The Communities of New Skete

Scripture Reading: Hosea 11: 1-11, Col 2:16-3:4, Lk 15:11-32

Reflections from a Nun

How profligate the love of the father was for his sons who seemed so imperfect as in the gospel this morning. Perhaps the father saw in his sons a goodness that is not apparent to us. Or perhaps, as in our first reading from Hosea indicates, the love of the father was more like God‘s unfailing love for Israel no matter how much they turned away from God.

We talk about and like to believe in God’s unconditional love but it is so hard to believe that we don’t have to do something to deserve this love. Is the “doing something” our believing in Christ and Christ’s message that makes us lovable? Rather God wants us to know there is no debt to pay back, no grudges to nurse, no wrongs to right nor future resentments.

The middle reading, the epistle, speaks of Paul’s wish that the Colossian community would grow in faith in Christ and learn that Christ had taught how they should live and grow spiritually. St. Paul seemed very opposed to those who thought or taught that all these special ascetical feats of fasting and observances of the levitical laws were going to make them more spiritual. Their exalted self-regard and contempt of others because they did these things were the exact opposite of genuine spiritual growth.

Last week we heard about the Publican and the Pharisee. I have seen myself as the Pharisee feeling I have done what I should be doing or am being as I should be. Many more times it was seeing myself as the Publican asking for God to be gracious to me as I had flubbed up again.

It is interesting that today’s reading follows on the heels of last week’s Publican and Pharisee because in a way, it finishes the story. It shows us what God’s response is to one who humbly asks for mercy, realizing that terrible choices have been made not just a little flubbing up.

The older son, like the Pharisee, has followed all the rules. He’s been “good”. Surely, he can expect to be rewarded with the father’s love and even given a fatted calf or two in the bargain? The younger son, like the Publican, has acted on his own behalf, turning his back on those closest to him and even indicated he wished his father had died so he could inherit part of his father ‘s wealth.. But, like the Publican, he recognizes this and comes to the father with true repentance. The response is immediate and overwhelming. The father rushes to meet him, arms outstretched, with complete and unquestioning forgiveness. It is a graphic picture of what we were told last week would await the humble Publican.

The father’s arms, like God’s arms figuratively speaking, are always stretched out to receive us. God has never pulled back, never stopped considering us the Beloved ones. Neither could the father compel the son to stay home - any more than all the laws God doled out in the Old Testament can keep us “home” with him spiritually. The father could not force his love on his beloved. He had to let him go in freedom, even if he knew it would cause pain to all. It was love itself that allowed him to let his son find his own life, even with the risk of losing it. And that is the story of humankind’s relationship to God - time and time again, turning away, and time and time again being brought back, as in today’s Old Testament reading, because that is the nature of God’s loving mercy: God IS “home” to us.

In today’s words from St. Paul, though, we have a glimpse of something new. It is an end, perhaps - or at least the hope of an end - to the repetitive cycle of turning away. Christ’s death and resurrection mean that we may finally stop placing all our hopes on our adherence to a list of rules and regulations about what we should and shouldn’t do, and turn rather toward “the things that are above”. What could be more indicative of the things that are above than those outstretched arms of the father? We know now that God’s love and forgiveness will always be there - if, like the Publican and the son, we can approach with true humility. So let’s keep these things in mind as we enter into the Lenten journey this year. Let us make that journey be a journey home, knowing that at the end of it we will find the open arms of the father, welcoming us.

Glory be to Jesus Christ

What a wonderful opportunity to spend the Martin Luther King Day weekend with the New Skete Communities! Several women graduate students from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, as well as a few alumni and friends traveled to Cambridge, NY for an enriching, intense, and yet, stilling weekend encounter with God, nature, the Communities, and ourselves. Many of us had never been to New Skete before, but the warm hospitality of the Communities immediately allowed us to feel right at home.

Most of us arrived on Friday night in time to have dinner with the nuns, followed by an informal discussion of their life and ministry. They gave us a brief overview of the history of the nuns’ community. They talked about how they initially came to upstate New York and affiliated with the monks and about their life and ministry in those early years and now. They also told us about how they were eventually received into the Orthodox Church. Questions, answers, and more questions ensued. It was a thought provoking discussion and allowed us to see a living example of an expression of American monasticism for our time.

The next morning we joined the Communities for Matins (i.e. the daily morning service) in the main chapel. It was there that we were able to get a taste of the liturgical life of the Communities that we would experience more fully throughout the weekend. After breakfast we had some community building fellowship within our group. Then we gathered for an iconography presentation given by Sr. Rebecca. Through demonstration and contemplation, she showed us how icons (as one manifestation of our liturgical expression) allow us to encounter the Divine in our midst. They teach us through narrative and symbol and, ultimately, allow us to experience the event or presence of the person depicted in the icon. The beauty of the timeless proportions in many icons, much of which can now be expressed mathematically or understood through modern advances in physics, allows us to experience their transcendent power. For many of us, icons are a familiar part of our worship experience. However, we were now able to appreciate them in a new light.

