Brother Paul Richards visits the library to catch up on his reading.

Balance.

How do we find balance in our hectic lives? One way is by taking a break from our ordinary lives, and going to a quiet, peaceful place. Many people come to Holy Wisdom Monastery in search of this peace and quiet and leave feeling rested and renewed. Brother Paul Richards, OSB is spending a sabbatical from his work at St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, at Holy Wisdom Monastery from October 2011 until May 2012. And he is finding the rhythm of the day at the monastery provides him the rest and relaxation he is searching for.

Why does a Benedictine brother need a sabbatical? Doesn’t the Rule of Benedict highlight a balance of daily work and prayer? Then why does Brother Paul need a break from his work? As with any job, the stress and high demands placed on us can be draining, so a change of pace and a change of place is needed.

I talked with Brother Paul about his journey to community life, the work he does at St. John’s and what he is doing on his sabbatical. This is what I found out.

Were you always called to community life?
No.
“While I was a student at St. John’s, I was attracted to the monk’s life.”

Brother Paul grew up in northern Minnesota in the iron mining district with 13 siblings. He was interested in music and attended St. John’s University because of their strong music program.

He received his undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in choral music and a degree from the University of Iowa in conducting. He became a novitiate in 1978 at St. John’s Abbey and finished a 4 year trial period in 1982. He founded the St. John’s Boys’ Choir and directed the choir for 25 years, performing nationally and internationally.

In 2003 Brother Paul founded the St. John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps and currently serves as director. The mission of this Volunteer Corps is “to provide a student or alumnus of St. John’s University with nine to twelve months of volunteer service at a Benedictine monastery while he participates in the monastic life of that community, supporting the life and the apostolic work of the host monastery.”

In addition to directing the Volunteer Corps, he is the director of formation at St John’s Abbey, where 12 men are in formation, which is sometimes a high stress area of work.

Why did you come to Holy Wisdom Monastery?
To rest.
Brother Paul came here in search of rest from the demands of multiple jobs, and he is getting just that. The sisters have several connections to St. John’s including a long friendship with St. John’s University president Father Robert Koopmann, OSB, who spent his sabbatical at Holy Wisdom Monastery and has returned numerous times to give concerts. Brother Paul visited Father Koopmann when he lived at Holy Wisdom Monastery and came to love the rhythm of the day at the monastery, and the Madison area. When Sisters Mary David Walgenbach, Joanne Kollasch and Lynne Smith invited Brother Paul here for his sabbatical, he jumped at the chance. His days are filled with rest, prayer, exercise, bread baking, healthy eating, reading and community with the sisters and guests at the monastery.

“I’ve nurtured and nourished my spiritual life here and I hope to hang on to those things and keep doing them once I return to work.”

He’s also made significant progress in his job with the Volunteer Corps. During his sabbatical, he visited the Bahamas to help set up a volunteer site for next year and he is heading out this week to Africa to visit four of the current volunteers.

“One of the unexpected outcomes of my stay at Holy Wisdom is that in my capacity as director of the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, I am helping Belmont College in North Caroline start their own Benedictine Volunteer Corps. One of the sites where they hope to place volunteers is with the Benedictine women in Nairobi, Kenya. Sister Mary David opened that door.”

Sister Lynne told me that she also benefitted from having Brother Paul here. “I talked with him a couple of times about St. John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps, to exchange ideas from his experience with our ideas for the Benedictine Sojourner experience at Holy Wisdom Monastery.”

Brother Paul looks forward to returning to Holy Wisdom Monastery after his trip to Africa and continuing his quest for balance, so he can return to St. John’s energized and ready to jump back into his community life and work.

To learn more about the St. John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps visit www.sjbvc.org.

To learn more about coming to Holy Wisdom Monastery for your own version of a sabbatical (personal retreat) visit the retreat section on our website or contact us at monastery@benedictinewomen.org or 608-831-9304.

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What does a planned gift donor look like at Holy Wisdom Monastery? I’ve been fortunate to meet several of them in the past few years. They are Sunday Assembly members, Oblate community members, and members of the longstanding Community of Benedict. They are neighbors and environmental enthusiasts. They are supporters who have designated a few hundred dollars in their trust, will, or bequest, or they are people who have designated hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit the Benedictine Life Foundation of Wisconsin, Inc. For a lot of people, a planned gift is a way to make a big impact on the organizations that they love and support.

