Looking to the East

Lately, it seems like I've hit a rough patch in my attempt to follow the Benedictine tradition of praying the daily offices.  I continue to lead Morning Prayer and Compline most days at the Virtual Abbey (see my previous blog post http://benedictinelutheran.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-virtual-abbey.html ) but lately, I'm having a hard time getting motivated to pray a more complete version of the offices.

 

During times like these, I find myself longing to pray with a community.  My congregation, like many Lutheran congregations, has a tradition of gathering for Vespers during Advent and Lent on Wednesday evenings, but at no other times during the year.  Some day, perhaps I will expand upon that time frame.  But, in the meantime, where can I go other times of the year to pray with a community?

 

I'm not aware of any other parishes in my town from the Western liturgical tradition (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran) that pray any of the daily offices as a community on a year-round basis.  If my town had a Benedictine monastery, I could go there, but the only local monastery is a community of cloistered Carmelite nuns - since they don't follow the Rule of St. Benedict, I don't think they allow visitors very often.   

 

So, when I long to pray with a community, I look to the East. 

 

Throughout the year, St. Thomas Orthodox Church comes together as a community to pray Vespers on Wednesdays and Saturday evenings.  Here is a picture of the interior of St. Thomas before the service, as the setting sun was beaming through the windows and shining on the icons:  

 

                           

During Vespers services at St. Thomas, we pray one of the most ancient hymns of the Church, the "Phos Hilaron" ("O Gladsome Light").  The words of the Phos Hilaron seemed especially fitting tonight as the light of the sun brightened the interior of the sanctuary during the service:

O gladsome Light of the holy glory of the immortal,

heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ!

We that come to the setting of the sun,

when we behold the evening Light,

praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God.

Meet it is for thee at all times to be praised with gladsome voices,

O Son of God, Giver of Life.

Wherefore the world doth glorify thee.

 

When those words of the ancient liturgy are chanted in a sanctuary full of the haze of incense, and icons illuminated by the sun, it truly feels like a foretaste of the heavenly feast. 

  

St. Benedict is normally referred to as a Western saint, but since he was a part of the undivided Church of the first millenium, before the division between East and West, he belongs to the whole Church.  So, I think St. Benedict would think it is okay for me to  look to the East while trying to follow his path. 



Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour Stop #3 - Ostanback Monastery, Sweden

The next stop on our virtual tour of Lutheran monasteries takes us to a community affiliated with the Church of Sweden – Ostanback Monastery, which is one of several  communities found in that country.   If you are at least somewhat familiar with the Church of Sweden, it should come as no surprise to you that Lutheran monasticism is found there, because historically, the Swedish Church has maintained a closer connection to its Catholic roots than other Lutheran churches.

 

At the time of the Reformation, the Swedish Church went along with the fledgling Lutheran movement and adopted the Augsburg Confession as its statement of faith.  However, unlike most other Lutheran churches, the Church of Sweden maintained the practice of consecrating its bishops in apostolic succession (the first Lutheran Archbishop in Sweden, Laurentius Petri, was consecrated by Catholic bishops).  The Swedish Church also maintained other elements of the Catholic tradition with greater fidelity as well – instead of writing about it, I’ll simply refer you to this brief video of a high mass at the Cathedral of Uppsala which demonstrates my point (fast-forward to about one minute into the video to watch the recessional):

Like other Scandinavian churches, though, the Church of Sweden has been in steep decline for several decades. Statistically speaking, it continues to be the largest Lutheran church in the world in terms of baptized members, but church attendance is very low, and many of its members do not subscribe to basic tenets of the Christian faith, as described in this recent article:

http://www.livingchurch.org/church-sweden-nonbelievers

A faithful remnant remains in Sweden, however, and Ostanback Monastery is a part of that remnant. In 1960, a small group of theology students from Lund and Uppsala formed the Holy Cross Fraternity in order to be a part of the re-introduction of monasticism in Sweden. A decade later, the Fraternity purchased an old group of school buildings and moved in. In 1975, Bishop Bengt Sundkler consecrated the buildings for monastic use:

