Monthly Archives: April 2016

Scary promises

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Yesterday for morning prayer, we had the story of Caleb and Joshua and the spying out of the promised land from Numbers 14. I was struck by how the Israelites were so fearful of entering the promised land, full of God’s bounty and, instead, wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt. I think we are often like this: God’s generosity is an unknown quantity and feels scary. Egypt is unpleasant but it is a known quantity and that feels safe.

Isn’t this true? Do we not all sometimes think “Better the Egypt you know than the promised land you don’t”?

What is so sad about the Numbers 14 story is that the promises were lost to the people. That entire generation had to pass away. Forty years had to pass by before God’s promises could, finally, be fulfilled.

Oh Lord, help us to trust you and not to rob ourselves of the bounty you have laid up for us.

Covenant parish community

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Having previously set out some of my thoughts about what we were calling “parish monasticism”1We’re now calling it “new monasticism in the parish context” because that’s what we really mean – even if this name is a little bit of a mouthful. The emphasis here is on new monasticism to be clear that “parish monasticism” is not a different thing to “new monasticism”, but, rather, an expression of new monasticism in a particular context., the next question is how to proceed practically. It’s all very well to talk about doing this – but how do we actually begin?

This week, I began a foray into new monasticism with my church at our annual parochial church meeting. My thinking was aided by discussions held around an upcoming New Monasticism conference in October in which we pondered what “new monasticism” actually is. Like most movements of the Holy Spirit, this one proves difficult to pin down. However there was broad agreement around one thing: having a common rule or rhythm of life. This set me wondering as to whether this is a good place to begin.

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References
↑1 We’re now calling it “new monasticism in the parish context” because that’s what we really mean – even if this name is a little bit of a mouthful. The emphasis here is on new monasticism to be clear that “parish monasticism” is not a different thing to “new monasticism”, but, rather, an expression of new monasticism in a particular context.