folk are getting hooked...

i recommend a listen to ian mobsby's interview with stuart burns which is on the moot podcast. stuart is the abbot of the burford benedictine community. i visited burford priory a few years back to have a look at their grass labyrinth and learned how to mow one. the community has since moved from burford but i have heard from several people what a wise guy stuart is. a few pieces stood out for me...

ian asks stuart if he thinks the interest in new monasticism is a dumbing down and stuart responds by saying that he is hugely hopeful about the new interest because 'folk are getting hooked'.

the interview makes it pretty clear that when people are using the term monastic it's technically wrong as stuart sees it (and i'm sure he's right). monastics live in cloisters in a religious community. friars on the other hand live out their calling in the marketplace. so it's probably a wave of new friars that is going on. i had never got this nuance before...

stuart makes a great comment about fresh expressions having watched their dvds of stories of things happening. he said he had observed that they seemed to be about fresh expressions of life - which is really neat i think, and probably a better focus than church.

ian asks whether silence is something only introverts relate to and stuart thinks it's equally important for everyone.

stuart humbly concludes saying that monastics may be too focused on what is past and suggests the weight is now on people like ian to carry forward the wisdom (to which ian utters the words 'o gosh'!!) for a new generation and that he hopes that 'we can be of some use'. for a guy who has spent his life doing it how humble is that?!...

there's a symposium on the new monastic stuff on monday i think -

Comments

[twitter.com/Matybigfro]

'fresh expressions of life'
thats about the best thing i've heard in a long long time
spot on
-
I also love what ian say's about 'silence is something only introverts relate to and stuart thinks it's equally important for everyone.' maybe the same could be said about Celebration and extroverts.

[Simon]

hi Jonny, I've recently written a book about new monasticism, which will be out next year (plug plug) but seriously one of the things I touch on is the difference between 'monastic' and 'religious' orders. Really its all just about language, which is used and reinterpreted through the ages. But its worth noting that it goes way beyond a division between monastics and friars (new or old), as the friars were only some of the religious orders. In reality the root of the word monastic having to do with being alone, or separated, can apply to all the monastic and religious orders in different ways, and can also reasonably be applied to the various 'new monastic' groups which exist. Also the word friar meaning brother can be appropriated widely, except for the fact that it is gender specific unlike the word monastic.

[Ian Mobsby]

Thanks for the plug Jonny, and I am pleased you found the interview helpful.

I too am writing a book on New Monasticism for Paraclete which comes out next year, this interview and others were research to help me in how I take this forward.

Simon, I think I disagree with you. I think the division between Friar and Monk is very significant and not just a functional division of religious orders as you put it. They had very different functions, and I totally agree with Abbot Stuart that there is a resonance between some emerging and fresh expressions of church and a more Neo-Friar approach - or Minister model of a new or should I say OLD approach to life. I think our books are going to take very different approaches to the subject which is good...

[Tiggy]

I think it's even MORE important for extraverts. It's more of a challenge and a balance to the rest of their lives. Inner silence is important, because extraverts tend to have very chattery minds. It can take me a while to get into silence, but after that I start to love it. I wish someone would come to talk about New Monasticism at my large charismatic church - they find it very difficult! I do think the leadership would be open to it though.

Tiggy (ENFP)

[Simon]

Hi Ian, yeah great if our books take different approaches! It would be boring if we wrote the same thing :) Seriously though, I'll be very interested to see your stuff, and on another note, I'd really like to see some new friars in the UK who have gone for the absolute poverty thing... not much hope there perhaps.