Oak Grove Abbey News

Everyday in Africa, many people, particularly women, have to walk for miles to get water. The chore of fetching water is no small task. It involves walking sometimes up to 10 miles to the nearest water source, and carrying home the heavy containers filled with water. This often takes up a big part of the day, and even then the water source is not always a safe one. It might be scooped from a dirty pool, unclean and containing parasites or dangerous bacteria.

Through the 10 Mile program, the African Well Fund asks you to Walk 10 Miles in Her Shoes. Individuals or groups who wish to participate raise 10 miles worth of pennies -- or 84,480 pennies ($844.80).

It's taken just over 12 months, but we've finally raised the money.

Posted by Jolie at 1:17 PM | Permalink |

26: the number of flies on the inside of my door when i arrived home this afternoon

7: the number of rolled up newspaper pages used to swat every last one of them

40: the number at which i lost count of how many flies i killed today

13: the number of flies on one side of the china ball as i walked in the room tonight

thanks for allowing me the break from our wonderful passion week discourse. this shows that not only do urban abbey's have animals, they also have flies... just like normal homes.

grace and peace to you all. we now return to our regularly scheduled blog...

and... 1: no kidding, the number of fly i killed just now while ending this blog

Posted by mcblogington at 10:56 PM | Permalink |

I realize that having favorite Easters is about as appropriate as having favorite children, but...

The Oak Grove Abbey commemoration of Christ's resurrection was, from all accounts, a rare and wonderful day. We gathered at Barton Springs at 10:00 a.m. for a humble liturgy and reading of the selected Scriptures, followed by the baptism of Alyssa in the river. Alyssa stopped our hearts when she closed her eyes and recited the following declaration of faith from memory:

I call all heaven to witness today
that I have put on Christ.
I choose no other Lord
than the Maker of Heaven and earth.
This day I walk with him
and he will walk with me.
I fasten close to me this day
that same Jesus
who came to us as flesh and blood
and was himself baptized in the Jordan River.
He died upon a cross to rescue me,
broke free from death, its conqueror.
He left us, to return the more certainly.

All these truths and their power
I fasten close to me this day.
Resisting my own selfishness and sin,
refusing to live as a slave to riches,
pleasure, or reputation,
rejecting Satan and all his lies,
I call on heaven to witness today
that I have put on Christ.

After being immersed in the spring water, she put on a (terry cloth) robe to signify, in the spirit of Colossians 3, being clothed in a new life with Christ. Then we took Communion, read a Psalm of praise and headed back to the Abbey for a huge celebration feast. We are unspeakably grateful for the life we share in the Risen Lord!


more photos here.

Posted by gdwill at 8:24 AM | Permalink |

The morning prayer time was especially meaningful on Friday for two reasons - we were a little tired-yet-moved from our personal vigils the night before; and it was Andy, our new housemate's, first morning with us. It's good to hear an English accent among the liturgical voices!

In the early evening, we all met up at Marakesh to celebrate Jolie's birthday. Considering all the events of the week, it was a nice change of pace and I think Jolie felt loved.

We headed back to the Abbey for a 9 o'clock observance of the Stations of the Cross in the garage room. It was a very reverent and moving experience to share these precious hours of Christ's life and death together.

Then Jason began his vow of silence, and the rest of us went to bed early.

Posted by gdwill at 10:30 AM | Permalink |

The "maundy" in Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word "mandatum," which means "command." The meal commemorates the 2 commandments Jesus gave at the Last Supper -- to continue the sacrament of communion and to love one another.

We had a simple Armenian meal of Lentil Soup with the elements as the first and the last piece. Then we moved to the living room for a footwashing ceremony to symbolize the second commandment. Because of space issues, we followed a simple Mennonite service consisting of scriptures, candles, Mozart's Requiem, extinguishing candles, and washing one another's feet. The 8th candle was left burning to remind us of Jesus' urging to his disciples to keep watch in the garden. (Because it was so dark, we don't have many pictures to post.)

Finally, we each signed up to keep watch for an hour throughout the night. Beginning at 10 pm and ending at 7 am, we each awoke and spent one hour in prayer and meditation before we convened for our usual morning prayer.

Posted by Jolie at 11:54 AM | Permalink |

On Wednesday night the Abbey celebrated it's second seder meal, my(jason) first. It was alot of fun and our usual numbers at least doubled that night. With much help from Alyssa(who is half Jewish), we prepared sweet potato latkas, which are traditionally eaten at Hanakah.

