Friday, May 31, 2024

Abbey Awe | Blessed with Joy and Presence in Terce Psalms


Joy on the Soapstone Trail Near St. Mary's Monastery & St. Scholastica Priory

Cultivating joy
is an act of resistance
to any person, event, or system
that would have us believe
that death has the final word on our lives.

+ Willie James Jennings,

To close the month of May 2024, I had the honor to help host another St. Mary's Monastery & St. Scholastica's Priory retreat with people from Congregational, Baptistic, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and Anglican backgrounds, for a special time at the monastery, even getting to see Br. Isidore again, as we focused on the Benedictine rhythms of prayer, infused with Psalms throughout.

Before we arrived, everyone was invited to read, meditate on, and memorize Psalm 63:1-5 to prepare for this sacred time together: 

Psalm 63

1 God, You are my God,
earnestly I seek You;
I thirst for You,
my whole being longs for You,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water:

2 I have seen You in the sanctuary
and beheld Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your love is better than life,
my lips will praise You.

4 I will praise You as long as I live,
and in Your name I will lift up my hands.

5 I will be fully satisfied
as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise You.
 
St. Mary's Monastery and St. Scholastica Priory Sanctuary in Petersham, MA

 On previous retreats, the practices of reading and praying the Psalms, especially connected to compline and prayer in the night with the monasteries, have proven life-giving for me. But this time, it was the mid-morning prayer hour of terce immediately after the mass that blessed me the most. Below is some brief background related to the different prayer hours during the morning provided in Leighton Ford's The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things:

The “morning” journey(s) are
when our day starts and
where our life begins
with all its potential and challenges.

The “time before our own time”
— Vigils —
is the time for us to address
our Creator with thanks and openness.

Lauds
come just before dawn …
It is the hour that takes us
from darkness into light —
awakening to life, to God.

Terce
is the marker of midmorning.
It was at this “third hour”
on the day of Pentecost
that the Spirit came
to the early Christian community,
as the enabling Power of their witness.

In the monastery
Terce
is time to take a break from busy work,
time to receive a midmorning blessing
with a focus on the Spirit
and the aliveness of His presence.

Before I arrived at St. Mary's Monastery, a theme I thought God wanted me to focus on was joy in His presence and cultivating joy as an act of resistance throughout this year. And so when I lingered after the mass at 9:30 a.m. the first morning we were there, returning to the faint aroma of incense in the simple, yet beautiful sanctuary, I could only smile when these were the verses from the Psalms I was invited to meditate on in both Latin and English with the monks and the nuns serenading the day:

Psalms 8

1 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name
in all the earth!
You have set Your glory
in the heavens.

2 Through the praise of
children and infants
You have established
a stronghold against Your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place,
4 what is mankind
that You are mindful of them,
human beings that You care for them?

5 You have made them
a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You made them rulers
over the works of Your hands;
You put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name
in all the earth!


Soapstone Trail near St. Mary's Monastery & St. Scholastica's Priory in Petersham, MA

The joy in Psalm 8 is not only present in its ancient and fresh praises throughout, but it also stirred in me the right response to the gorgeous view we got to see as a community of retreatants together after a steep hike later that day.

And the joy in the moment of Terce that also brought a smile to my face was personal because less than 24 hours earlier I was discussing this exact Psalm with my oldest daughter as we considered some of the psalms her and her boyfriend had been reading (1-11 as of last week). We watched the Bible Project video on Psalm 8 and enjoyed a quiet break after school together in the month of May-hem.

The next morning of Terce, I was awakened to joy again during a cool, calming, and serene rainfall with this Psalm:

Psalms 16

1 Preserve me, God,
I take refuge in You.

2 I say to the LORD: 
"You are my God.
My happiness lies
in You alone."

3 He has put into my heart
a marvelous love
for the faithful ones 
who dwell in His land.

4 Those who choose other gods
increase their sorrows.
Never will I offer 
their offerings of blood.
Never will I take their name
upon my lips.

