Abi's 13th Blogiversary!

Well...here we are with another two-year skip! 👀  Even for your wee purple abbess, the past two years have been something else all together...but it seems appropriate that I would choose 2020 -- the Purple Year -- for returning to blogging. 💜 

So many things have happened in the past two years...so many things have happened in the past 13 years! I am a very different person in so many ways--it will be interesting to unpack and process some of that here.

I spent the first few years sharing the 10-year process of my deconstruction of institutional religion, from 2005-2015. There were only a few posts during the rubble-clearing years, from 2016-2018. There were no posts last year, which was the year of leveling the ground and laying the new foundation. And this is the first post in 2020, into the third quarter of what has been a wildly liminal year, even before the corona virus changed life as we knew it.

It has been 15 years since I have actually engaged in the life and ministry of a local congregation. It seems so strange to see that in writing...and that it has been such a long period of time. It is not surprising that it should take me 15 years to work my way out of 49 years of experience and expectation...it was planted so deep into my core that I didn't even realize that lots of that stuff was there!

But I did come across an interesting post from 10 years ago about the iconic iMonk that deeply resonates with where I am today. In it I ponder what I called the Perichoretic Community, which is what I've lately been calling Core of Four (Co4). I've also been pondering a Rule of Life again, and remains the amazing fundamental concept of cHesed.

I've been talking for so many years about finally getting around to processing Perichoretic cHesed. Its time may have finally come...or not. We'll just see how things roll out. But it may be closer, since I have been attending a new church plant in my community and am slowly beginning to engage there. We will see what Papa and Jesus and Sarayu have planned for me and for that community.

Stay tuned...😎

Be blessed. 

Abi

Abi's 11th Blogiversary!

Greetings from your wee purple abbess!  

It has been a long two years since my last wee post, acknowledging my 9th Blogiversary ... and there is no way to even begin to catch you up on what's been happening.

I am making very slow progress, but I do see progress, as I work to make my brain and body stronger and more resilient. Lots of changes happening, with more coming! My eldest son has graduated from college. My second son has just begun his Junior year at college. My youngest son is a senior in high school. I treasure this last time being a Senior Mom -- it has been quite a journey with these boys! They are growing into wonderful young men doing great things in the world. You're welcome, world, for these three awesome gifts from God! 💜


I do, however, wonder whether there might be a time coming when I return to posting about my purple ponderings in this space -- my small spot on the world wide interwebs. We'll see about that, but in the meantime, I didn't want the year to pass without remembering the wonderful events that led to this wee blog and the helpful thing that it has been to me over the years.

I might begin by an in-depth look at Perichoretic cHesed...breaking it down piece by piece in order to provide the bigger picture. And, yes, it is still what takes most of my brain's bandwidth. I do believe that this concept is my wee task, and I feel it is time to take up that task again in this space.  

This renewal of effort, of course, means that things that I have written previously about Perichoretic cHesed (and that's most of what you'll find here!) will be updated...and, as I have said many times, my thoughts have grown a lot over the past 11 years -- so do not hold me to things I have grown past, please. 😎

My world remain solidly purple. I feel a bit like Frodo when he said that not all things seem to heal fully. I have no ship to take into the West, but I know that the day will come when all things will be made new. I guess that I have come to accept that this is the way things will be for me...my "thorn in the flesh", as it were, until that day arrives. I certainly am in good company, there! And, yes...God's grace is more than sufficient, for Their power is, indeed, made perfect in weakness.

Be blessed...

Abi

Three years later, Abi is still blogging ... kind of

I am hoping that I will return to regular blogging soon.  However, I didn't want the day to pass without saying what a terrific experience blogging has been for me these past three years ... and will continue to be, I hope.
 
Mostly, I have continued dwelling deeply in the blending of the Mosaic Bible and the Celtic Daily Prayer ... facilitated by the memory card in my LG cell phone, onto which I have saved the mp3 versions I purchased of Peterson's "The Message" and Northumbria's sung version of their "Daily Office" (which also includes the spoken version)... along with Tyndale's Bible Alive NLT (although I am not much of a fan of Stephen Johnston.)

Sometimes my youngest climbs it bed with me to sing the Morning Prayer ... if I start before 7am and he is awake.  MidDay  and Evening Prayer are more challenging, but I am going along at a slow but steady pace in this new discilpine.  It has become especially precious to me to go to sleep with the thoughts of Compline floating around in my heart ... and I find that I fall sleep more quickly and rest more refreshingly.  I am grateful for both results.

I have also been listening frequently to The Message's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) ... and am being slowly changed by a focus on these foundational words of Jesus.  I'll have more to say about that one of these days.