Our lunch was held in silence. For many of us, this was a new experience. It allowed us to taste the flavors of the food more fully, to contemplate the origin of the ingredients, and to reflect on all those who may have contributed to its eventual arrival on our plates. After the meal, we had a brief reflection session led by Br. David, during which we talked about the experience of a different kind of table fellowship.

During the early afternoon we had some free time. Some of us went for a stroll on the beautiful grounds of the Companions meditation gardens. Some spent the time journaling or playing with the dogs. Others decamped for some much needed rest.

By mid-afternoon, we gathered again for an experience of lectio divina with Br. Christopher and Sr. Katrina. This is a practice of reading Scripture (or anything, often in different translations) slowly, meditating on the words, sharing words or phrases that are of particular interest, allowing them to penetrate one’s being, and ultimately, coming to a deeper understanding of the passage or story. We focused on the story of Mary and Martha and their encounter with Jesus. This is a story with which many women have a certain degree of empathy. As one who most identifies with Martha, I grew to appreciate why the response of Mary was so important. It was she who really encountered Jesus with her response. It gave me pause and is something upon which I have continued to reflect.

In preparation for the Vespers/Vigil Service (i.e. the evening service) for that evening and Liturgy (i.e. the celebration of the Eucharist) for the next day, Br. Stavros gave us an introduction to the liturgical life at New Skete. He explained some of the work that the Communities have done in reclaiming the liturgical expression of the early Church, especially the ancient Cathedral rite. Many of us have taken liturgics classes at the seminary and understand how our liturgical expression has evolved over time, as well as the influence of monastic practice on the earlier Cathedral Office. It was powerful to experience a service that was modeled more intentionally on this earlier rite. For many of us, the meaning of the action of the service was clearer and by hearing all the prayers throughout the service and responding appropriately, our encounter with them was more profound.

After Vespers and dinner with all the Communities of the Monastery, we gathered for the last presentation of the day focusing on spiritual growth and direction. Br. Christopher, Sr. Rebecca, and Br. David each spoke briefly on their own understanding and experience of spiritual direction and the influence it has had in their own lives. This provoked much discussion about the nature of spiritual direction, how one finds a spiritual director who is right for them, signs of a healthy and perhaps, not so healthy relationship and how one might discern the difference, as well as the relationship of spiritual direction to sacramental confession. It gave many of us food for thought and continued conversation.

Before retiring for the evening, our group visited with the Companions. Their hospitality was elegant and we enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them more personally. It was a welcome respite after such an intense day.

On Sunday morning, we joined the Communities for worship at both the Matins service and the Divine Liturgy. The Communities presented each of us with a book of Psalms as well as a New Skete Liturgy book, not only to be able to participate in the morning’s service more fully, but as a gift in honor of our pilgrimage. For many of us, beginning the Liturgy as a modified stational service, hearing an entrance prayer that calls on God to “accept the Church [people of God] as She approaches….” and actually entering the worship space during this time, hearing an Old Testament reading, as well as the usual readings from the New Testament and all the prayers of the service aloud, and then receiving communion, allowed us to experience worship on a deeper, more transformative level. Our liturgical experience was more closely connected with all the life-giving theology that we learn at seminary.

After liturgy, we joined that Chapel community for the coffee hour and met many of the folks that have made New Skete their spiritual home. Although some live locally, I was amazed that many travel a great distance every Sunday in order to worship with the Communities. It was certainly a telling realization.

That afternoon we joined the nuns for “Sunday dinner.” We had a chance to engage them more personally and chat about our lives and experiences in the Church and their lives and ministry in the Church. After dinner, we were also given a tour of the many of the nuns’ ministry areas—the iconography and vestment making workshops, and of course, the cheese cake bakery. [For those who may not be aware, selling cheesecakes is how the nuns support themselves.]

Before heading back to our respective homes, we gathered once more to process and reflect on our experiences of the weekend. One participant shared, “I found the monks, nuns and companions very welcoming and always ready for a conversation. Both my husband and I are excited by what we learned in iconography, liturgics, and stillness. We hope to visit again for a planned retreat or just a weekend getaway.” Another participant shared, “I felt blessed to participate in each individual workshop during our retreat weekend at New Skete, but what I enjoyed the most was the experience as a whole. It was refreshing and exciting to be introduced to a monastic way of life much different from what is common elsewhere in this country. Meeting the monastics, participating in the services, enjoying fellowship during meals: these were the most enriching moments of the weekend.”

Many lingered until late in the afternoon before departing for their respective homes. It seemed as though no one wanted to leave! After a walk around the grounds and some personal reflective time, I was finally on my way as well. Although I was physically exhausted from the intensity of weekend, I left feeling spiritually nurtured and revitalized.

