A Benedictine Mennonite [A Mennonite pastor describes the spiritual community and personal discipline he has found in the Benedictine order]

Prefer nothing whatever to Christ

As part of my spiritual discipline, I regularly study a spiritual classic that is heavily inspired by the Sermon on the Mount. It teaches about prayer, worship, nonresistance, community, not swearing oaths, loving enemies, mutual aid, Matthew 18's Rule of Christ, and the importance of faithful works.

This is no Anabaptist document (although I believe it inspired Anabaptists). The Rule of St. Benedict was written by an abbot in the sixth century as a guide to running monasteries. It became the prevailing guide for most monasteries in the West, second only to the Bible.

Many who are not monastics find that the theology and counsel of this spiritual treasure -- in between advice on diets, bedtimes, kitchen work -- has much to teach all Christians.

I have been going to an Anglican Benedictine monastery, St. Gregory's Abbey, since 1981. At times, especially on peaceful retreats, I fantasize about joining a monastery. But God calls me to be a Mennonite minister, husband, and father. When I remember that, my regular rhythm of retreats helps me to be more faithful in those commitments.

Longing to deepen that rhythm, I began several years ago to relate more intentionally with St. Gregory's. As a "confrater" (brother), I made a promise to live out Benedictine values, to love of God and neighbour, to prayer, humility, silence, creation, and life in Christ. Yet I wanted something more. I tested with the Abbot the possibility of being an oblate.

"Oblate" means "offering," and here implies offering one's life to God. Oblates live outside a monastery but are accountable to a monastery for how they live out their spiritual commitments.

Intriguingly, while monasteries have increasing difficulty attracting new monks, the number of oblates is growing. Kathleen Norris (a Presbyterian) did more than anyone to celebrate what it means to be an oblate with her book, The Cloister Walk.

The Abbot was clear that my oblation would mean strengthening my commitment to the church I serve and to my family. It would mean living by the Benedictine motto "ora et labora" (pray and work). This calls for a practical spirituality that balances work with prayer and worship (both corporate and individual).

Being Benedictine means:

- Being involved with the church and encouraging Christian community.

- Being committed to continual self-improvement and renewal (spiritually, intellectually, culturally, through prayer, retreats and study).

- Growing in ministry to others, especially by learning contentment, patience, generosity, and hospitality.

- Growing in virtues, with special attention to wisdom, prudence, justice, fortitude, and moderation.

- Being peacemakers. A Benedictine watchword is "pax" (peace). Benedict sees nonresistance as a primary step of growth in the Christian life. Joan Chittister, a nun, says that nonviolence is the centre of the monastic life.

- Practising accountability and seeking guidance in one's Christian life.

As part of my testing of whether I was called to be an oblate, I submitted my personal rule (or discipline) for spiritual life and reported regularly on how my commitment was going.

I discovered that promising before others to stay faithful encouraged me when I was tempted not to pray. And when I do pray, I know I am upheld by the prayers of brother monks (just as I pray for them). Never have I been offered such support by other Christians.

After a year and a half as an "aspirant," I became an Oblate Novice. This was a further time of discernment by both the monastery and me. I received a monastic name, "Brother Barnabas." After a year and a half, at a worship service in the monastery with my family present, I did my oblate profession. This is a life-long commitment.

Being an oblate deepened all the other important commitments I have made: baptism, marriage, family, ordination. For many years I explored different forms of intentional Christian community, but either I or the group did not endure. Now I am part of a community that is over 1,500 years old.

I am not alone. I am in contact with other Mennonites who are Benedictine oblates. Some people wonder whether being a Benedictine Mennonite is a contradiction. But Anabaptism has much in common with monasticism. Many Anabaptist leaders received spiritual formation as monks.

Spiritual cousins

Anabaptists and monastics are at least spiritual cousins. We see their reliance on similar scripture passages, especially the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 18, and Acts descriptions of common life. Monasticism, like Anabaptism, is rooted in protest against compromise in the culture and the church.

Anabaptists, like the original monastics, showed suspicion toward clergy. Monasticism was originally a movement of lay Christians and clergy were not encouraged to apply!

Schleitheim, the first Anabaptist confession, reiterates many themes of the Rule of Benedict. (Hardly surprising, as one of its primary authors, Michael Sattler, was formerly a Benedictine official.) Anabaptists were accused of being "new monks." They encouraged all believers to live up to the Sermon on the Mount's high "standards of perfection" which were previously considered the responsibility only of monastics.

As well as affirming my Anabaptism, through my oblation I made deeper connections with the wider church. Benedictinism is ecumenical. Benedictines are in a good position for fostering Christian unity because their foundation and inspiration go back beyond the schism between the eastern and western church, and the controversies which split western Christendom in the sixteenth century.

Benedict reminds us that God's "divine presence is everywhere." That is one reason for all his practical advice (which resonates well with both my Dutch heritage and my chosen Anabaptism). Norvene Vest, an oblate, notes that Benedict "truly believes that our sanctification is realized in our daily choices and habits." Benedict taught us, as did Anabaptists later, to translate God's "holy teachings" into action.

All of my Benedictine commitments are summarized in my desire to "seek God." The monastery helps me and is, in Benedict's words, a "school of the Lord's service," a place that teaches me, inspires me, and calls me to be a better Christian.

Ever since I was a child, I believed that if Christianity is true then it must be the most important aspect of one's life. Thus I continually remind myself, in Benedict's words, to "prefer nothing whatever to Christ." My oblation as a Benedictine Mennonite compels me to be more faithful to this challenge. "Ora et Labora." -- Arthur Paul Boers, ObISB