5 O LORD, it is You
who are my portion and cup;
it is You Yourself
who are my prize.

6 The lot marked out for me
is my delight:
welcome indeed the heritage
that falls to me!

7 I will bless the LORD
who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.

8 I keep the LORD ever in my sight:
since He is at my right hand,
I shall stand firm.

9 And so my heart rejoices,
my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.

10 For you will not leave 
my soul among the dead,
nor let Your beloved know decay.

11 You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in Your presence,
at Your right hand happiness forever.


Multiple people on the retreat mentioned how Psalm 16 had been special for them, too, during this hour of Terce. This time was not only good for my spirit with the Spirit, but good for many others during this hour when the Spirit came down at Pentecost. And while verse 11 had been one I have returned to again and again, I'm now looking forward to returning to the entire Psalm during 2024 to ask the Spirit to move in this way among my family and among Emmaus City Church so that we all can sing as part of Christ's body in Worcester:

8 I keep the LORD ever in my sight:
since He is at my right hand,
I shall stand firm.

9 And so my heart rejoices,
my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety. ...

11 You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in Your presence,
at Your right hand happiness forever.


St. Mary's Retreat Reflections:

The guest house was great
and the chapel so beautiful and welcoming.
The diverse people reflected the Body of Christ
and through the readings, sharing,
praying, eating, and singing —
the Spirit quickly knit us together.
+ Brian M.

It really helped me return
to a grounding perspective
during a particularly busy season ...
When life gets worked up into a frenzy,
it was a great gift of God
to come back to a space
where I can remember that
things won't fall apart without me.
+ Kate K.

I want to do this again because
my soul often needs
this type of refreshment.
Many other “retreats”
offer a time away
but don’t refresh the soul. But
this retreat at St. Mary’s
was a huge refreshment.
+ Nate B.

The best way I can describe it
is like an oasis in a journey
across a desert land.
The pace of life as a parent,
ministry leader, and community activist
can feel overwhelming at times,
and the avalanche of the daily grind is real.
This retreat provides a respite
for a weary soul
or an opportunity to be more attentive
to God's omnipresence and the love of Jesus.
+ Ron W.

Go into it expecting rest
but getting so much more.
+ Marty H.

It was so refreshing and restful
for my body, mind, and soul!
It reoriented me to a place
of centeredness with God
and enabled me to feel renewed
in my calling and empowered to go back
to the fullness of life
with a sense of calm, focus, and joy.
I really appreciated the good mix
of solitude and fellowship
and the ways other participants' journeys
were an encouragement to mine.
+ Katie W.

I liked the whole thing.
+ Aaron K.

Bonus Video:



With presence and peace in Christ,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us
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Thursday, May 30, 2024

Abbey Awe | God Moves Thru Unlikely Saints Again (& Again)

 

St. Benedict of Nursia Block Print by Kreg Yingst

Let them first pray together
that so they may associate
in peace.

+ The Rule of St. Benedict

Look at the face of above. Not necessarily one that would be highlighted very often or looked to for joy and refreshment today. He seems a little too sober. A little too somber. And yet, God worked wonders of refreshment and innovation through this humble person who taught that, "The first degree of humility is prompt obedience."

This post is intended to provide a brief history of how God moved through St. Benedict and others who followed Jesus via discipleship along the lines of The Rule of St. Benedict not once, but twice in the past 2,000 years to bring renewal and healing to Jesus' Church during times when God's people were becoming corrupted by power, apathy, laziness, and greed.

As I've shared before, I have continued to be encouraged and awakened with awe and adoration by my times at Benedictine Abbeys, some of my favorite "thin spaces" these past 5+ years. During this year's spring retreat at St. Mary's Monastery, a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks living a contemplative monastic life in Petersham, Massachusetts, I read to participants from Congregational, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, and Reformed backgrounds the stories below from Michael Frost's wonderful book, Mission is the Shape of Water: Learning from the Past to Inform Our Role in the World Today. We were encouraged together then and I hope you will be encouraged with us now as you consider how:

It is the paradox of history 
that each generation
is converted by the saint
who contradicts it most.

