Abbey Way

Spiritually speaking, the last eight years of my life have been lived in the wilderness. Attending Bible college was like living in a garden. I grew fat on the abundance of theology. Even as I was partaking in this richness, however, I was beginning to see that the spiritual substance that had sustained my early life would not continue to do so after I left MBI.

There are several reasons for this. For one, living in Chicago and earlier in D.C. had opened my eyes to issues of social justice. For another, I had become increasingly critical of aspects of American/evangelical culture, such as an extreme emphasis on individualism, which has somehow come to take the place of the "personal". Finally, I was tired of practicing spirituality out of duty or guilt rather than a true desire.

At the same time, I have come to crave a deeper, more sustaining spirituality grounded in spiritual disciplines practiced within a dedicated community. Last year, I began to practice yoga. This practice began to affirm my desire to pursue discipline, but the practice lacked a deeper connection, both spiritual and communal.

I believe that deeper connection is finally entering our experience. Last week, Ginny, the kids, and I visited a community called the Abbey Way. The Abbey Way is a community of believers that is modeled around the Benedictine tradition of spiritual meditation. It is a church in that it represents a gathering of believers, but in the serious pursuit of intentional community, the programmatic distractions of contemporary evangelicalism have been dispensed with.

Collectively, community members commit to daily prayer and periodic spiritual retreats. Weekly community gatherings are centered around the communion table. They begin with a feast, culminate in the partaking and receiving of the Lord's Supper, and end with dessert. In addition to communion, the logos of the community follows the rhythms of the lectionary and the church calendar. Most profoundly, children are treated with respect and are integrated into community life as full and equal participants. Through this participation, I sense that our children will not just come to believe something, they will learn to walk along a spiritual journey.

For the first time in years, I am excited about worship. Through the Abbey Way, my family is being called to a deeper commitment. We are being challenged to become participants in our spiritual journeys rather than consumers of a spiritual commodity. Although we have not made a final commitment to the community, I think we will have a difficult time resisting this calling.

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