We are fortunate to be welcoming back local attorney Melinda Gustafson Gervasi to lead two planned giving seminars at Holy Wisdom Monastery on March 25, 2012 (following Sunday Assembly) and on the evening of October 2, 2012. Melinda presented at Holy Wisdom Monastery in 2010, and I found her presentation to be very down-to-earth. She had some funny stories and practical wisdom to pass on. She is willing to work with people associated with Holy Wisdom Monastery at a discounted rate. I also had the personal experience of working with Melinda to put together a will for a woman I know who was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of last year. Melinda acted quickly to get all the documentation necessary so that the woman’s young children could be put in the best financial position in case the worst happened, and Melinda was able to provide these services pro-bono for this low-income family. Melinda’s sense of justice aligns closely with the sisters’ mission of weaving justice into their communities.

I encourage all of you to learn more about these planned giving seminars through our website, where you can also register online. If you have any further questions, please contact me, Mike, at 608-836-1631, x124.

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Today, February 17, 2012, marks the 6th anniversary of our official re-founding as an ecumenical Benedictine community for Benedictine Women of Madison.

“A New World Order” is how the media sees it. “Welcoming women of all Christian traditions” is how we talk about it. “It is a gift to be welcomed into a community” is how a recent Volunteer in Community experiences it.

The history that brings us to this day is rich and deep, as Sister Mary David Walgenbach recalls:

The first steps were inspired by the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the Community of Taize, France. In the mid-60’s our local sisters and brothers of various faith traditions asked us to become an ecumenical place where all could pray together, meet and listen to each other and see that we are all on a similar journey – if not the same journey. Ecumenism became a part of the core of our community.

In the early 1990’s with the wisdom of many friends and a lot of prayer together, the path became clearer to us. We, as a community, felt the call to deepen our commitment to ecumenism. This commitment involves being a Benedictine community open to Christian women where all are equal and all support each other in our quest for God. An Ecumenical Board was formed to guide the creation, growth and formation of this ecumenical monastic community.

Recognizing that ecumenism had changed our hearts, our community began a process with the Federation of St. Gertrude to become an ecumenical community of sisters. In 2006 after fourteen years of consultations and guidance from many women and men, we officially became an ecumenical Benedictine community of sisters.

Sister Joanne Kollasch adds to the story with these thoughts:

For this community, it has been a history of much change, listening to the Spirit and to the signs of the times, consulting with spiritual friends, and resolutely making our way into an always unknown future. Throughout this process, the constant values of the Benedictine Women of Madison have been the cultivation of prayer and spirituality, providing hospitality, and caring for the earth.

And of course my story, coming from a Presbyterian background to make my profession as a Benedictine sister, is that of being the direct recipient of the determination of this community to fulfill its vision to become ecumenical. I could not have found my heart’s true home without the vision of this community.

On this anniversary day we give thanks to so many who have accompanied us along the way:

• The sisters of our founding community, Sisters of St. Benedict, who gave birth to, prayed for, and nurtured the vision of an ecumenical community from the very beginning
• Members of the Ecumenical Board who journeyed with us and helped guide our vision
• Members of the Federation of St. Gertrude who supported our vision with their faith and prayers, and their affirmation

Are you drawn to this inclusive, ecumenical community life? We invite you to explore the possibilities with us. Consider any of the following:

• Benedictine Sojourners – a 6-12 month opportunity to live, work and pray with Benedictine Women of Madison
• Volunteer in Community – a 2-4 week summer opportunity to live in community while caring for the earth
• Exploring Community retreats – a gift of time to reflect on God’s call in your life

Other experiences of ecumenical community at Holy Wisdom Monastery open to both men and women include:

• Oblates of Holy Wisdom Monastery – an intentional community of women and men who find a practical spirituality in the Rule of Benedict
• Sunday Assembly – our ecumenical worshiping community of men and women, children, youth and adults

Or contact me, Sister Lynne Smith, 608-831-9305, for more conversation.

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[A homily suggestion I heard many years ago was prepare with the Sacred Scripture in one hand and the New York Times in the other. In this case I also included the Wisconsin State Journal and Ched Myers commentary on Mark’s Gospel, Binding the Strong Man, Orbis Books, 1988.]

What did he know and when did he know it?

Seems stolen from the recent headlines reporting on Governor Walker’s recent problems with aides who campaigned while on the government clock.

It is rather a frequently asked question among scripture commentators about Jesus in Mark’s Gospel account. We are only about 600 words into Mark’s account of Good News when Jesus confronts the establishment that governs the day-to-day life of his society, and his fame or infamy spreads quickly among the 99% of his time and place.

Our leper in today’s passage “began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word” the very way in which the early church referred to its preaching about Jesus. [This is before the term “euangelion” (our “gospel”) was borrowed from the Roman imperial propaganda machine.]