I just this week read an amazing little book -- the first in a 3-part fiction series -- called "The Hawk and the Dove" -- about the very purple abbot at a Benedictine abbey in the 1300s.  I am not done processing the surprising and profound resonance I experienced and am feeling very much in common with Father Peregrine.  I have ordered the entire 3-in-1 book set, as well as another book from the author, Penelope Wilcock.  I hope I get some other stuff done before they arrive.... ;^)

I have joined a local Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) for the first offering of a new study on Isaiah.  While I am not crazy about all their hermeneutics and structure, I am happy to be studying Isaiah in this kind of depth ... as well as encouraging my Mother-In-Law as she returns to BSF after not having one nearby for years.  My hopes, other than a better familiarity with Isaiah, are that Papa will use this time to help me become a better listener and to be more restrained in what I say and how much I say.  This is a very important discipline for me....and I think that Papa may be bringing me a new friend in my discussion group.

Mostly, I find that I am being asked to move away from reading and talking (even blogging!) about what it means to follow Jesus -- and get on with the business of living it.  As always, I am grateful for your company on this journey.

Be blessed!

Blind Beggar in Need of Prayer!

Just in case any of you have not already heard about our fellow Seabeck blogger and MT Instigator, Rick Meigs, please read Brother Maynard's post about his motorcycle accident on Saturday.

He is currently in stable yet critical condition in Boise, ID. Broken right arm and collarbone and a few ribs on the mend; ruptured spleen removed, liver looking okay; punctured lung still requiring ventilator; no brain or spinal column damage detected.

Lord, have mercy on our dear brother ... be near to him and his family ... touch them all with your love and grace and mercy -- healing body, mind and spirit.

Amen.

A Primer on Abi's Purple Martyrdom

My mate, Matt Stone, recently suggested that I post a page describing the Purple Martyrdom for newcomers to my blog, since it is referred to so very often. What a great idea, Matt!

For those who want to wander through the 58 posts tagged as concerning the Purple Martyrdom, click on that tag on the left or this link. Otherwise, the remainder of this post will give you the quicker answer as well as a path to understand the process by which this idea developed. Here goes....

Not coming from either a Celtic or Catholic church tradition, this wee abbess was woefully ignorant concerning the fact that there were three kinds of martyrs recognized in the church. This is good to acknowledge because it gives an opportunity to say that the word "martyr" actually means "witness" ... and became associated almost exclusively with those believers whose steadfast and open witness concerning their new life in Jesus Christ lead directly to their death ... usually by the most dispicable means imaginable.

But there are more kinds of witness -- which I came to learn during my time at Seabeck in October of 2007, during which I decided that I was more of an abbess I had previously thought. Each kind was associated with a color, and I wrote the following in that post:

At Seabeck this week I was introduced to concepts of the Red Martyrdom (shedding of blood and death), the Green Martyrdom (deprivation and isolation) and the White Martyrdom (forsaking the comfort of hearth and home).

Then I began to ponder these witnesses ... and wondered whether there might be another one to add to the ranks.

...is there another? A mixture of sorts? Where physical brokenness is evident without actual death … where deprivation and isolation exists in the midst of suburban consumerism … where the call to serve others matches the call to serve one’s own.

...or where forsaking the comfort of hearth and home is a call to live simply and responsibly in a culture dripping in idolatrous excess. I concluded that there was, indeed, room for this kind of witness. A witness that each of us is called to embrace as a type of martyrdom. And since physical brokenness is so often accompanied by brusing, I chose the color purple for this fourth martyrdom.

But purple is more than the color of bruised flesh. It is the color of royalty ... perhaps of a royal priesthood? And while the robe of our sin-stained human nature has been washed pure as snow in the crimson blood of the Lamb of God, we are now to put on Christ as our covering. I see this as the over-coat that covers the linen sheath. But these images are just that ... images. They help me process the metaphor of having a spotless white spiritual linen sheath over which I am to put on the purple cloak as I follow Jesus. That purple cloak speaks of royalty, yes, but not one that rules in strengh ... but, rather, brokenness, submission, suffering and weakness.

Not many of us in the West have been called to the Red Martyrdom (although many brothers and sisters in the East daily bear that color of witness). The history of many of the monastic orders over the centuries tells of those who have been (and are still being) called to variations of the Green Martyrdom of isolation and deprivation. It seems to me that the missionary efforts of the past 100+ years have been under the banner of the White Martyrdom, as they embraced the forsaking of the comfort of hearth and home to take the Gospel to those who have not yet heard.

It also seems to me that, for too many Christ followers, these three paths of witness have not particularly resonated. They are for "others" who have been "called" to serve. But this wee, virtual abbess begs to differ ... offering each and every Christ follower an invitation to join the Purple Martyrdom.

