Convergence ... A Deep Ecumenism
Predictions that spirituality and religion would be a spent force by the turn of the millenium have proved wrong. There is a greater interest in the things of the spirit than most remember. This is both good and bad. Negatively, it has produced fundamentalistic religions with simplistic certainties that can be quite dangerous. Positively, the new spiritual awareness has ushered in a convergence of spiritual and religious ideas: a deep ecumenism. In inter-religious dialgue it has produced a fruitful learning and borrowing from each other. In Christianity it has meant the breaking of old antagonisms and a coming together of sacramental, charismatic, contemplative and word-based traditions. In my personal journey I have learned valuable insights from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Daoist and secular traditions.
New Monasticism ... Secular Monasticism
One of the newer spiritual movements, mostly at a grass-roots level, has been the new monasticism (sometimes called neo- or secular-monasticism). It is a revisiting of monastic themes from its beginnings in the desert, its taking root and growing in Celtic Northern and Western Britain and Ireland, and its renewal under the likes of Francis and Dominic.
Secular monasticim seeks a fresh understanding of the principles that motivated the ancients. What would a new monasticism look like today?
Most in the new monasticism do not live in enclosed communities or commit themselves to a wandering life of preaching and poverty. The new monastics come from a variety of walks of life and most are not committed to celibacy. They seek to engage in the practices of prayer, meditation, study and service in the midst of busy family and work lives — the breaking down of sacred and secular.
The Lindisfarne Community
The Lindisfarne Community, of which I am abbot, is one expression of this new monasticiscm. You can read about it here:
The Lindisfarne Community
The Way of Living (The prayer book of the Lindisfarne Community)