+ G. K. Chesterton


The Flame Ignites Again in 500 A.D.

After all the effectiveness of the Celtic mission, Europe could (still) fall back into darkness. The "spreading flame" F.F. Bruce spoke of had dwindled to a barely flickering light ...

(But then) The Benedictines emerged from the ministry of St. Benedict. He was the son of a Roman nobleman from Nursia in the Italian province of Perugia and was sent to study in Rome, possibly around 500. However, Benedict found the city a hotbed of licentiousness, drunkenness, and violence. A devout man of deep spirituality, he was disgusted by the breakdown of civil society and retreated to a cave beside the lake near the ruins of Nero's palace above Subiaco. There is no evidence he intended to establish a monastic order. He was effectively a hermit, living in his cave for three years, provided with food and robes by Romanus, a monk of one of the nearby monasteries.

These were frightening and confusing 
times for Christians. 
The papacy behaved more 
like a small state than Jesus' Church, 
offering little spiritual guidance to the people. 
Christians felt as though the world was ending. 
When news spread of a saintly, flame-bearing
hermit living in a cave about forty miles
east of Rome, people began making
pilgrimages to the site to learn from
and be blessed by Benedict.

Eventually, Benedict was persuaded
to become an abbot
of a more traditional monastery,
each with twelve monks ...
It seemed as though Benedict
was the only light in the midst
of the dark chaos caused by
the final fall of Rome.

Later still, Benedict traveled south, followed by a few disciples, to a pagan district about halfway between Rome and Naples. There, on a steep hill above Cassino, he preached the Gospel and saw many people converted. Eventually, this would become the site of the Benedictine motherhouse at Monte Cassino, where he would formalize the rhythm of life for his monastic communities: the Rule of St. Benedict.

The Rule specifies rhythms, principles, and practices of a Benedictine monastery. It contains a list of seventy-two spiritual tools, based on various biblical and traditional sources:

+ The Lord's Two Great Commandments
+ Ten Commandments
+ Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
+ Golden Rule
+ Cardinal (Deadly) Sins
+ Theological Virtues

as well as other guiding principles, such as humility, suffering for the Kingdom, and loving one's enemy. It also outlines the day-to-day life of the community, including the Divine Office, prayer times, sleep times, meals and clothing.

Life in southern Italy
was so chaotic, so licentious, so immoral
that a rule like this was seen as a falme
that provided light, warmth, and guidance
in the midst of the darkness of the times.

Cistercians Rekindle the Flame in 1100 A.D.

The Benedictines would burst into flame again, taking back Western Europe and bringing revival and restoration to society. By the turn of the first millennium, corruption had found its way into Benedictine monasteries and was well advanced. In 1098, a Benedictine abbot, Robert of Molesme, could stand it no longer. His monastery in Burgundy had fallen into spiritual decline, with most monks abandoning the Benedictine Rule. Robert, along with about twenty supporters, left his monastery and moved to a plot of marshland just south of Dijon called Cîteaux, intending to establish a truly Benedictine community. Cîteaux means "reed" in Old French. Robert chose to use the Latin version of this term, cistercium, naming his new community the Cistercians.

Embracing a form of asceticism, these bearers of the flame sought to be purified and strengthened for a lifelong labor of prayer. They refused to accept any feudal revenues, believing them to be sullied by the church's collusion with the state ... they soon came to distinguish themselves from the monks of unreformed Benedictine communities by wearing white tunics instead of black. A white Benedictine or Cistercian was considered the holiest of all monks.

By 1111, the new abbot of the Cistercians, Stephen Harding (an extraordinary man in his own right), embarked on an expansion program to start Cistercian monasteries across Europe. That year, Harding commissioned a group of monks, led by Bernard de Fontaine — a nobleman who had taken holy orders at the age of twenty-two, just four years earlier — to start a new monastery in Clairvaux. A supremely eloquent and strong-willed mystic, Bernard of Clairvaux was to become the most admired churchman of his age. 

