Vows are 66.66% Fulfilled
Random Church-going Inquisitor: "So what church are you a member of?"
Oak Grove Communitarian: "Um, I'm not a member of a church. I'm a member of an order."
[silence, look of confliction, possible confusion, possible misjudgement, potentially further inquiry]
Some of us have looked forward to some version of the above nano-dialogue as an opportunity to assert a coded phrase about our identity in Christ as expressed through Abbey-life. To my knowledge, however, this sequence has not happened in actual fact yet. Perhaps it never will. No matter.
My point today is simply to raise the awareness that 4 out of 6 of us original Abbey-dwellers have now taken the Oaken Oath, a vow in the updated spirit of monasticism that we have all agreed to honor - by the mercy of God - for the rest of our lives. Jolie and I took the vow on Pentacost Sunday, and Sean and Melissa took it last Sunday night. On June 25, Jason and Heather will take it. There will hopefully be some more takers pepperred about the course of the next year as well. The intention is to take these vows after living in community for a year. Each of the 6 of us have chosen an "adopted saint" [not necessarily canonized, and not a patron in the Roman Catholic sense; rather, a person in Christian history that we find significant identification with and inspiration from] and done research about our choice. Over dinner, we share the story of our chosen saint as the final task of preparation for taking the vow.
As for the vows themselves, all of us contributed to the praying, talking, visioning and writing process. The ceremony itself is 4 pages long. Perhaps we'll share them here in installments...
Oak Grove Communitarian: "Um, I'm not a member of a church. I'm a member of an order."
[silence, look of confliction, possible confusion, possible misjudgement, potentially further inquiry]
Some of us have looked forward to some version of the above nano-dialogue as an opportunity to assert a coded phrase about our identity in Christ as expressed through Abbey-life. To my knowledge, however, this sequence has not happened in actual fact yet. Perhaps it never will. No matter.
My point today is simply to raise the awareness that 4 out of 6 of us original Abbey-dwellers have now taken the Oaken Oath, a vow in the updated spirit of monasticism that we have all agreed to honor - by the mercy of God - for the rest of our lives. Jolie and I took the vow on Pentacost Sunday, and Sean and Melissa took it last Sunday night. On June 25, Jason and Heather will take it. There will hopefully be some more takers pepperred about the course of the next year as well. The intention is to take these vows after living in community for a year. Each of the 6 of us have chosen an "adopted saint" [not necessarily canonized, and not a patron in the Roman Catholic sense; rather, a person in Christian history that we find significant identification with and inspiration from] and done research about our choice. Over dinner, we share the story of our chosen saint as the final task of preparation for taking the vow.
As for the vows themselves, all of us contributed to the praying, talking, visioning and writing process. The ceremony itself is 4 pages long. Perhaps we'll share them here in installments...
