Gathering in Community

Once a year members of the Lindisfarne Community gather together at a beautiful conference center in the Finger Lakes region of New York state.  As many as are able to make the trip come together to share our spiritual development over the past year, and to welcome new members to the community.

This year we welcomed five new novices, professed two members who had been novices for the past year, and ordained one new priest.  We also enjoyed the presence of some three visitors representing other religious communities as they supported friends in Lindisfarne, or reached out in fellowship to our group.

One highlight for me was the continued conversation regarding the development of our daughter houses.  This year we recognized a third priory, and a second hermitage. These various expressions of the dispersed nature of our life in community represent new and exciting Ways of Living the New Monastic vocation.  There is clearly some overlap between the two forms - one of the priories expressed a distinctly contemplative dimension to its nature, and the two hermitages, while home to contemplative members, are not so solitary as to exclude the possibility of welcoming others in the name of Christ.

What seemed most clear to me is that our sense of who we are and what we are called to, while clearly rooted in the Christian tradition, is not set in stone or limited to the forms of the past.  This is a community that is willing to embrace difference, encourage exploration, and evolve its identity over time.  Our Understandings explicitly declare us to be inclusive (9), ecumenical (11), incomplete (2), and above all rooted in Love (3).  Given the tragedy that was unfolding in Orlando as we celebrated our life in Christ, it is this commitment to being loving, open and inclusive that I hold most dear.