What was the leper proclaiming freely?

On one level he was telling people that Jesus healed him of his leprosy.

On another level he was telling people that Jesus declared him clean, meaning that Jesus took upon himself the priestly task laid out in Leviticus to declare when someone was ritually pure again.

On another level he was telling people that Jesus had actually touched him, in defiance of the ritual purity laws, thus rendering Jesus unclean; in the second last verse we hear that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed outside in places where nobody lived (sounds like the life of a leper to me).

On yet another level he was telling people that the old purity laws had been turned on their heads. Instead of Jesus contracting the impurity by touching the leper, the leper was made clean by a touch from Jesus. This recalls last week’s passage in the synagogue at Capernaum, when people remarked that Jesus taught with authority.

Mark’s Christian Community was made up of primarily gentile converts, some of whom may have lived in Rome, but were expelled from Rome along with Jews during a persecution in the year 62. Mark announces “Good News” to a people living in the midst of societal chaos. Bandits and brigands roam freely in Galilee; the members of the priestly caste in Jerusalem are trying to co-opt the rebellious zealots, but are quite willing to collaborate with the Romans if it means they can keep their status. The Roman leaders deal harshly with every symbolic act of rebellion even if it is not overtly violent.

Where is the Good News?

The Good News is that Jesus really cares about one leper.

Where our passage says Jesus was moved with pity we could also substitute Jesus was moved with anger. The key to the translation for me is the “moved with” part of the phrase. This is not describing pity or anger in any abstract sense of the terms.

The original meaning was quite concrete and visceral. Jesus’ bowel was moved with pity or anger; Jesus’ guts were churned up with emotion.

This is not a Jesus who seems at all content and serene. [Think of the Warner Sallman image painted in 1940 and reproduced over 500 million times. That Jesus is posing for a Halo Shampoo ad.] This is a Jesus who is edgy and acutely aware of the power he is confronting and its potential for evil. This is a Jesus who knows he can attract a crowd in the city of Capernaum, but chooses to preach in the villages, at the margins of the power center. This is a Jesus who knows his message will liberate people, but also knows that some people will only take the part of the message that suits them.

The divine ordering of creation, “in the beginning” as we all know the Book of Genesis starts is replicated in the start of Mark’s account, “The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  There is a new order, a way out of the chaos that enslaves people’s bodies and spirits.

Think about the purity laws that crush people in our own society.

They are not laws written down in a modern day book of Leviticus; they are laws or systems that we ascribe to sometimes consciously, more often subconsciously.

Eligible Income Levels

• Subsidized housing income levels are determined by annual gross income, qualifications in specific categories, and citizenship or immigration status. The specific categories include the elderly, disabled, and if the household qualifies as a family. HUD sets the moderate income level at a range of 80 to 120 percent of the local AMI. Low income levels range between 50 to 80 percent of the local AMI. Very low income levels are set under 50 percent of the local AMI.
• Some of the effects from the establishment of income levels has been creation of federal law, programs dealing with various housing issues and state or local governments using the income levels as part of public assistance program guidelines. A US federal law dictates that a public housing agent (PHA) must use 75 percent of it’s available rental vouchers for applicants not exceeding 30 percent of their AMI; another federal law mandates that for a housing project to receive government funding it must provide for a certain percentage of units set aside for households within subsidized housing income levels. Various programs such as supportive housing, transitional housing and rent subsidies have risen to assist households that fall within these income levels; examples include Section 8, rental vouchers, tax credits and non-profit grants or loans.
• A significant gap between eligible households and available rentals has become evident. A study published by the Urban Institute in 2005 reported that there were 23.6 million households (out of 110 million) which fell into the HUD subsidized housing income levels; only 23 percent of this number received assistance. Households with children comprised 12.3 million or 36 percent of the total number of families that are on one of the three income levels. The Recession of 2008-2009 caused wide-spread unemployment and housing loss which caused a spike in households falling below poverty levels. As of 2009 an accurate number of households within subsidized housing income limits had yet to be determined.

Effects

Significance

Wherever there is stigma attached to one’s state of life, there is usually an unwritten purity law or code lurking in the background. If you cannot afford market-rate housing in this country you fall into this category. In 2005, three years before the great recession took its toll, 20% of all households in this country fell into the HUD eligible income levels, but less than 1/4^th received housing assistance. No one knows the true numbers and percentages today, but I am certain the anecdotes we have heard about and read about would be backed by staggering statistical figures. Do we not feel sorry for people who need subsidized housing, until it happens to us or someone close to us. A purity code lurks here.