It wasn't exactly a Jewish Pessach. The fact that we believe the Messiah has come in Jesus the Christ, it changed the atmosphere a bit. Here is the form that we followed, more or less.

Kaddesh: Santification
blessing over first cup of wine.

Urechatz: Washing
washing of the hands with a blessing.

Karpas: Vegetable
parsley symbolizing the lowliness of God's People.

Yachatz: Breaking
matzah is broken.

Maggid: The Story
story of the exodus is retold. second cup of wine is blessed.

Rachtzah: Washing
second washing of the hands.

Motzi: Blessing over Grain Products
general blessing.

Matzah: Blesssing over Matzah
a bit of matzah is eaten.

Maror: Bitter Herbs
horseradish symbolizing the bitterness of slavery.

Schulchan Orech: Dinner
festive meal is eaten.

Tzafun: The Afikomen
matzah is eaten for dessert.

Barech: Grace after Meal
third cup of wine is blessed and fourth is poured with an extra for Elijah.

Hallel: Praises
Psalm is recited. Blessing over the last cup of wine.

Nirtzah: Closing
seder is complete, with a wish that next year we may celebrate in the New Jerusalem.

Posted by gdwill at 9:11 AM | Permalink |

what a flurry of activity.
what a crazy city.
what a provocative story.
what poetic-prophetic glory...

in parables

a man prepares a vineyard for success: rich soil, large storehouses, a crush pad, and he appoints men to take care of it while he is gone. after a time he sends a servant to check on the progress of the wine, to report on how well his vineyard is progressing. the trusted workers beat the owner's servant. the distraught owner sends another in his entourage to the vineyard. the workers scorned him. yet another servant sent, but the workers went so far as to kill this man.
the owner's only son was the only one left to send. he loved his son greatly. he thought, "they too will love my only son."
but - the workers wanted the son's inheritance. they killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
and what will the owner do? kill those who killed his son and give the vineyard to others.

"the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,
the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."

Posted by mcblogington at 8:05 PM | Permalink |

Monday night was my night to cook, which included telling the story of the cursing of the fig tree and Jesus' symbolic destruction of the Temple, combined with reclaiming Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the night before (alas, he was omitted this year because the day of his martyrdom happened to be on Palm Sunday). With so much to tie in, I had no choice but to attempt a multi-course meal, each course paired triumphantly with an a complimentary beer sample:

Course 1: Field Green Salad with oxalis and spinach leaves from the garden, gorgonzola cheese, toasted walnuts and diced figs. Paired with the Passionfruit Witbier I made especially for Passion Week. Discussed Jesus' "living parable within a living parable" with the incident of the fruitless fig tree being declared useless directly tied in to Jesus' symbolic action in the Temple - no fruit in Jerusalem? God's judgement is immanent.

Course 2: Brie with garlic and crackers. Paired with my other current homemade concoction, Kolsh - a light and refreshing German summer ale. This led us straight in to discussion of the life and thought of Bonhoeffer, a man who, as a member of the underground "Confessing Church" gives us a rare example of cryptic Christianity in the midst of a so-called Christian nation, a faith that was acted out in such practical and ethically stimulating ways, that it ultimately resulted in being hung naked in a concentration camp 3 weeks before Hitler's demise.

Course 3: Grilled German sausage and hot potatoe salad (made by the beloved Jolie). Paired with Celebrator, an award-winning German "doppelbock," invented 500ish years ago by Paulaner monks who needed a heavier and richer beverage to keep them nourished during their Lenten fast from solid foods. Capped off with a brief reading from Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship.

Posted by gdwill at 7:59 PM | Permalink |

Posted by mcblogington at 7:15 PM | Permalink |

insert a break from the usual online discourse of saints - or gardening.

done.

we had something die in the attic in the back of the house just over the dryer during the past week. this happens about every 3-4 months. the smell is atrocious for a couple days then dissipates slowly. thankfully, no one died or even got sick from the encounter. just wanted to let everyone who reads this know that urban abbey's have rats/vermin/opposums just like "normal" homes.

in other news - though we don't agree at all with the brutal practices of jack bauer and his associates, 24 has us all hooked and we're eagerly awaitng the next episode.

o ya - lent is progressing nicely with many new faces. we have very much appreciated the wave of fresh perspectives.

and... rock the targum. amen.

Posted by mcblogington at 8:57 PM | Permalink |