Punk Monk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing

by Andy Freeman

Prayer is undoubtedly productive! Just as the intimacy of lovers may result in the conception, gestation and eventual birth of new life, so prayer begins in intimacy and often produces miraculous fruit. As 24-7 prayer rooms multiplied and thousands of people began praying like never before, we watched in wonder as prayer gave birth to mission and to wonderful justice initiatives, to vibrant creativity, to salvations, to writing and music, to the renewing of tired vision and, perhaps inevitably, to many new communities with a

I am fascinated by the way those Celtic apostles expressed the gospel. Where we prioritize Sunday meetings, they planted entirely alternative societies! While we tend to try to build communities around programs, the Celtic evangelists congregated around prayer. Having given most of my adult life to Christian leadership and particularly to church planting along fairly traditional lines, I began to wonder whether there might be keys for our contemporary, postmodern culture hidden away in the lives of these ancient,

Gandhi, the great Indian pacifist, told American missionary Charles F. Andrews, "The trouble with you Americans is that you start doing before being." It's a charge to which we must all plead

And having inhaled God's breath, we may breathe out His life in loving mission, acts of mercy, celebratory worship and generous hospitality.

Then and there, the divide was broken-God could "tabernacle" with His people, and the place He would dwell would be our hearts.

Holy places are not about buildings or structures-they are about relationship.

In my background as a youth worker, I had heard a lot about "incarnational ministry. The idea goes something like this: Jesus chose to come and be among His people to care for them and to save them, and He did so by becoming a man. It follows that ministry done in Jesus' name shouldn't be from a distance, but should be at the heart of culture, in communities where people live, in the places where they hang out. We should live life with people. The wonderful Eden Project in Manchester is a great example of the incarnational approach: Team members have moved into the toughest places in town, because how could they work with young people there without experiencing something of what their

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality" (Rom. 12:13). Here was our next connection point with Reading Abbey: Hospitality was a strong strand of Benedictine life. The Rule of Saint Benedict makes elaborate provision for hospitality, insisting that visiting strangers or pilgrims "who come to the monastery, be entertained like Christ Himself, because He will say, `I was a stranger and you took me in.""

prayer (and, according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, "a monastery is never without them"9), the monks are required to wash the visitor's feet, and then the abbot prays and reads the Bible with him or her.

While scholars look to debate and critique, monks rely on meditation on the Bible, the writings of the Desert Fathers and classic literature. Their aim, rather than building knowledge, is to seek God. Their aim is devotion.

This practice seemed obvious to us because of the creative nature of our prayer rooms in the past. Instinctively, people prayed through pictures or with poetry, music and dance. Our prayer rooms always seemed to be covered with graffiti and filled with sounds of song and drum. How can you limit prayer to mere words?

Accounts show that the abbey was a thriving arts center, particularly expressing their worship and devotion in song and poetry.

Since the beginning of Christian worship, artistic expression has been a part of how we glorify God. Whether in Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, a U2 show-where it sometimes seems that "God has entered the room"'Z-or the crayon drawing of a six-year-old, art shows that words alo...

From atmosphere lighting and drapes, to beautiful canvases, moving poetry and heartfelt prayers written on the walls, this Boiler Room shouted creativity and ref...

With such a cloud of witnesses cheering us on, we committed ourselves to pray, but also to reach out-to love, to touch, to engage, to get our hands dirty as we shared Jesus with others. We soon discovered that God was way ahead of us.

God isn't just an advocate of community-He is community. It's part of His nature. DANNY BRIERLEY'

They expressed a rhythm of life. "They devoted themselves to apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

They worshipped together and saw what God was doing. "Everyone was filled with awe." • The Holy Spirit was at work among them. "Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." • They were united. "All the believers were together and had everything in common." • They were generous and did not hold on to their own goods at the expense of others. "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." • They were committed to a rhythm of corporate meetingand worship. "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." • They impacted the city around them. "Enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

It could be argued that Jesus always had an agenda in the friendships He built. He was relational, yes, but His relationships were intentional. In our early days in Boiler Rooms, we found that in our desire to make things accessible, we made things optional: "You don't have to do things this way." Our heart was to include anyone

who wanted to be involved, but in doing so, we began to lose our intentionality, our reason for doing things. We began to lose what God had called us to. In trying to be "all things," we were in danger of becoming nothing.

If we are intentional, prayer and worship will ground the community. The spine of the Benedictine community is their rhythm of prayer, sometimes seven times daily. In the midst of their work, study and service, they regularly stop to pray, to center themselves on Christ, to acknowledge...

When we opened our first Boiler Room, people remarked about how they could sense the presence of God. This should not have surprised us. The Spirit of God is what marks out the monastery from a self-help center or a clinic. The presence of God is central to what goes on-the atmosphere, the approach to life. The practice of...

The third thing that we can learn by Jesus' promise is the simplest, yet perhaps the most profound. When we combine shared human relationships (the two or three) with the presence of Christ ("I am with them") we should expect the best of this combination of love.

• Christ-centered communities should welcome others. New people should be able to join. Different people should be welcomed, regardless of culture, origin or ethos. • Christ-centered communities should be places of belonging. If we define our gathering by Christ's presence, the unwelcome should feel welcomed and the unloved should feel loved.

Christian communities can reflect Christ, who has promised to be at the center of them. They can reflect His acceptance, which paid no attention to prejudice (see Gal. 3:28). They can reflect His selfless love, which took Him eventually to the cross (see Phil. 2:1-11). They can reflect the unity of the triune God and the unity Jesus prayed for His followers (see John 17). They can reflect His serving nature, which He demonstrated by washing the feet of His disciples:

In Life Together, Bonhoeffer concluded that "he who loves community destroys community." As we embark on a journey of discovering community, there are many pitfalls. If community itself becomes our aim, we become elitist, assuming that we are more learned or more authentic than others. If pursuing community itself becomes our aim, we lose the sense of welcome, because receiving the stranger might unsettle our balance. If pursuing community itself becomes our aim, we may seek to raise ourselves and "our project" up at the expense of others. None of this reflects Christ.

Take some time to visit a variety of expressions of community. Use the Internet to find out about communities near you and visit them. Maybe you could focus on a community based around prayer, one based around activity and maybe one based around a Rule or values. Journal your thoughts and consider how the three are different and how they are similar. All of 24-7's Boiler Rooms are open to visitors and you can find details at www.boiler-rooms.com.