Recent item in the news: when the Chrysler corporation announced that the Belvedere, IL plant would start making vehicles again and it needed to hire 2,000 workers, so many people came to apply that they capped the recruitment process at 7,500 applicants. Do we attach a stigma to long-term unemployment, even in a deep recession?

One does not have to stretch too many years back to remember when the HIV/AIDS epidemic had us so scared that anyone who was a caregiver for someone suffering with the disease was considered a hero for living close to contagion.

Only 19 states in our country are left that do not require some type of voter ID at the polling place, a type of purity law at the level of civil religion in our country. Those who are more itinerant or who live at the margins of our society will rarely vote if they move so often that they cannot keep their legal identification up-to-date when the election cycle requires them to do so. Those voices will never find a receptive ear from elected officials because they do not count in the vote tally.

Criminal records are not all that unusual anymore. In fact, 6.5 percent of the U.S. population has a felony record, and one in 15 people have gone to prison at some point. How does an ex-convict ever re-establish his or her purity? Does anyone doubt that a purity law lurks here?

Mark challenges his community to believe the Good News, the victory of Jesus Christ, that in fact, Jesus Christ is the Good News; and he challenges them to spread the word.

Part of what we must do as believers in that victory is to challenge the purity codes and laws, any system that belittles others, that deprives another of dignity. Our actions may come in the form of direct action on behalf of others. Our actions may come in the form of advocating for others. Our actions may come in the form of civil disobedience. Our actions may come in the form of working within systems to make them more humane.

But here is the more daunting action for many of us. When we ourselves, or someone near and dear to us is living at the margins, and feeling the pain of not fitting into our societal expectations, we must tell that story to one another if we are to break the bonds of the purity laws that threaten to kill our spirit.

I will close this reflection with a quote that is an excellent example of a modern day prophet trying to break down a purity code. The author is a regular in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times, Charles M. Blow. The column, published in yesterday’s edition is entitled, “Real Men and Pink Suits”

In fact, a 2005 report entitled “From Teasing to Torment: School Climate in America,” which was commissioned by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, found that a third of all teens said that they are often bullied, called names or harassed at their school because they are, or people think that they are, gay, lesbian or bisexual.We have created this culture, and we can undo it. Start with this fact: The truest measure of a man, indeed of a person, is not whom he lies down with but what he stands up for. If we must be judged, let it be in this way. And when we fall short, as we sometimes will, because humanity is fallible, let us greet each other with compassion and encouragement rather than ridicule and resentment.

Is this not how we greet each other in this assembly of believers?
Is this not how we are challenged to greet our neighbor tomorrow?

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May our prayers rise to the heavens like incense.

For this assembly and all communities of faith throughout our world, that we will find our prophetic voices and challenge systems and laws that oppress the downtrodden. We pray …

For elected officials and all who exercise power and authority, that they be given the gifts of wisdom, good counsel, and fortitude. We pray …

For the homeless and those facing eviction or foreclosure, that they can maintain their dignity as they seek help from others. We pray …

For the Benedictine Women of Madison and all who model themselves on St. Scholastica, that they will love much and that their number will increase. We pray …

For what else shall we pray?

Please mention now those whose needs populate your hearts. For these all who are written in our book of intentions, we pray …

God of all compassion, stir us in the very core of our being so we may participate fully with you in recreating this earth which you loved into being. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

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St Scholastic statue - Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing

Today we celebrate the Feast of Scholastica, said to have lived from 480 to 543, the twin sister of Benedict. She is a patron of Benedictines throughout the world.

Scholastica led a form of consecrated life with a group of Christian women, following the spirit of the Rule of Benedict. We know of her life only from legend and from a brief story in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great.

Gregory tells us that she traveled each year to meet her brother at a small house midway between their residences. On one occasion, after a day filled with deep and richly satisfying prayer and conversation, evening fell and Benedict prepared leave.

The story continues, according to Gregory:

Finally Scholastica said: “Do not leave me tonight, but let us talk till morning of the joys of heaven.” Benedict answered: “Impossible, dear sister. I may not spend the night outside my cell.” At this she clasped her hands and bowed her head in prayer. When she raised her head, there were thunder and lightning and such a torrential rain that Benedict could not leave the house where they were.

Benedict was saddened and complained to her: “God have mercy on you, sister! What have you done!” She replied: “I asked you and you would not listen to me. So I asked God and God listened.”

It ought not surprise us that she won out. John tells us that “God is love.” It was inevitable that she who loved more would accomplish more.

It is said that after his return to Monte Cassino, Benedict saw a vision of Scholastica’s soul departing her body, ascending to heaven in the form of a dove. Indeed, she died three days after their last meeting.