–A participant.

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:35-43

Reflections from a Nun

Luke does not name the man in today’s gospel reading, but for simplicity’s sake, I am going to call him by the name Mark gives him in his version of the same healing story: Bartimaeus. Like so many people Jesus touches throughout the gospels, Bartimaeus was marginalized. He was marginalized by his blindness, relegated to the sidelines of life, sitting by the side of the road, figuratively “watching” as life literally passed him by. Relegated to living a marginal existence, living at a subsistence level, on what he could bring in by begging.

Some of us recently watched an old movie on TV - Places in The Heart. This is about a woman living in the South during the depression, who finds herself marginalized overnight by the unexpected death of her husband. Suddenly needing to provide for herself and her two children, she takes in two other marginalized people: a black man (marginalized by his race), whom she allows to earn room and board by helping with her cotton farm; and a paying boarder, a blind man - marginalized by the same affliction as Bartimaeus. None of them really wants to be in this association; they are forced into the relationship, but in the course of the story a bond builds that enables them to make a successful go of it, together. They are successful, that is, until the local townspeople, unable to accept their success, show up in white sheets one night, and beat the black man mercilessly, driving him away.

I read somewhere that the actor who plays the blind man in this film prepared for the role not by practicing walking around with a blindfold on, but rather by examining himself to understand his personal “blind spots”. I found that very interesting. Clearly, our personal, figurative blind spots don’t cause us to stumble physically, but often they do cause us to stumble in life, and even marginalize us, by separating us from each other.

Speaking from my own personal experience, I can tell you that I have “stumbled” countless times from my inability to easily recognize faces. I only recently learned that there is a name for this condition: prosopagnosia, from the Greek for “face” and “ignorance”. Also called “face blindness”. People who have this condition - I have a very mild form of it - have great difficulty recognizing and identifying others by their faces. I find myself memorizing little things about a person I meet: their hair color and style, the type of glasses they wear, and so on, until I get to know them well enough that I can recognize them instinctively. I heard about one man whose problem was so severe that he once passed his own mother on the street and failed to recognize her. Now nothing like that has ever happened to me, but I certainly have had people come up to me, look me right in the face and say “didn’t you recognize me?” and I have no idea who they are. If I have ever seemingly snubbed anyone here, please forgive me - now perhaps you understand what was going on. Now, my mild form of this has not really marginalized me from society, but it certainly has made for some awkward moments, and hindered my participation in various ways. Cocktail parties are dreadful for me. Fortunately, we don’t have many of them here. In my former church, the fellowship committee wanted me to sign up as a “greeter” to seek out newcomers at coffee hour. I refused. I knew if I agreed to do it, the first thing that would happen is I would go up and “welcome” someone who had been a member for thirty years.

We all also have more subtle personal blind spots, though. Any of the sisters could tell you about lots more of mine. If we examine them, and their effects on us and our relationships, I am sure they all, similarly, erode our ability to relate effectively with others. They separate us from each other. Someone who has great strength in a particular area may fail to recognize the needs of another who lacks such strength; that’s a blindness. Someone who has great needs or personal hurt may not be able to see past their own pain to perceive the needs of another. While perfectly understandable, that, too, is a blindness. When people like that come in contact, the lack of recognition can hinder their ability to connect with one another.

But there is a flip side to our blindesses, as well. Those who are blind in one area may have keenly developed senses in other areas. When the Klansmen arrive in the movie I just described, the blind man is able to identify them as easily as if they had no sheets – he sees right through their sheets – and they stop short of killing the black man. Bartimaeus is the first person, in Luke’s Gospel, to identify Jesus as the Son of David - and hence, to see him for who he truly is, the Messiah. Just as we need to learn to identify our blind spots, we also need to learn to make full use of our heightened senses, the ones that can get us back on track. The ones that can help us recognize Jesus when he approaches, and give us the courage to call out to him.

It’s interesting that Jesus, too, seems to have a blind spot in this story. When Bartimaeus approaches him, Jesus says “what do you want me to do for you”? Hello? Can’t you see that I am blind? What do you think I want? I want to see again! But what Jesus sees is the man’s faith. If we truly want to follow Jesus, let us also learn to see through the blindnesses of others, and perceive instead their strengths.

The New Skete Communities will be on retreat from February 4th through February 23rd. During that period the Monks’ Gift Shop will be open from 12 to 4 PM Tuesday to Friday, however, all phone calls will go directly into voice mail. The Nuns’ Gift Shop hours remain unchanged (open from 12:30 PM until 4 PM Tuesday through Saturday and cheesecakes are available at the front door from 8 AM until 8 PM all week). Their phones will be answered during usual shop hours. The only public services will be Sunday morning Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM as usual.