More than anything else, those who follow Christ have been called -- yes, called -- to pick up our crosses and follow the Suffering Servant as he ushers in the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom where the Holy Spirit lives in each of us, empowering our witness in the midst of our weakness. A Kingdom where God gets the glory because we are utterly dependent upon his power to both equip and enable us to do his will. In each conversation. In each relationship. In each activity. In each setback or injury. All day. Every day. Until the day when we move beyond the frail flesh in this mortal vale and are transformed with Eternity's immortal body. On that day, we will not longer have to spiritually "put on" Christ every day. We will have finally put on the imperishable body that will be like Christ's resurrected body.

And I have no idea what colors we will wear on that day ... that will probably be irrelevant.

So, I hope that you will consider yourself officially a member of the Order of the Purple Martyrdom. It is the Everyman's Martyrdom (excuse me sisters, but "Everyperson's" just does not have the same literary connotation), where the simple witness is consciously dying to yourself and living for Jesus. Whatever that means to you in your daily circumstances.

Maybe I see things in a purple-kind-of-way because of those purple glasses I wear, eh? Yes, those are my purple cHesed glasses. I wear them to help me perceive more of what God does. They need regular cleaning ... on the inside ... they are frequently spotted with salt-encrusted tears.

Be blessed in the midst of your brokenness today, friend.

Thoughts on One Year of Blogging....

Well, friends--what an interesting journey this past year has been! Amazing.... Thanks to all of you who have been my companions from the start -- and welcome to those of you who have joined along the way.

* * * * * * *

After my warm-up post on Friday, we spent the day on Saturday with our missional tribe here doing a prayer summit. I find that I am still unable to fully process exactly what transpired, but I want to share just a few here, on this anniversary of my return from the Missional Order/Seabeck experience.

One of the many things I experienced for the first time at Seabeck was The Daily Office. I have since read Scot McKnight's excellent book, Praying with the Church, as well as other books that have been helpful in filling in some of the historical blanks for me concerning this ancient, yet still powerful, practice. We used the Northumbria community as our primary example (please do check out their link in my sidebar!), and I am still impressed with the way they have set up their "virtual office" ... ever so appropriate for this virtual abbess! ;^)

One of the things we pondered at Seabeck was the core values of the Rule of Life at Northumbria: availablility and vulnerability. For a long time I have been at a loss to come up with anything more powerful or fundamental than these two values. To be fully available to the other and to be fully vulnerable with the other are acts of extreme faith....

But a couple of things dropped into place yesterday ... let me just tell you about them.

We went out for 30 minutes of silence to ponder Psalm 131 and the picture of the satisfied child sitting on the mother's lap -- what does that speak to us, this picture of a child snuggled up with mom? What does it speak to you?

Anyway ... I began to think, as the others talked, about the power of perception. The word always takes me back to Bishop Berkeley's "to be is to be perceived ... and the Ultimate Perceiver is God."

The foundational issue is right perception -- perceiving as God perceives. How do we do this?

To be still ... to sit on God's maternal lap, satiated from the nutrition received and the thirst quenched; to be rocked on Papa's lap and listen to words of love and encouragement; to feel the firm but gentle pats that ensure all the bubbles escape; to gaze adoringly into Papa's eyes, drinking in the unconditional love ... and then, after sufficient rest, to hear Papa's voice tell us it's time to get down and get busy learning and playing -- with one more big hug and a kiss on the cheek, to slide off that warm lap and skamper off....

This is the beginning of right perception ... to experience the unconditional love of Papa. To be filled up to the top and empowered to get going with a hug and a kiss is to know who you are.

To be is to be perceived aright ... because it is God's perception that holds all things together, not ours.

* * * * * * *

And so we turned to the Rhythm of Life, which is what many call The Daily Office. While so many think this Rhythm is a repetitive "rule" to be "enforced" ... what if it is a "gift" to be "received" -- individually as well as collectively?

What if this Rhythm of Life is to Papa's spiritual children what mother's milk is to a child? (This insight is yet another of the benefits of nursing my children for 2-3 years!) When the children are small, they nurse frequently--their little tummies just can't hold that much--and sleep most of the time. As they grow, they can stretch out the time between feedings and begin to explore the world beyond "mommy and me". But they keep coming back every few hours ... to climb up on mommy's lap to be fed and held and loved and "perceived" aright.

It makes perfect sense to me that we would have a need for regular quiet time, to be refresh and perceived intimately by the one who loves us the most. To hear of that love ... and speak of our love, as well. To have our fears calmed and our path made straight for the next leg of the journey. And to be set down to go out and play.