Throughout time Scholastica remains a vital image to Benedictine women, a transcending spirit, a model of the feminine aspects of Benedictine monasticism and an example of the power of the soul who loves God.

On this Feast of Scholastic we pray:

Loving God, to Scholastica you gave the gifts of prayer, charity and dedication in a flowering of monastic life. Continue to foster these gifts among us today, for building up the communities of believers and for the service of the peoples of the earth. We ask this in the name of Jesus, the incarnate Word. Amen

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The following entry is reprinted from the 2012 John Knox Presbytery Lenten Devotional, a booklet containing real life stories from people across the Presbytery in addition to Scripture and prayer. The entry was submitted by Sister Lynne Smith, OSB from Holy Wisdom Monastery and we have permission to reprint it here.

Week of March 5, 2012

 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

John 17: 20-23

In the early 1990s the sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery (then Saint Benedict Center) heard God calling them to open their community membership to women of any Christian denomination. Since 1967, the sisters led retreats, shared meals and prayed with Christians of many denominations at Saint Benedict Center, their ecumenical retreat and conference center. Over the years, the sisters’ hearts were changed by praying and meeting with other Christians.

Protestant women also began to ask if they could join the community. In 1992, the sisters began a visioning process to discern their future life and ministries with invited religious leaders. In 1994, the Ecumenical Board was established to help support the sisters’ vision of an ecumenical women’s community, Benedictine Women of Madison. In 2006, the sisters received membership as an affiliated ecumenical monastery in their Benedictine federation.

The community seeks God through a life following the Gospel and the Rule of Benedict. Community members live, pray and work together and welcome other single Christian women to explore life with them. They honor diversity among their members and in the communities they help create: the Oblate community, coworkers, volunteers, and the Sunday worship assembly. Ministries at the Holy Wisdom Monastery provide resources for spiritual enrichment and growth. Prairie restoration and a “green” monastery building express the Benedictine Women’s environmental work. The community’s hospitality extends to sisters from around the globe, with specific mission links to the Missionary Benedictine sisters in Nairobi, Kenya.

Lynne Smith, an ordained Presbyterian minister, joined the community in 2000, and John Knox Presbytery validated her ministry at the monastery. She works in the areas of membership, liturgy and oblates.

All are welcome to join the sisters for the Liturgy of Hours, Centering Prayer, spiritual guidance, ecumenical Sunday worship. Individuals and groups are invited to come on retreat or volunteer on the monastery grounds.

Prayer:  Gracious and Holy God, give us wisdom to perceive you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate on you, and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Savior Amen. (A prayer of Saint Benedict)

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“Didn’t you have to give up a lot to become a sister?”  This question, which was posed to me recently, seems to be a common perception of religious life. The question might come from the image of monks “leaving the world” to live in the desert or from the image of religious life as made up of strict ascetical practices. However, something in me resists thinking about religious life in terms of giving something up.

To be sure, one does give up some things to enter a community and there is asceticism involved in religious life. The practice of asceticism is different in each order. For Benedictines, living in community with our promises of stability, obedience and conversion of life is the asceticism. The rub of daily life and living patiently with our own and one another’s weaknesses is asceticism enough!

My aim of seeking God through Benedictine life leads me to make choices that might seem to others to be loss. For me, those choices help me be available to God and others. I find it helpful to think about entering religious life as a change of lifestyle just as marriage is a change of lifestyle. One exchanges one way of living for another. The change involves some loss as well as gain and it takes time to adjust to the new way of living.

Religious life is about pursuing your heart’s desire. It’s like falling in love. When you fall in love with someone and start spending more time with him or her, you give up some of the ways you used to spend your time. In the process, you gain the love of your life. Over time as you nurture your relationship, you discover you have gained much more than you ever gave up. So it is in religious life.

For a taste of life in community, check out our Benedictine Sojourner experience for single Christian women. Live in an inclusive ecumenical community at Holy Wisdom Monastery for a year. Pray, play, work and learn with us.

For a shorter experience in the summer consider spending two weeks to a month with us as a Volunteer in Community.

