Dear colleagues,

If you think about the vows that monks make on their profession, the words poverty, chastity, and obedience might come to mind. But there’s another word too: stability. In the Benedictine tradition, monks make a vow of stability. What this means is that the monk makes a vow to a particular monastery and religious community. Barring exceptional circumstances, they don’t move. Over the course of their vocations and ministries, monks come to inhabit a particular place in a deep way, sometimes right down to praying in the small stall in chapel at every service.

The Anglican liturgical tradition is heavily influenced by the Benedictine. It’s why Anglicans have traditionally placed such an emphasis on place—the parish, the church, the chapel. I can see why. One of the things I miss most in this socially distant semester is not being able to pray in St. Luke’s Chapel. It is a holy place for me, one that orients me to God. The stability of that location helps open me to prayer.

But there’s another thread of the Christian tradition to remember as well, perhaps best represented by St. Francis of Assisi. We refer to him by the name of town in Italy from which he came, but he was often on the move in his ministry—to Rome to meet the pope, around the country, even to Palestine during the Crusades to meet Malek al-Kamil, sultan of Egypt. We might call this the spirituality of Francis one that depends less on place and more on movement. It challenges us to find God while on the move.

I have experienced the pandemic as a time of displacement—from college, from usual routines, from church and college. The wisdom of Benedict tells me to seek to re-place myself and I have been trying. But Franciscan spirituality tells me to seek patterns of life that orient me to God while on the move.

When the pandemic is over—and it will be over one day—we will be able to re-gather in our places again. But this pandemic can remind us of the need for balance—between place and movement, between Benedict and Francis—in our ministry, in our prayer, and in our relationship with God and the world around us.

Faithfully yours,
Jesse

This message was written by Principal Jesse Zink for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community.