All Saints Gazette: "Prefer Nothing to the Love of Christ"
Greetings from All Saints!
This Week:
Thursday, 18:00, Vrijburg: Bible Study
No worship on Sunday. Next service is on 21 July at 17:30
One of the lesser feasts that occurs this week is St. Benedict on 11 July. Benedict and his sister, Scholastica, were the founders of the form of monasticism that became dominant in the Latin Middle Ages until about the 12th century, when other variations of the apostolic life multiplied. Benedictine spirituality has been particularly influential in The Episcopal Church. Most Episcopal and Anglican monasteries are Benedictine. A rhythm of work and prayer was the heart of his spirituality, which the English reformers tried to adapt for people who don’t live in monasteries. Take a look at his biography and maybe read the prologue to his rule. Do you notice anything that you might apply to your non-monastic life? What does it mean to “prefer nothing to the love of Christ"?
Thursday Program
Tomorrow will be our usual Bible study at Vrijburg at 18:00. You have to eat dinner anyway, so come eat it with us while we study the Bible. Bring something to share if you can, consideration of common dietary restrictions appreciated when possible.
Next week, 18 July, Mpho will be giving the Pride Talk 2024 at the Nieuwe Kerk. Doors open at 19:30 for a program at 20:00. This will take the place of our usual Thursday gathering. Admission is free, but you need to register for a ticket in advance. Register now at the link, as they appear to be going fairly fast!
August Pause
We will be pausing all of our gatherings for the month of August. The clergy can still be reached by email or WhatsApp, and the community WhatsApp group will remain active. After the Pride Talk 2024 on 18 July (see previous item) and worship on 21 July, our next gathering will be worship on 1 September. Put that on your calendar, and let’s make a party out of it! There’s never a bad time to invite somebody, but that’s a particularly good day! Who do you know who might benefit from our inclusive Christian community? And who we might learn something from?
Convention and Festival of Gathering
Convention delegates should have gotten the Call to Convention. Let me know if you didn’t. Other folks, want to go to the Festival of Gathering on the theme of Faith and Art in Florence on 18-19 October? Registration will be available soon. Let me know if you want to go, as we might have funding available from the Convocation.
More on St. Benedict
Since one of your priests has a PhD in historical theology…
Why should some sixth century monk merit our attention today?
Before Benedict, the main rule for monks in Italy was called the Rule of the Master. It was based on a very rigorous life as practiced in Egypt, and it was hard, detailed, and inflexible! Benedict figured out that this just wasn’t for everybody, not even for everyone called to monastic life. His rule has some essentials, like the daily rhythm of prayer, work, and study, the sort of community monks should have, and how they should welcome guests. But it’s flexible and short. Every community adapts it. If you can’t stay up all night every night chanting the whole Psalter, you don’t have to feel bad about that. You thank God for what God is calling you to and you can do. (Benedictine communities do all the psalms over the course of a week in their prayers throughout the day.)
Benedict taught his monks to listen closely to the presence of God in their lives, even as he recognized that our lives and our sense of who we are is distorted by the powers of the world. Living today, we know that there is no time in our personal life we can go back to when we weren’t being shaped by racism and cis-hetero-patriarchy, for example. Whether we have been victims, perpetrators, or both, we need communities and practices to let a new person to emerge, both a new self and our truest self. His communities were a “school for the service of the Lord” where the new life can emerge.
Benedict knew that it is a struggle to let a new person and new community emerge. His monastery wasn’t just a refuge, but a place of struggle, battle even. As little as we may like the metaphor, none of us is so naive as not to get it. We don’t use physical weapons against enemies of flesh and blood. In fact, we love our enemies. But people and institutions who are deeply invested in the injustices of the world (and the parts of ourselves that are invested in them) don’t just let go of their power because someone casually mentioned over tea that it might be a good idea. That’s why we sometimes bear nuisances to put our money into enterprises of justice, risk arrest to show how urgent the climate crisis or the genocide in Gaza is, or endure the protest of our bodies when we abstain from something we know it is unjust to have.
This has gone on too long, but one last thing: Benedict knew he was a wise teacher as people go, but he was open to correction. His biographer, Gregory the Great, tells us that one evening, he had journeyed to the monastery where his sister was abbess. She and her nuns didn’t get have as much access to him as the monks in the men’s monastery, so she asked him to stay as it got late. He said no, he had to go back because he was the abbot and there were important Abbot Things to do. As he set out, a storm came out of nowhere, which made him turn back and apologize to his sister for not listening to her, and then stay for the evening. Rigid adherence to the rules of his role should not trump the deeper claim of his whole community.
Beloved Community Corner
Did you know that Mpho is the Convocation’s Canon for Racial Justice and Beloved Community? Her committee’s newsletter is live. Tying in with Sunday’s sermon, she and others reflect about what makes us and others feel welcome. The PDF and newsletter don’t seem to want to let me copy and paste a quote, so check it out yourself over the WhatsApp group. Think and then tell us: Where do you feel welcome? Where don’t do you? What makes the difference? How do you feel at All Saints?
That's all for today!
Want to talk to a priest? We want to talk to you too!
Website: https://allsaintsamsterdam.church/
Mpho: mpho@allsaintsamsterdam.church
Kyle: kyle@allsaintsamsterdam.church
General: info@allsaintsamsterdam.church
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Note: this version contains a correction. The wording in the previous version suggested that the last gathering before September is on 18 July. It is on 21 July.