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This week, on Monday January 16, after over 14 years of planning, deliberation and delay, the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. finally got to lay a wreath at the foot of the new monument erected in his honor.  Chiseled on the north side of the monument are the words “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness”.  This is a seemingly simple, straight-forward claim made by King about service and discipleship.  Yet, just days before this celebration, after months of contentious debate, Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary of the United States of America, issued orders to begin a process of re-inscription.  It turns out that the engraving is a paraphrase, not a quote.  The actual testimony comes from Dr. King’s sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct”, delivered on February 4, 1968, just weeks before his assassination.  In this sermon, King talks about what he would want his friends and family to say about him at his funeral.  “I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.  Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice.  Say that I was a drum major for peace.  I was a drum major for righteousness.  And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

In her critique of the inscription on the monument, Maya Angelou says that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “had a humility that comes from deep inside.”  She goes on to say that “the “if” clause that is left out is important.  Paraphrasing it makes him seem less than the humanitarian he was….it makes him seem an egoist.”   The comedian, Stephen Cobert, notes that the paraphrased inscription is “ short, pithy and to the point.  Not Dr. King’s point, but still.  You know what they say, brevity is the soul of saving money on chiseling fees.”

So what is the point here?  What is the point of the critique and more importantly, what is the point of Dr. King’s original statement.  And how does any of this relate to today’s readings that are focused on the call and the response of Samuel, one of God’s great OT prophets and the call and response of the first disciples of Jesus.

The point for Maya Angelou is that the inscription is a misrepresentation of Dr. King’s preaching on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, in a practical, everyday sense.  The paraphrasing reduces the difficulties that Dr. King experienced and identified in the real life trial of living a committed life.  Dr. King’s understanding of discipleship, as he outlines it in the entirety of his sermon, complicates any simple definition.  Discipleship, for Dr. King, is not an exclusive calling received by a mighty prophet or a few followers chosen because they are up to the challenge.  King’s sermon lifts up the discipleship of the many and not the aggrandizement of some mighty or powerful leader.  If we take a closer look at Dr. King’s sermon, it turns out that the controversy around the inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. monument is a controversy about the meaning of discipleship in the Gospel of Mark.  And that is the point of today’s readings.  Today’s readings focus on the call and the response that are the making of a disciple.

In his sermon, Dr. King says that “there is, deep within all of us, an instinct.  It’s a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first.”  He says that “it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.”  And, as it turns out, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, provide for Dr. King, a primary illustration of the drum major instinct as it resides in all of us.  In the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verse 35, James and John ask Jesus to give them what they desire.  They want to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in his glory.  They want to stand at the front of the parade with him, ahead of the other disciples, when he enters his glory as the new King of Israel.

Today’s gospel tells the beginning of the story.  John the Baptist has been arrested and Jesus comes to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.  Jesus preaches a message of hope in a time of despair and anticipation.  The people are oppressed by their political and religious leaders and along with John the Baptist they look forward to a coming Kingdom of God.  Along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus begins his ministry and gathers his first disciples. Jesus sees James and John, the sons of Zebedee and he calls them.  “Follow me”, he says and they respond.  They drop everything and they leave their father in a boat with the hired man.  If we take our reading from 1 Corinthians as our guide, we might say that James and John respond to the call of Jesus as model disciples.  It seems that they are not tempted by their responsibilities to family and work and they are not affected by the everyday joys and sorrows of ordinary life that they leave behind.  They hear the call and they follow Jesus.  But as King’s sermon shows us, this is not the whole story.  As the gospel unfolds, we see that their motivation is not entirely pure.  The drum major instinct—the instinct to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to be first and to lead the parade—is a motivating force for James and John.  It turns out that they are human, subject to human desiring just like all the rest of us.

King observes that the drum major instinct is dangerous.  It causes us to do things that pull others down in order to push ourselves up.  We spend our money on keeping up with the Jones, always searching for something better; a car that is more fuel efficient or a house that is greener than my neighbors.    We join social groups and volunteer for causes that make us feel good about ourselves.  Motivated by the drum major instinct we spend our money and our time in ways that make us feel special and more enlightened than the person next door or down the block.  Dr. King preached that exclusivism in churches, racial prejudice in our social structures and governmental policies that seek world domination all come from the unharnessed energies of the drum major instinct.  And there is the key; how do we harness this drum major energy because for Dr. King, the drum major instinct is not, in itself a bad thing.  It is a motivating life force for all human beings.   James and John, along with Simon and Andrew, drop everything and follow Jesus, in part, because they want to be first, to be the greatest among the disciples of Jesus.  What Jesus does by his example and his teachings is to help his followers harness this basic instinct to be first.  With Jesus, being first no longer means being more important or better than your neighbor,   Instead greatness means being first in generosity and first in love.  As the story unfolds, Jesus gives his followers a new definition of greatness.  The greatest and the first among you shall be your servant.  From this perspective discipleship is not a commitment made by the mighty or the chosen few.  In his sermon, Dr. King preached that everybody could be great because everybody could serve.