Play.

Does Kingdom Life ever seem like play to you? Maybe you need to get a little more of God's sweet milk of love to go along with the meat, eh?

* * * * * * *

Today's thoughts will then close with the two words that are beginning to compete (for me) with availability and vulnerability: expectancy and responsiveness. Let me explain a bit....

Back in The Shack, Papa was explaining that we have taken the living joy of expectancy and, killing it, turned it into expectations ... life-sucking legalism ... robbing relationships of anticipation and replacing them with disappointment. We have also taken the power and privilege of responding to the wonders of expectancy -- when Papa breaks into our lives like sun through the clouds -- by turning it into the bone-crushing burden of responsibility. Sigh....

These two words -- expectancy and responsiveness -- pair up with two other words I've talked about before: kairos and chronos.

Kairos being the kind of time that is, well, timely. It is God's time because it is eternal time that is perceived. It is the place of expectancy -- looking for God to surprise us ... and still being surprised! It is God writing stuff in our calendars....

Chronos is the seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years in which we life out this mortal life. It is made up of all the responses we have made to God's appointments, as well as the responses we have made to all the other things that compete for our time. It is also full of reactions (as opposed to responses) we have made. :^(

* * * * * * *

All this rambling comes down to this: perhaps, just perhaps, The Daily Office is the gift of expectancy ... of crawling up on Papa's familiar lap to rest, be refreshed, have our perceptions refocused and our wounds bound up, and then sent back out to play with renewed strength to respond with love to those in our sandbox.

It isn't wildly fresh, spontaneous and new content (rather, it is ancient and cyclically repetitive) ... just the simple meeting of needs in the intimate embrace of the one who loves us the most. The shalom of sabbath rather than the pressure to perform.

Of course, there is more than this to the story ... but this is a start! And it is a very important part of the mystery that is the Purple Martyrdom ... best perceived through cHesed glasses, of course.

Here's to the next leg of the journey!

Countdown to the Big Day....

No, not the election! We don't begin that countdown for another couple of weeks, silly....

The Virtual Abbess is preparing for her first blogiversarous!

On Friday, October 19, 2007, this blog came into existence. Wow ... a lot of amazing things have happened in that time. Even though the 19th is not until Sunday, today, being Friday, is kind of like the first anniversary...so The Abbess will be having a weekend celebration at The Abbey!

I see that my profile has been viewed 920 times [only about 50 of which were me checking ;^) ] ... which means that there is a slim chance that I could hit 1000 by Sunday.... I have updated it a bit, so if you haven't checked it in the last couple of months, go ahead and give it a whirl. (Not that The Abbess is interested in statistics, don't you know!)

I'll talk more about what the past year has been about later in the weekend ... today I want to share something a friend of mine sent in an e-mail this morning. (Thanks, Peggy Jo!)

For those of you who have followed the development of The Purple Martyrdom, you will see why this story about being and mom is like building a cathedral ... and why pondering the founding of a missional order took me to Seabeck last year with 40some friends of Allelon.

While our flesh and blood runs on Chronos time, our spirit moves in and out of Kairos time ... and it is in those Kairos moments that the veil is lifted and we see what God is doing with what we think is invisible ... because God truly does see what is done in secret.

Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England

Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in.

I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe ..

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over.. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

Indeed....

"What is missional?" Synchroblog

[Oops! I put this into "draft" mode by mistake ... so here it is again ... sorry!]

Back on my 15th wedding anniversary, Rick Meigs posted this reflection and challenge on his blog:

I think it is time to make a bigger effort to reclaim the term [missional], a term which describe what happens when you and I replace the “come to us” invitations with a “go to them” life. A life where “the way of Jesus” informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower.

To help reclaim it, I propose a synchronized blog for Monday, June 23rd on the topic, “What is Missional?”

There are any number of ways one could blog on this topic. You could illustrate what the term means, describe what it is not and how it is wrongly used, define the term, explore its misuses, explore its theological foundations, or you name it.

I think I was first introduced to the word "missional" by Alan Hirsch, during Neil Cole's first Organic Church Planting Conference in January of 2007. I'm sure I actually heard it earlier, but that was when I started paying attention to it.

And boy have I been hearing a lot about it ever since!

The volume was turned up last October when I attended the Allelon Missional Order Gathering in Seabeck -- which resulted in my launching of this wee blog. I was very happy to be able to share my ride to Seabeck with my friend, Brad, and our new friend, Rick -- the same Rick who has orchestrated this amazing event.