As with Benedict before him,
the flame of Bernard's passion
drew young people —  
particularly those who were seeking
a better way than the Church
was offering them at the time ...
Daughter houses and monasteries
were founded across France, 
into England and beyond.

The Cistercians under Bernard
took seriously Benedict's words
in the forty-eighth chapter of the Rule,
which states,
"For then are they monks in truth,

The work of their hands? Monks were meant to be known for being devoted to prayer and study, not work. Nonetheless, taking Benedict at his word, the Cistercians introduced manual labor for monks as a principal feature of their common life and the primary means of their financial support (since they refused to accept any filthy lucre from the state). They came to embody the Benedictine motto, ora et labora — "pray and work." For the Clairvaux community, the working part wasn't simply about funding the monastery; they worked in their fields for God! 

You might not think it, 
but this simple idea —
that a monk should express
piety through work —
would change European society
forever.

 For a zealous monk, prayer is an offering to the divine; the primary expression of devotion to God. Monks were taught to pray before dawn until after sunset. But now, the Cistercians added work as a true mark of godly devotion. And if they were to embrace manual labor as a way to express their love for God, they would inevitably work as devoutly as they prayed. And if work was part of religious vocation, then — also inevitably — they'd work extremely hard and for long hours.

The idea of manual labor as an act of consecration turned the Cistercians into lean, hardworking men. They worked as tirelessly as they prayed. A monk's life consisted of about three hours in church at the Divine Office; five hours devoted to manual labor; and two or three hours given over to biblical study. The exact number of hours changed according to the seasons of the year, both natural and liturgical, but the three-part rhythm of worship-work-study was maintained throughout the year.

The Cistercians reclaimed 
unwanted or marginal land 
and worked it constantly, 
turning fallow, useless dirt paddocks 
into productive fields.

In the process, they created a large, disciplined, unpaid labor force. And, as a monastic order, they were free from the tariffs and taxes imposed by feudal lords, so their business enterprises — whether wheat, wool, or beer — were remarkably profitable. They didn't pay conventional wages to their monks (workers), and they weren't taxed by the state. Nearly every cent they made was profit; and this in turn helped finance the founding of even more monasteries. With the proceeds from their agricultural ventures, and a steady stream of young men now signing up to the order, Bernard rolled out Cistercian monasteries across Europe. No other religious body had grown so large so quickly. By the time of his death in 1153, Bernard had directly founded sixty-eight monasteries and overseen the establishment of another 270 monasteries from Sweden to Portugal and from Scotland to the eastern Mediterranean.

The monks, often drawn from the educated families of Europe, began experimenting with new and innovative farming techniques, hydraulic engineering, and metallurgy. They developed the use of large waterwheels for power and an elaborate water circulation system for central heating. They instigated new approaches to transportation, fermentation, and harvesting crops. These techniques were adopted by other farmers in central Italy, southern France, Spain, and the Netherlands. As a result, all of Europe experienced a massive economic boom in the twelfth century. Some of these techniques are still in practice today.

Five hundred years after Benedict's death, 
and three hundred after 
the decline of his order,
the Cistercians had not only revitalize
Benedictine monastic life
but had also altered the world
as many Europeans experienced it.

They truly lit a flame
that spread into the far reaches
of the Western world,
bringing dramatic change to society.

+ pgs. 45-49, Chapter 3: Flame Bearing in

Bonus:

Why is St. Benedict often pictured
with a raven?

Saint Benedict is often depicted with a raven because of a story in The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict by Pope Gregory the Great. The story is about how Benedict, while living as a hermit in the wilderness, would feed a raven that lived in the forest near his monastery. One day, when Benedict was about to eat poisoned bread given to him by an envious priest, the raven swooped down and snatched it away. Benedict then called on the raven to take the bread somewhere safe so that no one would be harmed.

