One Thing

If there is no other thing you take from my words, now or ever, receive this: the great question of your life is your response to what the universe presents to you.

I call the motions in history toward the Best 'acts of God,' and seek to join in them. I want to be part of the work of the best, even if my only work is to stay out of the way as the Best unfolds and fulfills itself. Remember that "they also serve who only stand and wait."

Your response might be a question. 'Why, god?' seems to be a common one.

Your response might be a complaint, or a curse.

Your response might be a deed of mercy, an act of compassion, a thought, a song, or a whisper.

My point is that any of these can be good or ill, depending on what is necessary to the best. If one dedicates oneself to the best as one knows, and the God who knows and wills the Best (the God who loves, the Beloved), then one is usually on to a true, good, and beautiful response.

Above all, I charge you, constant reader: remember that your response may be informed but can not be mediated by the actions of others. I call the response to the world that one embraces the Best, worship. I declare this of worship: that the one thing it cannot be is stereotyped or simply copied. If it were so, one could not exist, because one would be unnecessary to the ultimately efficient Great Work.

Abbey

I want to found a missional, multigenerational, covenantal, family abbey.

Abbey
Place of refuge, quiet, work, prayer:
Community Life (Life with one another.)


Missional
We have a shared hope of the Best;
we hold out the words of life to the world that is dying.
We honor the image of God in every human, and enjoy the creation of God in everything--we remember the Incarnation.
We embrace sorrow and suffering as crosses--they remind us of the Passion of the Cross.
We not only permit parting but encourage multiplication--we return to "unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will bear no fruit." We pass through death to find Resurrection.
We edify one another, in one accord with God's Holy Spirit, forming His Church, gathering in Jesus' Name.


Covenantal
3 vows:

Obedience with Charity; Charity in Authority (Love)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Secret Giving, Swift Compliance, Bearing With One Another

Faith and Faithfulness (Faith)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Chastity, Prayer, Recalling the Truth of One Another

Simplicity and Purity (Hope)
A Few Disciplines Among Many-Keeping Short Accounts, Giving Time, Believing the Best of One Another


Family
We want households, pairing, the issue of children, the increase of man's promised dominion over the earth; we want travel, hospitality, help, adoption; we want art, craft, intellect, passion, expression; all redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We desire nature in all its fullness to be penetrated and enfolded by supernature in all its emptiness.