This past Monday, President Barak Obama honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a call to public service.  He addressed the controversy over the inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. monument.  President Obama said “what he (Dr. King) really said was that all of us can be a drum major for service, all of us can be a drum major for peace, there is nobody who can’t serve, nobody who can’t help someone else.”  Today’s gospel, read in the light of Dr. King’s message, transforms our focus from the discipleship of a mighty prophet or the chosen few to the discipleship of the many.  Following the way that Dr. King reads the Gospel of Mark, we are all called to live a committed life; we are all called to service and to love.  We are all called to harness that drum major instinct so that we can be drum majors for peace, justice and righteousness.  We are all called, the way that James and John were called, to leave our boats and our fathers behind, to harness our drum major instinct, in order to be servant leaders in a parade or a march for peace, justice, love and righteousness.

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Chuck Pfeifer

Thirty-seven years — that’s how long I have been associated with Holy Wisdom Monastery (HWM). Now Jean and I are leaving, moving to Boston to be closer to our daughter, her husband and our first grandchild.

Thirty-seven years is a long time, and my mind is flooded with images. There are the sisters, actual monks, Mary David, Joanne, Lynne. When I first visited the center, as a Protestant I didn’t know what to expect of ‘nuns.’ I imagined them as somber figures in long flowing habits. Instead, these nuns wore street clothes. I did see a photo of Mary David in her habit, but she was racing across the prairie on a horse, not very nun-like. Then there was Joanne with her sparkling wit. Nuns were supposed to be serious. Had I encountered Lynne back then, I would have thought, “She can’t be a nun. She isn’t even Catholic.” I’ve learned a lot about monasteries in 37 years.

I first visited HWM (then St. Benedict Center) in the ’70s when I was the director of Madison-area Urban Ministry (MUM). I rode my bike weekly to the monastery with my twenty pound Kaypro computer strapped onto the back. My rented room provided a quiet place where I could meditate and write. I still remember the cross on the wall above my desk. I smile when I recall a Jewish friend saying, “It’s such a spiritual place, but I had to put the cross in the desk drawer when I was writing.”

One of the major charisms or callings of Benedictine monasteries is hospitality. I remember the many people who extended hospitality to me through the years. In addition to the sisters, there were the staff, women and men for whom the monastery was much more than a job site. They were committed to welcoming the stranger. Gradually I, the stranger, became a friend. There were others too who experienced this hospitality — members of Sunday Assembly, oblates, volunteers and those who came for spiritual guidance, retreats and seminars.

I left MUM with burnout in 1998 and was welcomed into this place. I was given an office and a computer. I served as volunteer staff, co-leading seminars. I was also trained as a spiritual guide. In these roles I gained a greater appreciation of Benedictine values: hospitality; listening with the ear of the heart; balancing work, prayer and leisure; humility — the honest appraisal of one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

But overarching these values, I experienced a commitment to something that transcended the monastery — the Mystery that many call God. For me, this Mystery is most accessible in nature. And nature is present in all her glory in the land surrounding the monastery. I have walked this land hundreds of times, and each time I am awed by its beauty.

During the cold, sunny days of winter, the prairie glistens white with snow, and Lost Lake is a smooth sheet of ice. The trees in the oak grove stand as blackened sentinels in a sea of diamonds as sunlight sparkles on the snow. In spring the prairie comes alive. Green shoots laden with buds push through the dried stubble of last year’s growth. Geese and ducks return to Lost Lake.  Summer brings warm breezes and a prairie bursting with blooms. Bees buzz around blossoms.  Birds chirp and flit about.  Prairie grasses wave in the wind. When summer turns to fall the oak trees drop their leaves making the ground soft and spongy as the natural cycle of death and rebirth continues. Last fall I saw a doe and two fawns in the apple orchard. Brother Tom, a wild turkey, visited us during evening prayer, pecking at his reflection in the windows. Sandhill cranes and geese winged overhead, migrating south.

Thirty-seven years ago, I was pretty clear on what it meant to be spiritual. I came to the monastery to recharge my batteries so that I could reenter the struggle for justice, opposing the power of those who dominated, while empowering the weak.

I now have a different understanding of spirituality. I meditate and pray so that I can be more in tune with my own depths, so that I can come alive myself. When this happens, it is as if I am being helped by hidden hands. I am able to identify and act on new possibilities that bring life to the world around me.(1)

In closing then, I’m grateful for my 37 years at this monastery.  I’m grateful for the people who stood with me on my journey.  I’m grateful for the Mystery that surrounds and sustains us.