 

The community is still there, and follows the Rule of St. Benedict. One of its primary sources of income is from the making of candles:

The abbot of Ostanback Monastery is regularly invited to the conference of Benedictine abbots in Rome, where, along with abbots from Anglican Benedictine communites, he is received as an observer. For more information about the Ostanback Monastery, a portion of their website is in English:

http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/klostren/ostaneng.htm

The Silence of God

For our 20th wedding anniversary this past week, my wife gave me a beautiful new prayer book - "Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community."  The first night I opened it up, the meditation for the day gave me an entirely different perspective on the spirituality of silence:

"After the Second World War, the following words were found written on the wall of a Nazi concentration camp:

I believe in the sun, even when it isn't shining,
I believe in love, even when I feel it is not,
I believe in God, even when He is silent."

(p. 693)

Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour Stop #2 - Priory of St. Wigbert

The second stop on our virtual tour of Lutheran monasteries takes us to the Priory of St. Wigbert, found in Luther's homeland of Germany.

First of all, you might be asking the same question that I did when I first read about this monastery: Who is St. Wigbert? Briefly stated, St. Wigbert was a Benedictine monk from England who was born around the year 675.  In approximately 734, St. Boniface summoned Wigbert to Germany, after Boniface had begun the conversion of the local pagans to Christianity (as the story goes, Boniface did so by chopping down a sacred tree dedicated to the worship of Thor). Once in Germany, Wigbert was involved in leading the fledging monastic and missionary communities found there.  So, it makes sense for a German monastery to be named after St. Wigbert.

The Priory is found in the village of Werningshausen, just north of Erfurt (where Luther studied at the University, and later entered an Augustinian monastery). The monastic community was founded in 1973, and while it is affiliated with the Lutheran Church of Thuringia, it is ecumenical in nature - there are currently eight brothers living there, six Lutheran, and two Catholic. There are also novices and oblates affiliated with the community.
    
                             

The community prays the daily office together in the morning, noon, evening, and at night, and celebrates the mass on Thursdays and Sundays.  Here is a video of part of a mass at the monastery:

More information can be found about the Priory at their website - this link is to the English page, but there is much more information found at other parts of the site if you can read German:

http://www.wigberti.de/?page_id=16

Lutheran Monastery Virtual Tour, Stop #1 - St. Augustine's House, Michigan

This summer, I am going to take you on a virtual tour of Lutheran monasteries found in the United States and Europe.  Why?

First of all, one of the items on my "bucket list" is to visit a Lutheran monastery someday.  Since the closest one to where I live (St. Augustine's House, today's stop on the virtual tour) is about 800 miles away, it may be awhile before I am able to travel to one.  So, this virtual tour will have to suffice in the meantime.  

Second, I want more people to know about these monasteries. If you previously thought that the words "Lutheran" and "monastery" do not go together, you are not alone.  I did not know of the existence of any Lutheran monasteries until I saw a reference to one on the internet a few years ago. They are one of best kept secrets in the Lutheran church today, and as I will discuss in future articles, I hope that they can be a source of spiritual renewal in Lutheranism.

So, on to today's stop on the virtual tour.  St. Augustine's House is found in Oxford Michigan, just north of the Detroit metropolitan area.  The founder of St. Augustine's House was a man known as "Father Arthur" - Arthur Carl Kreinheder.  Father Arthur grew up in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, where his father was a pastor.

Instead of serving in his father's church, however, Father Arthur traveled to Europe, where he was exposed to the newly formed Protestant monastic community found at Taize, France.  Eventually, he was attracted to the expression of Lutheranism found in the Church of Sweden, and he was ordained a priest in the Swedish church in 1956. He traveled back to the United States, and formed St. Augustine's House (officially known as the "Congregations of the Servants of Christ") in 1958.  Father Arthur resided at the monastery until his death in 1989.

