| The Rule |
| 'The Rule we embrace and keep will be
that of AVAILABILITY and VULNERABILITY.' |
| Our history is one of responding to a call we
believe to be from God: a call to risky living, and our Rule developed out
of this life already being lived – a written response to the many
people who were asking - what is central to your hopes and dreams, what
are the values and emphases that reflect the character and ethos of your
way for living? |
|
|
We are not a Community because of physically
living close to each other (although some do) but because we live close
to our chosen way of living, which unites us at a heart level. As a monastic
Community, we are consecrated to God in our way for living and the vows
- of availability and vulnerability - are taken seriously. |
| A Rule of life is absolutely essential to any
monastic expression, and is a spiritual rather than a legislative document.
It says this is ‘who we are, this is our story’ and reminds
us of those things God has put on our heart, and calls us back to the story
that God has written as foundational. Monastic stability is to be accountable
to a Rule of life as a framework for freedom, not as a set of rules that
restrict or deny life, but as a way of living out our vocation alone and
together. It is, to use the words of St Benedict, 'simply a handbook to
make the radical demands of the gospel a practical reality in daily life'.
|
| As a geographically dispersed Community our Rule
of life is deliberately flexible and adaptable, so that it does not prescribe
uniformly, but provokes individually. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive
in that it encourages seeking God for oneself, who we are, where we are,
what we are, so as to be a sign of vulnerability, a sign of availability,
wherever we are as a scattered Community. |
 |
| Our Rule is a Way for Living as ‘internal
émigrés’ in the current cultural climate. First of all,
we are called to be available to God in the cell of our own heart where
we can seek Him for His own sake, as the 'one thing necessary.' Then to
be available to others in a call to exercise hospitality, recognising that
in welcoming others we honour and welcome Christ Himself. We are then called
to be available to others through participation in God's care and concern
for them by praying and interceding for their situations in the power of
His Holy Spirit. We are also called to be available for mission of various
kinds according to the leading and initiatives of the Spirit. |
| Then as it is an ongoing exploration of ‘How then shall
we live?’ it also involves an intentional Vulnerability expressed
through being teachable in the discipline of prayer: through applying the
wisdom of the Scriptures and a mutual accountability in the advocacy of
soul friends. |
 |
| Also we live the vulnerability of embracing the
‘heretical imperative’ by challenging assumed truth; being receptive
to constructive criticism; affirming that relationship matters more than
reputation and living openly among people as 'Church without walls'. |
| You can read more about The Rule here. |
|
|