According to my count, nine of the Seabeck MO Bloggers (as noted in my sidebar) are in this group of 50 who have taken the time to share their passion for reclaiming the word "missional" -- and I hope that you'll take the time to check back on Monday, June 23rd, to see what The Abbess has to say about what missional means to her -- and read the thoughts of the rest of the crew listed below:

Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner

See you Monday, if not before!

Abi

The Missional Order and The Abbess

Last October, as I drove up to Seabeck with Brad and Rick, I had no idea what to expect. Neither did they … and neither did anyone else, as we all soon discovered! This did not bother me at all, this ambiguous tension. I had been waiting almost two years for God to reveal the next steps in the plan for implementing the vision he placed in my heart. All I knew was that I was supposed to come.

I knew nothing of “orders” or “rules” – being a low-church minister – but the story I learned about the Northumbria community resonated strongly in my heart. I have been unable to find two better words for what I seek in a community than their words: availability and vulnerability.

And the “The Daily Office” was just as new … and I was pleasantly surprised by the way Northumbria presented their version of this discipline. One of these days I will get it in a book … because I just cannot have my computer available to me at all times and in all places. I’m wondering whether I can get a Kindle and download all my stuff. Hmmm….

In the wake of this gathering, my little coracle has been bouncing about on a journey that could only be guided by the currents of God – reading and pondering and writing … and blogging. One of the most unexpected results of the Seabeck gathering was the birth of my blog: The Virtual Abbess. In it and through it I have learned many things and have begun to share the vision for CovenantClusters – which I recognized immediately as a mix of a missional order and a discipleship training center. Interesting that God should show me a vision two years before explaining the ancient components.

* * * * * * * * * * *

…this is how I began to respond to Len’s post: The Birth of a Missional Order: From Seabeck Forward. But in the days since I began, my mind has been flooded with, well, stuff. Sigh … I can’t even elaborate on what the stuff is … yet … but we are just 9 days and counting until school is out for our three boys – when I’ll have NO free moments for thinking and blogging!

So let me just put up a small R2A2 notice for what follows:

Back in January of 2006, I believe the Lord gave me a vision for what he would like me to do to help in the Kingdom. As outrageous as it was, I have had that vision confirmed repeatedly. But I have also spent the majority of my time reading books and blogs that give me vocabulary to describe the various components of the vision. And I am looking to find some time to get away and let all the loose ends weave together. But more loose ends keep popping up, it seems, so that I feel a bit overwhelmed.

What I find remarkable, however, is that more than overwhelmed, what I’m feeling is that the Holy Spirit is at work moving across the Kingdom planting seeds in the hearts of those willing to get down and work in the dirt. And the seeds that are being planted are, well, different – depending on where “the dirt” is … if that makes any sense.

This means that the dirt where AbiSomeone is will receive a seed that needs this particular pH and organic composition and climate to grow like a native plant. It also means that I should not look for anyone else’s seed to be just like mine. I have to be willing for the Holy Spirit to make this seed grow in my heart and let it take root in my home so that it can spread to my neighborhood.

So, I cannot focus on all the books and blogs and terms and schemes floating out there. I can be (and am!) grateful for their action as “mulch” – knowing that their essential components will break down and serve as nutrients for the little seed growing here. (And what a great bibliography section I will now have!) But I no longer feel compelled to try to recreate anyone else’s story … because then it is no longer a story I can tell with any authenticity or authority.

This realization is a big deal … to me. And it has come to the surface as a result of the past few months of being involved with a missional learning community facilitated by fellow-Seabecker Rob Robinson. This group is a place where my husband and I have been able to “be” with others who are “adrift” in the ocean of the Body of Christ in our little coracles … but no longer shackled to the “mother ships” of the “institutional church” (IC). We come from many different backgrounds, but we have been a good example of what the Allelon folks refer to as “listening one another into free speech.”

And so I will begin to focus again on defining CovenantClusters and looking for how the Spirit will begin to make it grow and begin to take shape. And I will be aided by understanding things about “missional” and “orders” and “mDNA” and “APEST” and “rule of life” and “daily office” and look forward to how God will weave them all together – or should I rather say “graft” them in? – to what I know about cHesed and covenant and clusters of Christ-followers.

With a vision as grand as CovenantClusters, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the details. So I’m going to continue a step at a time, a day at a time. And today I’m going to remember to keep these things as the main focus for my journey:

• The New Covenant I have joined in Christ Jesus calls for me to recognize my responsibility to be faithful partners with those brothers and sisters around me – so that we will be a blessing to our neighborhood – in however many ways that manifests itself.
• cHesed is a term that describes faithful covenant keeping and it is most fully translated as a concept around this cluster of New Testament terms: love, grace, mercy, submit, serve, lead. Please take a look at my chart to get a grasp of the breadth and depth of this concept.
• Covenant and cHesed are deeply relational concepts – CovenantClusters will, therefore, be a deeply relational branch on the Vine. The sense of commitment (to God and each other) will be huge (I hesitate using words like “total” because of the “cult” fears that they engender). This will be where the monastic flavors will emerge (very small pun intended) and will manifest themselves in a “rule of life” as well as a “rhythm of life”.

