“I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you.” (Ezek. 36:26)
In the last year, I’ve noticed in the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma an increase of interest in religious orders. Growing numbers of clergy and lay people have become oblates or associates of orders, with others exploring lifelong vows or the creation of new groups with a shared Rule of Life.
As a professed member of the Order of the Ascension, which is growing significantly, this trend gives me hope for our Episcopal Church. I see particular promise in dispersed orders and with oblates and associates, especially in connection with local congregations. Ezekiel’s heart metaphor of renewal provides three areas of encouraging possibility.
The Heart of Prayer
One of the concerns I sometimes hear when talking about religious orders is that we are holding up one group as superior Christians. I prefer St. Paul’s image of the one body in 1 Corinthians 12. There is one baptism, in one Spirit, but many parts of the body, interconnected and vital.
When I go on retreat to a monastery, I often experience the monks or nuns as being, in their cycle of daily prayer, a heartbeat not only for their religious community, but for the Church and the world. Like the heart in relation to the other parts of the body, they are not superior to the rest of the Church, but their steady beat of prayer circulates, draws in our world’s deepest concerns, then pulses outward, bringing the life of Christ with it.
Not everyone has regular access to the gracious hospitality of monastic retreat centers. The Rev. Mark Michael’s excellent chapter on monastic life in the book In Search of Growth reminds us that the revival of Anglican religious orders in the 1840s was largely connected to parishes, and he expresses hope that parish-based monastic communities might return, in old or new forms. I couldn’t agree more.
This makes we wonder: could groups of clergy and lay people ordered under a common Rule help revitalize our congregations, by keeping the daily rhythm of prayer, and, like a monastery, living out a charism of Christlike hospitality and spiritual direction?
The Heart of Repentance
Ezekiel speaks of God replacing our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. Imagine these ordered communities attached to congregations, with members trained as spiritual directors, serving as a team of confessors for the members and the wider community.
My experience, confirmed by other clergy I know, suggests that most of our congregations are making relatively little use of the Reconciliation of a Penitent rite in our prayer book.
What if we had enough confessors trained to hear confessions (with absolution reserved to priests) that there could be ample spiritual companionship and guidance for all those seeking a deeper relationship with God?
The Heart of Friendship
One of the most profound needs in our lonely and divided world is friendship. It is also one of the greatest gifts of religious orders: deep friendship based not solely on mutual interest or compatible personalities, but in a shared commitment to grow in Christian maturity. I find in the Order of the Ascension Christian friendship that is encouraging, and that holds me accountable to our common Rule and our common bond as the baptized.
I imagine ordered communities, attached to congregations, in which members could find friendship in life’s struggles through schools of love that meet at the Cross (St. Maximilian Kolbe). These groups of friends, under a shared Rule, could strengthen the congregation’s culture of pastoral care and discipleship.
To anticipate two questions: these groups of ordered religious attached to congregations would need to have a strong relationship with an established order, with the congregation’s leadership, and with the diocese, avoiding chaotic, free-range groups with no oversight or accountability to elders or tradition.
And second, this renewal would not represent a lack of interest in ministry with the vulnerable and marginalized. Far from it. Like the Anglican orders attached to parishes in the 19th century, prayer and reflection would continually flow into Christlike service in the world.
In the Diocese of Oklahoma, in a few months I’m leading an Eastertide retreat for those associated with religious orders and those who are curious about them. I’ll be intrigued to see where the Spirit leads, here and elsewhere.
The Rt. Rev. Poulson C. Reed, O.A., is the sixth Bishop of Oklahoma.