Bonus Benedictine Stories:


Abbey + Saint + Revival Posts:  
+ Awakening to New Wonder in Vigils
+ Finding God in a Thin Place
+ Facing Death w/ "Of Gods & Men"  
+ Saintly Swagger in Story of God   
+ Revival: Unfettered in Small Things
+ Presence & Prayer for Renewal  
+ In Our Time: Not Far from God
With presence and peace in Christ,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us

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Location: Worcester, MA, USA

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Anniversary | Blessings of Encouragement from ECC Family

 

The Road to Emmaus by Daniel Bonnell


Thank you, Emmaus City Church,
for being a temporary home
to many a weary traveler, including this one.
Thank you for being a shining example
of what it's like to walk the difficult path
toward the narrow gate that leads to life.
Thank you for surprising me with
Christ's presence on a road that
seemed hopeless
(the road to Emmaus ... )

In honor of all those who contributed to our 10th Anniversary Blessings Notebook, this post will feature the pull out quotes from the abundant notes and letters we received from ECC family, past and present, during the past month.

In reading each of them, the word that comes to mind is:

Dayenu
There is a word used in song
when the Lord brings His people
through yet another trial.
The word is dayenu,
meaning something along the lines of
If the Lord had merely fed us
during the famine but not given
us a home in Egypt,
it would have been enough.
If the Lord had given us a home
in Egypt but not kept us 
from being enslaved, 
it would have been enough.
If the Lord had brought us out Egypt
but not parted the Red Sea,
it would have been enough.
If the Lord had parted the Red Sea
but not brought every last one
of us through it,
it would have been enough.

This was their way of saying,
"No matter what the future is,
what You've done for us
is enough."

+ The Understory
pg. 152

I am grateful that God has given us the joy to be family to each other this past decade in sacred, special, and meaningful ways.

Going on mission with you all
has stretched me in ways
I could have never imagined.
...
Being on mission with this community
has pushed me to trust Jesus
in my weakness and my discomfort.
I have learned to move closer to others
when I want to pull back.
Just like Jesus.
+ Kate K.

I remember hearing
the vision for ECC
and getting a really good "vibe"
about everything ECC
was going to stand for.
+ Mickey M.

I had never met anyone,
never mind a group of people
who were truly on fire for Jesus.
I had never seen anyone
actively trying to live as He did
and care for others as He did.
…
I have tears running down my face
as I think of that time of life
and how instrumental ECC was
for me to understand
the saving power of Jesus' love.
I cannot emphasize enough — 
THANK GOD FOR ECC.
+ Tori M.

I feel supported, encouraged,
and challenged in the Lord with ECC,
and I look forward to how Jesus
will grow this precious part of His Body
in the years ahead.
+ Len C.

ECC welcomes us
to experience the love of Jesus.
+ Karen & Brad E.

The beloved of ECC
have been a model to us
of the virtues of humility
and self-giving love.
+ Scott B.

Through our ECC community,
the Lord is making our transition
here in the U.S. go smoothly.
+ Augustine & Max E.

It's been great to see
how God has moved
through the simple idea
of loving your neighbors
and intentionally meeting people
where they are in life.
+ Tim S.

It felt as if Jesus
was welcoming us home
every time we met.
+ Welles & Suet Yan C.

The experiences and interactions
I've had with Emmaus City
have helped deepen
my understanding of
Christ's abounding love,
sacrificial grace, and the
boundless mercy
He extends to us all.
+ Chase S.

The church welcomed
a young woman
who had never driven in snow
into their homes with grace
during a transitional time in her life.
...
I remember my time at ECC fondly.
+ Elena N.

I experienced the love of Christ
through ECC among the welcoming,
supportive, and caring community
of believers in this congregation.
It has been a second family ...
+ José P.

Emmaus City Church is my family.
The members of this community helped
raise me, disciple me and continue to do
so. Apart from my immediate family it's as
if I have an expansion of mothers, fathers,
siblings, aunts, uncles, and elders
...
I've learned that we grow from hardship
and even when we enter into desert spaces
we are not abandoned.
That it's in desert spaces that Jesus
seeks us and draws the devil out.
...
Emmaus City is a fellowship of people,
a church, a family. I have been and
continue to be blessed by
each and every member.
...
Thank you to all of you
for everything you've taught me
and continue to teach me.
+ Zoey S.