I believe and trust that the Holy Spirit will be faithful to continue to guide my steps along this path. It is comforting to know that there are many on the path ahead of me, blazing trail. Certainly, I look forward to Allelon and CovenantClusters continuing to journey together.

Be blessed....

Missional Order as Church Planting Strategy

Just when I thought there was no more confirmation possible concerning the vision for CovenantClusters, my Missional Order partners over at Allelon post this video of David Fitch from last fall's Cultivate Gathering in Hamilton, Ontario!

Wow...these were the notes I jotted down:

• Missional order is basically how to plant churches in post-Christendom.
• Missional order is about 10 people embedded/incarnated in a community, surviving as a community supporting each other in an organic way.
  
• Missional order gathers for formation and sends people out into mission --it is a rhythm of life-- and its community must be ready to resist the surrounding culture's idea of "success."
• Missional order is not about getting, having or using power to lead. It is about constantly giving power away (empowering others) and being mutually submitted to each other.
• Missional order is about a way of life together as living presentation of the Gospel...it is not about programs and attraction.

Back in August of 2007, when I first heard about the Missional Order Gathering that Allelon was planning to host at Seabeck, something in my gut said that I must go. As I've said earlier, most of us knew that we were supposed to be there, but we weren't quite sure why. Even after we all got home, we weren't quite sure exactly what had happened or what was next....

But for me, this connection of Missional Order as post-Christendom church planting methodology was like a stroke of lightning--the last piece falling into place. And David Fitch and Allelon are the ones saying, "Yup, that's the idea."

Our gracious God has provided his humble little purple abbess with one more powerful piece of confirmation...and, as with every other piece of the story, you don't have to take my word for it!

YIPEE!

CovenantClusters: The Vision Unfolds!

I have said that 2008 would be the year to reveal the details that have been percolating for the past 24 months. I am inspired to start this today because of some things that MO Blogger Len has been pondering about organic and organizational stuff.

The first thing I did was label the CovenantClusters logo over in the sidebar and distill a kind of Rule of Life (that's missional order speak for a motto). Now, I must say that I have been struggling to find something that is any more succinct than Northumbria's Rule of Life: availability and vulnerability. These two words resonate strongly within me.

But as I was responding to Len's post today, these words just kind of appeared--and I'm going to take that as a bit of welcome inspiration:

Enough organization for relationships to thrive.
Enough chaos for creativity and communitas to emerge.
Every need met.

Do you see them in there, availability and vulnerability? Perhaps they are, for me, tacit parts of the foundation. You will definitely see them in the following posts!

Well, I figured the best way to do this would be to make an outline, the start of a vision statement. So I did. Here it is:

CovenantClusters is...

• A Covenant Community
• Organic
• Incarnational
• Missional
• Intergenerational
• Self-Replicating
• Neo-Monastic
• Following a Rule of Life (part of a Seabeck-birthed Missional Order?)
  
• Communal (locally, virtually and universally connected to the Body of Christ)
• Disciple-Making through the Mentor/Apprentice model
• Berean
• Simple-living

So, there you have it. That's what I'll be processing and unpacking over the next few weeks. I'll let you in on all the places I've gone and the people I've met and the books I've read and conferences I've attended and then you'll know the answer to The Abbess' most-asked question: What is a CovenantCluster?

Go with God.

Missional Order and Seabeck Updates....

Update: Alan has a new post up on his blog that includes a podcast of his talk during our final session on October 18th. I hope you'll take the opportunity to "eavesdrop" on these 37 minutes with us as he frames our experience as well as our action items.

It was great to see the new and improved Allelon website, but especially to see the video report about our time at Seabeck. Stop and take just under 12 minutes to view the excellent video. When you see my clip, you may wonder: can The Abbess talk without using her hands? The answer is YES...if she has to! YIKES! ;^) For those of you there during the filming, you will remember that all of our brains were struggling just to process what we were hearing and thinking...some of us struggled more than others! I can feel a New Year's Resolution coming....

Also on the site is another good article with a box containing links to reflections by some who attended...and you will find a link to the first post of The Virtual Abbess there, too! So, a hearty virtual Welcome, any new visitors from Allelon (and elsewhere!). Abi's Categories called Missional Order and Seabeck will take you to my various reflections!

