10th October, 2011

DARREN CRONSHAW

Joan Chittister

The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life

BlueBridge, US, 2011

ISBN-13: 978-1933346342

"The Monastery of the Heart is an easy to read and beautifully written reflection on the Rule of Benedict and its relevance for contemporary spirituality. The book comes in 25 chapters so could be read slowly and devotionally chapter by chapter over a month, or devoured as a feast in a day like I did."

Benedict is becoming a hero of mine. I have reencountered his thought from Joan Chittister, a thoughtful and poetic writer who draws deeply on Benedict’s monastic life and Rule and points her readers in helpful directions for living an extraordinary life. I am curious to consider why Benedict appeals to me and why Chittister’s work was such good news for a recent retreat in everyday life.

It might be because of Benedict’s challenge to stability, in contrast to our age of mobility and my tendency to look for the next best thing.

"Stability is not in vogue

In a world

obsessed with change.

The world tells us to move on

when things get hard.

This world tells us to start over

rather than to finish what we have begun." (p. 163).

It might be because of his encouragement of leaders to be humble and mutual yet always carve out new directions and risk new questions, to help the community “to stretch it to the full height and breadth and depth of itself”.

It might be his invitation to cultivate the inner life of our souls through solitude and prayerful reading of Scripture. In years past I have had more disciplined approaches (or regimes) for Bible reading. But now I’m 40 and navigating this midlife transition, and am eager for some fresh and life-giving patterns for prayerful reading of Scripture. Chittister encourages me to reforge space for getting a fresh reading of Scripture and a renewed encounter with Jesus:

"Lectio, this careful prayerful reading,

this intense meditation and reflection

on one word, one idea at a time,

frees us from our misperceptions

about Jesus

as a figure of love without purpose,

as a doer of miracles without meaning,

as a model of personal care for others

without social concern

for society as a whole." (p. 53)

Part of Benedict’s appeal is he did not just say withdraw from the world, but encouraged finding God in the midst of relationships, work and the everyday. I love the world I live in. Someone asked a group I was in “What do you long God to say to you at the end of your life?” He was fishing for “Well done good and faithful servant”, but my response was I would love to hear “Oh go on, have another decade then.” I am in no hurry to escape from the world. I want to find and engage God in the midst of everyday life, for many years to come. One of the gifts of Benedictine spirituality is that through our work and relationships, our hobbies and art:

"that we spend ourselves

making the world as beautiful

as God, the artist, the Word, meant it to be." (p. 109).

I love Benedict’s valuing of hospitality. A porter would welcome those who knock on the door with “Thank God you’ve come” and welcome the disturbance. Visitors were treated specially as guests. (Why do we call people who come the first time to church as “visitors” rather than “guests”?)

Another attractive aspect of the “Rule of St Benedict” is that is not designed for individuals but for communities of seekers to engage in together. I don’t live in a monastery. Even if I aspired to live in one, I am not sure I would find enough people who would want to live with me! But I do long for practices and disciplines for my spiritual life that I can engage in with others. We don’t have to be together every day to practice them, but I like the idea of committing to a framework for spiritual growth with a community of others, learning from one another and cheering each other on. Benedict’s spirituality is earthed in a communal monasticism: 

 "Community is the backdrop against which

we do what we do.

It gives us the underpinning

that enables us to go on

when we’re tired,

to go forward

when we’re afraid,

 to go more deeply into the unmasking

of the self

when everything inside of us

seems to have gone to stone,

goes dry and dull and lethargic." (p. 70)

The book encouraged me to dream about what practices would be helpful for our church. As Auburn Baptist Church maybe we could develop “The Auburn Way”, with a commitment to practices like Worship, Hospitality, Mutual Service and Listening. Perhaps we could invite one another to practice prayerful reading and listening to Scripture with the SOAP approach to Bible reading - Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. There are online journalling options for SOAP and perhaps we could develop one for Auburn or Victorian Baptist and other churches more broadly (cf. http://www.cityimpactchurch.com/resources/soapbiblereading/tabid/168/Default.aspx). Maybe Worship, Hospitality and SOAP could form its own acronym – I’ll leave that for others at Auburn. Michael Frost at smallboatbigsea has BELLS – Bless, Eat, Listen, Learn, Send. Alan and Deb Hirsch at South Melbourne developed TEMPT – Together we follow, Engagement with Scripture, Mission, Passion for Jesus and Transformation. These different approaches encourage me to think about what practices would be most life-giving and mission-sustaining at Auburn. What shape would “The Auburn WAY” take? 

One of the features of Benedict’s advice, and that I think we need in the 21st century Australian church, is that his practices were intentionally not harsh and burdensome. It is about what is life-giving not draining. Benedictine spirituality may curb my impatience, obsessive materialism and impulsive ambition. But it also invites me to live in more life-giving and life-sharing directions involving common worship, common property, common service. Chittister concludes:

"It calls us always to the more of life:

to more peace,

more humility,

more serenity,

more study,

more prayer,

more openness,

more service of the other,

more community of heart,

more richness of soul,

more immersion in the tradition

and the wisdom it has handed on to us.

It invites us to come to learn, too,

how less is also more:

how less competition means more peace,

less jealousy means more contentment,

less need for things means more satisfaction,

less self-centredness means more happiness,

and less corrosive personal ambition

leaves more room

for the loving presence of God." (pp. 217-218).

It is over to us to live out these lessons in our day and our contexts. But I am thankful we don’t have to do that alone. And thankfully we don’t have to do it disengaged from the world. The invitation is to communal monasticism that is engaged fully with God and fully with the world.

The Monastery of the Heart is an easy to read and beautifully written reflection on the Rule of Benedict and its relevance for contemporary spirituality. The book comes in 25 chapters so could be read slowly and devotionally chapter by chapter over a month, or devoured as a feast in a day like I did.

Darren coordinates leadership training with the Baptist Union of Victoria, pastors Auburn Baptist Church and is an honorary research associate with Whitley College (MCD).

FOR MORE ON BOOKS, visit our books page here...