With Paul and Rebecca, my theologian flatmates...
P. How was Glastonbury?
D. Amazing
P. What did you like about it?
D. Everything, you HAVE GOT TO GO THERE!!!!!!!!
P (smiles at my huge enthusiasm) Just what is so good about it?
D. A hundred parties going on at the same time, and you’re invited to all of them. The world’s greatest vibe, a sense of joy, happiness and excitement to scream home about… I’ve yet to meet someone who does not use superlatives to describe Glastonbury. “The best experience of my life” is what people say. And they’re right.
P. Sounds good.
D. It is good! Get thee down there next year, take my word. You moving to Duke? That’s so exiting! The divinity school over there is mint. You’re gonna be surrounded by brilliant folks. I’m so jealous. You heard anything about the new monastics?
P. A little bit, did they not start there?
D. Yes, but they’re all over the place now.
P. What do they do?
D. They pair up in community houses with a bunch of their mates and they seek to be a presence in their neighborhood. They treat everyone like he was Christ and they assume that they themselves are the walking Church on the street. That is, if someone meets them, that someone is encountering the Church and the love of Christ, NOT a wall of indifference. (To Rebecca) You heard of them?
R. No, but it sounds really good!
D. You bet, it’s attractive as hell, it’s exactly like when you used to live at the catholic chaplaincy last year, with Father Tom and some other students from the Cathsoc, the nurturing love you got to share there! Well they’re just doing that beyond university. And they’re not morose types, they’re having a rolling time. Just like you in the Durham Chaplaincy. I suppose they do a bit more outreach, but really not that much, they just remain open to whoever is intrigued enough to “want some of what they’re having”. It’s like in Harry and Sally! And they’re our age! I can’t believe it’s our generation who’s doing something really cool like this.
P. Yes, that sounds interesting.
D. Oh you frikin' shut up you lucky sod! You’re gonna be bathing in it in NC. I wish I could find some in Britain.
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2 comments:
There was a period of time when new emerging churches here in the U.S. were calling themselves "new monastic communities." I wonder if it was copy and pasted from the place you're talking about.
p.s. hey, you should do something with your profile so i know who i'm talking to. :)
Hey Aaron, thank you so much for dropping by! I loved your old blog and the new one is even better.
I don’t think I’ll add a profile, but here are a few factoids: I’m a 27 year old French girl doing a PhD in the social sciences at the University of Durham, UK. I have no theological training whatsoever beyond catholic confirmation classes (and that was a while ago). I was a keen altar girl, then a keen activist for quite a few causes, and now I’m an understated Jesus freak trying to be a half-decent disciple of the Christ I love.
From what I’ve gathered Christian living communities have been around for quite a while so it’s hard to say exactly who copied from whom, and anyway, I’m all for copying each other on that kind of stuff. When writing that post, I was thinking about Rutba house in Durham, North Carolina (a city that is twinned with mine, Durham England). You can check them out there: http://www.newmonasticism.org/who/index.html
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