Be blessed.

The Abbess is Blogging Through Advent!

I'll be joining a synchroblog for the Advent season this year, processing the new Daily Office for Advent book That You Might Believe by Brother Maynard. I have just purchased my copy at Lulu.com (follow the previous link for the scoop on the whole story), and am anxious to see our good Brother's very first book in print!

So here's your personal invitation to join me for the Daily Office during Advent...stay tuned for all the details!

Blessings.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times....

The best thing about blogs is that they connect people. The worst thing about blogs is that they disconnect people.

Huh?!?

Well, the great thing about blogs is that you have the wonderful opportunity to meet and converse with people whom you would never have the opportunity to hang with IRL (or, in real life, as I've recently learned). You come together because of any number of commonalities. I visit blogs of brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I am trying to share "the adventure that Aslan sends," as it were. Our main commonality is devotion to Christ as Lord and a desire to love God and love others--living the Jesus Creed, as Scot McKnight would say. (BTW, I get my connection to the wilder world through my amazing brother, Matt Stone...thanks, Matt!)

And this is a really, really great thing that blogs do. Really great!

The challenge, as always, is the loving of others who are, well, other. As in, not like me. In my case that would be the vast majority of people I meet IRL, much less on the Net....

So, the worst thing about blogs is how easy it is to disconnect when the "honeymoon" is over. When the struggle to stay connected begins to make your stomach churn as your "otherness" really starts showing. You face the moment of truth when you wonder whether your blog buddies will ditch you when they get to know the real you.

Sigh...and we thought this was over after getting through middle school...or high school...or after we got married...or after the kids are in school all day, or with your new small group or church or pastor. Whatever....you fill in the blank__________________.

Nope. None of the challenges of risky relational transparency are ever over...as long as there are still people around. Last time I checked, that still applied to me. And so I am left with the same old dilemma: what am I going to do about it?

This is my starting list of things to do:

• If I want to be heard, I'm going to have to really learn the lessons about listening.
  
• If I want to be understood, I'm going to have to do a better job of thinking about what I mean and saying it plainly and clearly--no jargon, no assumptions, no generalizations.
• If I want to be part of the solution, I'm going to have to choose not to be part of the problem.

So, what is the problem?

In my book it's a failure to speak truth in love. Speaking my best understanding of what the truth of any given topic or situation is in a way that is respectful of the view of the other. Speaking in a tone that will allow others to hear me long enough to choose to really listen. Inviting feedback so that I can ensure that what I mean is what is being understood. Asking clarifying questions that show I really want to understand. Restraining myself from engaging in any and all forms of reactionary assumption or judgment or sterotyping...as well as sarcasm that targets a precious Eikon/bearer of the very image of God.

More lessons of the Purple Martyrdom, I guess...and a reminder from MO Blogger Andrew about the reality of owning the name The Ugly Blogger. I told him in Seabeck that I was struck by his chapter (with that very name) in the Wikiklesia Project's Volume One. It was a private moment for confession to him that I make public here: I, too, have been The Ugly Blogger. And Andrew, I'm hoping you will forgive me for the tinge of it that showed on your blog yesterday. I will learn this lesson in restraint...I will! Thank you for being a person of shalom.

But I choose to step away from those images. (You really do need to get this book and read it--lots of great insights from a wide variety of authors. Click on the Wikiklesia link in the sidebar.) I want all that I am and have and say and do to bring glory, not shame, to my Lord.

Now that I have my own blog, I need to say the things that define who I am and what I am about here in my space and in my time and according to my outline...and quit blog-clogging elsewhere. (Except, of course, at Alan's TFW blog...I am free to be me here and there!)

...so if you're interested in what The Abbess thinks and does, know that you are welcome to journey here in safety--well, the kind of safety that comes from speaking the truth in love, that is. Safe to listen and be listened to...to be and to allow...to learn and to teach.

But beware of Aslan...while not always "safe," he is always good. And the "Lucy" in me always wants to answer his call to follow--even if no one else can see or hear him.

Be blessed.

Random Pictures from Seabeck 4

Here we have new MOB Richard with Bill...

new MOB Brad with John Gilmore...

and the "interview" with Bill, Pete, Andrew and Alan

(with the only picture of Jeanette I have...)

[All the MOB (Missional Order Bloggers) are listed in my sidebar.]

Then we have more food, fellowship and fun...

but my eyes are too tired to figure out those who have been identified

and those who haven't...

Feel free to ID folks in the comments ;^)

Random Pictures from Seabeck 3

More...



Front and center is TSK Andrew Jones...
help me with the name of the brother on the right!
The others have been identified in earlier pictures.