1. Thanks to Joseph Campbell — The Power of Myth p. 150 & p. 183

Chuck Pfeifer writes a monthly blog, “Living With Soul.”  It is available at drchuckpfeifer.blogspot.com. It is also available on his “Living With Soul” page on Facebook.

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1 Samuel 1:9b-18a, 20, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1: 35-51

There’s a lot of human nature in today’s readings from Scripture.  Eli is snooping and getting the meaning of what he sees wrong until Hannah sets him right.  Hannah herself in a stereotypical Jewish mother deciding on her son’s career:  he will be a nazarite, which is a tall order because a nazarite was someone who, as Hannah says, could drink “neither wine nor intoxicants”; who could never get a haircut; and who could not touch anything dead be it man or mouse.  That’s quite a decision for a mother to make without consulting her son.  Moreover, a nazarite could have a temporary calling if he chose, but Hannah wants no part of that.  She chooses to make Samuel a nazarite for life.  It seemed to have worked out because Samuel deposed Saul and anointed David the king of Israel.

Then we get Paul who has a big problem with sex.  While I was reading this passage along with the other two to prepare this homily, I was also reading for pleasure and relaxation Alan Bennett’s new book of fiction entitled Smut: Two Unseemly Stories, which contains two novellas about voyeurism, heterosexual and homosexual affairs, infidelity, incest, blackmail, and probably one of two other things that I’ve already forgotten!  If you are old enough to remember the hit show and completely sexless comedy of the 1960s, Beyond the Fringe, Alan Bennett was the one who played the role of the English clergyman who preached a sermon on Genesis 17:11: “My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.”  Perhaps I can substitute a recording of that for my next homily.  With that hilarious sermon in mind you’d immediately know that reading Smut would be more nearly funny than sexy, though there is a touch of that too.  I also accidentally found and reread an op-ed piece by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that I had put aside to file and quite characteristically forgot to.  Kristof was talking about (to quote him) “the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children.  This is the church of the Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.”  Well, with Bennett and Kristof in mind, I found it rather hard not to think that Paul was a touch over the top with the Corinthians.  But since I really know nothing about sex in the first century of the Christian Era, I admit the possibility of being a bit harsh on Paul here.

To continue with a fair share of humanity in today’s readings themselves—which so obviously are about discipleship that I hardly need dwell on that—there’s Nathaniel’s skepticism and prejudice about place:  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he asks when Philip tells him about Jesus.  This is something like someone living in Madison asking whether anything good can come out of Milwaukee. Or, more likely, someone in Milwaukee, sizing up events at the capitol, asking whether anything good can come out of Madison.  The answer to that remains to be seen.

To be brief, then, there’s a lot of human diversity in these readings today.  And I dare say that we witness that every Sunday when we listen to the Scriptural readings of the day.  I suspect, however, that we generally don’t think about it because the readings are there to teach us a lesson in faith, to be sure.  But it is good to remember that they also teach us a lesson in differences among the people who appear in them.  Which is why, wouldn’t you say, it is appropriate to have the Sign of Peace after the readings.  Or should I also say, after the homily?  Because there’s a lot of diversity among those of us who stand up here and tell you what’s what (or, more accurately, what we think is what) Sunday after Sunday.  Just as there’s a lot of difference among you who sit and listen to us say our piece.

Well with all that difference and diversity, we need something to make us more nearly one.  That I think is why we have the Sign of Peace.  It gives us a chance to pause.  It allows us to put aside all the differences amongst us for the moment and to be reconciled to each other.  After all, we are all of us about to become one, are we not?  The celebrant’s words at the consecration unite us in the breaking of the bread:  “So all of us are one body, all who share the one bread. . . .”   In that way we are back to St. Paul who says earlier on in his letter to the Corinthians that “We, though many, are one bread, one body” (10:17).  Moreover, he tells the Galatians (3:16-18) that “Baptized into Messiah, you are clothed in Messiah so that there is no more Jew or Greek, slave or free, man and woman, but all are one, are the same in Jesus Messiah” (Wills translation, p. 113).

So as different and perhaps even as strange or as simply human as we are, we are here today to be one with Christ as the liturgy reenacts the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples.  The Eucharistic liturgy invites us to come together as much as the readings that precede it show us how difficult it is for any group of people to come together.  Nonetheless, I suspect that we are here today not so much to become something different from what we are but simply to be what we are somewhat more gracefully than before.

References

Alan Bennett, Smut: Two Unseemly Stories (London: Faber & Faber, 2011).

Nicholas D. Kristof, “A Church Mary Can Love,” New York Times (18 April 2010), p. A11.

Garry Wills, What Jesus Meant (New York: Viking, 2006).

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