The monastery started in a Quonset hut, but now has a beautiful retreat facility and chapel.  As of 2011, there were two professed monks and 35 associates who are affiliated with St. Augustine's House.

St. Augustine's House follows the Rule of St. Benedict, as they pray the seven daily offices, plus celebrate the Eucharist each day.   The community emphasizes the spiritual benefits of silence, as silence is observed daily from the close of Compline (night prayer) at 8:30 p.m. until the next day's Eucharist at 8:30 a.m.  Silence is also observed from the noon meal until the office of None (mid-afternoon prayer) at 2:30 p.m. 

You can get a glimpse of St. Augustine's House in this video:

Much more information can be found about St. Augustine's House on their website:

http://www.staugustineshouse.org/

Or, you can follow them on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Augustines-House-Lutheran-Monastery/124803940876095?ref=ts&fref=ts

Some day, I will make the 800 mile trek to St. Augustine's House.  In the meantime, I will pray for them, as they pray for the whole world.

The Two Luthers

In my recent post entitled "The Spirituality of Silence", I included a quote from Luther which lampooned the monastic practice of silence.  I found that quote by looking through the index to Luther's Works for references to St. Benedict and monasticism, and I think I can safely say that the quote I included is a fairly typical remark from Luther on monasticism.   

For some time, I have been perplexed while reading Luther.  Since Lutherans like to refer to dichotomies (such as Law and Gospel), I use a dichotomy to help myself deal with Luther's writings.  It seems that Luther wrote from one of two viewpoints - the "Catholic Luther" or the "Scorned Luther".

The "Catholic Luther" is the Luther who wrote beautiful devotional pieces (e.g., the Commentary on the Magnificat) and catechisms that got right to the heart of the faith (e.g., the classic Small Catechism). These works by Luther expressed the faith of the Church, using the particularly Lutheran emphasis on what Christ has done for us, instead of on what we do for Christ.

Then, there is the "Scorned Luther" - when he was rejected, it seems as if he went beyond critique with the intent to reform, and degenerated into polemics and mockery.  This led him at times to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water, in my opinion.  There are many examples - the Luther who was a monk became a fierce critic of monasticism.  The Luther who celebrated the mass began to call the Catholic mass an abomination. The Luther who reached out in a friendly way to the Jews became the Luther who wrote "On the Jews and Their Lies." 

As a Lutheran pastor, I am only bound to Luther's writings and beliefs to the extent that they are found in the Book of Concord.  Fortunately, Luther's writings that were included in the Book of Concord mostly fall into the "Catholic Luther" category (I use the word "mostly" becomes sometimes the Scorned Luther comes out - in the Smalcald Articles, for example).

Luther was brilliant but tormented, as well as faithful but flawed.   At times, it seems as if Lutherans cite his works as the definitive authority on a subject.  In the spirit of the "Catholic Luther", I would rather view his writings through the lens of the faith of the Church throughout the ages, instead of being the final word on what the Church has to say on any given subject.

The Spirituality of Silence

As a child growing up a farm, far away from other people and activity, I often longed for noise.  Now, I often find myself longing for silence.

My longing for silence has made this passage from 1st Kings one of my favorites:

(The Lord said): “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13).

Many people in our society do not know how to handle silence, and the prospect of sheer silence can be overwhelming.  Contemplative silence, however, can "truly effect a foretaste of heaven" (The Call of Silent Love, p. 10).

Martin Luther did not think much of the monastic practice of silence: "Away, therefore, with the silly and silent monks who suppose that worship and saintliness consist in silence!" (Luther's Works Vol. 3, p. 200).  Contrary to Luther, I think that worship can be done beautifully in silence.  There is a scene from the movie "Into Great Silence" which illustrates the beauty of silence, as the silence of the cloister is so intense that you can hear the snow fall, and is only interruped by the occasional ringing of the bell:



In "The Call of Silent Love" it is written that Carthusian "piety was fed by the common resources of the Church: the liturgy, the sacraments, the Word of God, Christ.  Their silence was not mute but resounded with celebration and the praise of God." (pp. 7-8).