We are a beautiful little collection
of beloved people
who are ever growing
in loving others.
+ Andrea K.

Everything we do
is packed full of meaning,
beauty, mission, and worship.
...
(including) times of hardy laughter
with our body, including the
last, the least, and the lost.
+ Aaron K.

I have truly found
community and family at Emmaus
and feel blessed that 
God led me here.
+ Julie M.

It's hard to choose
from many ways in which
I thank God for ECC.
+ Jon W.

I will consider the sisters and brothers
who welcomed us ...
as family because from early on
we were given that kind of welcome.
...
It had been a long time
since I had felt SO loved and accepted
in a Christian context.
...
May our Triune God
get all the glory
for what He is doing and has done
through Emmaus City Church
of Worcester, MA.
+ Catherine M.

It was the first real example
I had ever seen of a church
committed both to
fostering intimate fellowship
between its members and
establishing a meaningful presence
of service and support to the community.
...
It seemed like Emmaus City was
committed to offering the presence of God
through kindness and listening,
rather than trying to fix my struggle
with simple answers.
...
Thank you, Emmaus City Church,
for being a temporary home
to many a weary traveler, including this one.
Thank you for being a shining example
of what it's like to walk the difficult path
toward the narrow gate that leads to life.
Thank you for surprising me with
Christ's presence on a road that
seemed hopeless (the road to Emmaus ... )
+ Parker J.

We've grown deeply
in our understanding of the Gospel
and God's Story He is writing.
We've discipled each other
in taking up our place
in the Mission of God
in all of life.
...
I've been touched by the love
of the community for the diverse
non-believers we've welcomed and
journeyed with over the years.
+ Katie W.

Countless family dinner nights,
volunteering at WRAP, cookouts,
movie nights, Men's Wings, DNA,
and other joyous memories
remain in our hearts and
transformed us into better people
and a better family.
+ Vinnie & Serenity S-J.

Emmaus City Church
is a genuine community of people
who love God and love people.
Emmaus City Church models
what it means to be the
body of Christ.
+ Gena & Tra'Vorus W.

We learned how much
we need to be with others.
God is a community God.
We were welcomed into
the ECC family.
I now have a reverence
for my Maker
that was missing 
in my journey.
+ Dan M.

Bonus Anniversary Posts:


Final Thought:

When church is only an event,
the sanctuary becomes a theater,
the people become the audience,
the music becomes entertainment,
the preaching becomes the keynote.
But, when 
church is the people
both gathered and scattered ...
the sanctuary, people, music, and preaching
become vehicles for
healing, restoring, equipping, and sending.
The purpose of a car isn't to fill it with gas.
It's to go somewhere.
Gas simply helps it get there ...
The purpose of church is not to merely
fill us with information.
It's to equip us to go somewhere.
To live on mission.
Wherever we are.
The gathering is important.
Profoundly so.
But it's not the whole picture.
It's preparation to live on mission.
To bring Heaven to Earth.
To push back darkness
wherever we encounter it.
Church isn't a building.
Worship isn't just music.
Prayer isn't for the experts.
Ministry isn't just for pastors.
Mission isn't something 
we add to our life —
it is our life.

Church isn't an event you go to.
It's a family you belong to.

We won't change our world
by only going to church.
We'll change it by
being the church.

+ Ian Simkins

People who believe in the resurrection, 
in God making a whole new world 
in which everything will be 
set right at last, 
are unstoppably motivated to work 
for that new world in the present. 

+ N.T. Wright

May God's Kingdom come, His will be done.
Que le Royaume de Dieu vienne,
que sa volonté soit faite.
愿神的国降临，愿神的旨意成就。
Nguyện xin Nước Chúa đến, ý Ngài được nên.
Jesús nuestra Rey, venga Tu reino!
🙏💗🍞🍷👑🌅🌇

With anticipation and joy,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan


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