The Blind Beggar--Rich Meigs...



Here's Jim and Michael and Sara Jane and Imbi...



And Dan, Joanne, Rob, Troy and Len

Random Pictures from Seabeck 2

More pictures...Bill above...
three of our six sisters in these few shots...
I am present, but behind the camera...

Imbi and Sara Jane and Alan...

Pete and Brad and John G...

Len and Dan and Joanne...

Bob and Brad and Richard and--

forgive me, brother...I am so poor with names ;^(
...and John and Martin
(Someone help me with one more name!!!)

I'm fairly impressed I remember so many--
those who know me know the drill:
I remember my name and you remember you're name
and we don't do any guilt...
especially those who were less than faithful
with the wearing of the name badges!

Two more sets of pictures to come over the next few days.

Dwelling in the Word 1

Our instructions were to follow along until your imagination was captured and you were stopped. I was not used to this…and wondered whether it would happen to me. But, sure enough, it did.

By the time we left Seabeck, my copy of our Luke 10:1-12 passage was filled with notes….If I had known what was coming, I would have written in a different color each day…yet another missed opportunity. So it looks like Tuesdays may be my day for reporting on what I’ve been seeing during my time of dwelling.

I’ll start with some of my thoughts from last week…and we’ll go from there. You are welcome to journey with me…I’ve got seven different versions of the passage on the sidebar…and, as always, your comments are welcome.

1. First, I was struck that they were to greet no one on the road. Seemed a bit unfriendly, at first, for a passage about hospitality. But it occurred to me that it just might be about focus and avoiding distractions. No wonder I would stop there! I mentioned to one of my new friends that my memoirs, were I to write them, would be titled something like: An Interrupted Life: What I did on the way to where I was going. Hmmm….


2. Next, I stopped at “cure the sick who are there” and wondered to my partner, Bob, whether we have lost this nuance in our allegiance to modern medicine. He said that I would get along grand with his wife….and he wondered why we had sent his brother, Alan, off to the doctor for antibiotics without first gathering around him to pray. Many agreed…and we did just that later in the day when Alan returned to us. It’s not an either/or thing—prayer or medicine. It is an approach that includes the whole…and I’m not even going to touch the word “wholistic” or “holistic” today!


3. I also stopped on “eat what is set before you” and all sorts of thoughts of my days in Thailand rushed back—sights and smells intact! I also thought about the theories floating around that suggest that meal times need to be times of peace, lest your body associate emotional pain and anxiety with something that you’re eating—triggering a future “allergic” reaction. Hmmm, again….


4. Lastly, I was stopped at “Go on your way.” I had almost stopped here the first reading…with the focus on “go”—as in “get going” (which many others commented on), but this time I was stopped on “your”…as in my way may not be the same way as another. They were sent out two by two into every town and place…they didn’t go as a mob. Mob…interesting choice of words….

Today, however, I stopped on lambs being sent into the midst of wolves. It brings me back to the Purple Martyrdom I’ve been pondering. The going out in peace, knowing that you may be verbally chewed up…but not being allowed to carry a stick to beat off the attacking wolves. Many stopped at this phrase in Seabeck…and vulnerability was one of the things that we all realized was a part of this journey we were embarking upon. Jesus is our Shepherd...he will protect us and bind up our wounds along the way.

Interesting exercise, this dwelling on the Word.

Random Pictures from Seabeck

The bloggers gallery (L to R): Dan, Rick, Andrew, Brother
Maynard, Rob, Len, Bill and Mark

Alan, Tom, Bill and Rob

Rob, Brad and Tucker (?)

Photography is not my area of gifting...just get over it now...no need to bring it up ;^)

I figure I'll just put up a couple of pictures a day and you can have a look...

I really wish we had taken a group picture with everyone...

I thought it, but never said it...sigh...

(I'm dying for a list of all the attendees to be published....)

These folks have been ID'd

There's Martin and Bob here...
help me with our other brother's
name, someone, please!!!

Acting my way into a new way of Dwelling

The final morning at Seabeck we agreed upon an plan of action that each of us who committed to walk with Allelon toward a Missional Order would undertake.

This is my list of action items:

• I will continue with The Daily Office (see below)
  
• I will continue Dwelling in the Word at Luke 10:1-12
• I will engage in hospitality--looking to welcome the "other"--asking the Holy Spirit to reveal "How shall I speak "shalom" to them?"
• Journeying with the MO group...sharing our stories

I have linked to Pete Askew's community at Northumbria to continue The Daily Office he led us through each day we were together. This is a different kind of practice for me. I trust that the Lord will use it to bring me closer to him and my brothers and sisters in his Body.