, I see someone I don’t recognize coming . . .
We Need Sacred Spaces
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
The family room of my teenage years used to be a Buddhist temple. A previous owner of the house was a doctor who immigrated from another country, and I’m guessing small town Missouri offered few opportunities for Buddhist devotion, so one of the rooms was set up as a shrine. I never saw it when it was a temple space, but others mentioned . . .
When You're On a Journey, You Should Go to Church
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
When you’re on a journey, you should go to church. Most church people, pastors included, view a Sunday out of town as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but if you’re in a different town on a Sunday you should go to a church. There’s this tool called the internet (perhaps you’ve heard of it) where you can find information on a church, wherever . . .
The Observance of Lent
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
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Lent is more than 8 months away, so it’s silly to be writing about it now, but chapter 49 of the Rule of Benedict is on “The Observance of Lent.” Many Protestant traditions jettisoned most of the church year, retaining only Christmas and Easter, and so I often get curious questions about Lent from Christians who don’t observe it. “What . . .
When to Work
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
Monks work. Some imagine monks living an idle of life of quiet and prayer, but that’s not a complete picture. Part of a monk’s life is devoted to labor. Different monasteries have different ways of supporting themselves. If you can get some fudge made at Gethsemani Abbey, you should do so because it’s delicious, and making the fudge and other . . .
If You Screwed Up, You Should Probably Just Say So
Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict
I wrote last fall about the monks’ practice of kneeling out. If a monk has made a mistake in their common prayer gathering, he or she will, at the end, go and kneel in the middle of the church until everyone has left. It’s a way of acknowledging the mistake and moving past it. Chapters 45 and 46 of the Rule of St. Benedict address this, . . .