One week
ago, I began an new adventure – while on retreat with my brothers and sisters
in the Lindisfarne Community I took vows to deepen my commitment to a life of
prayer, study, and contemplation, declaring my home to be the Wild Goose
Hermitage of the Lindisfarne Community.
It was not what I’d ever expected to be or to do, after all, I’m married
with step-children and grandchildren, I teach at a small college, and have
friends and relations from California to Northumberland. What does it mean for a 21st
century Christian to commit to a life of contemplation?
First, you
need to know that the Lindisfarne Community represents a new movement in
monasticism; we call it “secular monasticism,” monastics who live in the world,
not sequestered away in monasteries or convents. Our desire is to walk in the world grounded
in the Love of Christ, being Christ to those we meet and seeing Christ in
others.
Three of
our brothers have created priories or chapels in or near their homes, seeking
to bring the Lindisfarne model to others, inviting the public to join in
meetings for meditation, or for worship.
While I’d considered that option for years, and had tried opening my
home for a “house church” experiment for a while, it never really “took,” and I
had to admit two things: 1) we live in
such a rural setting that it is unlikely we will ever draw even a small number
of regular attendees, and 2) my heart wasn’t really in the effort to build a
house church congregation. I was drawn
to the inward contemplative journey that I’ve been on for the last few
years.
It suddenly
became quite clear that we were not meant to create a priory in our little
corner of the world, but that we already lived in a hermitage, a small, modest
home where prayer, study and contemplation were already the rule of life, where
we gathered our energies to meet God and to take the Love of Christ with us out
to our lives and ministries in the world.
I say “our,” because this new endeavor includes my good husband as well,
as devoted a man of God as I have ever known.
This new
model of relationship with the wider Lindisfarne Community has been offered so
that others may consider whether this suits their needs as well, and so that I
have a touchstone to keep my own intentions clear. I am grateful to our abbot and abbess for their
support of this effort, and pray that the Spirit will move through the
hermitage often, making it a place of wisdom, compassion, and peace.
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