INTRODUCTION: This week at the start of Advent 2014 marks the beginning of our second year of spiritual practice in Beloved Life. For the first few months of this new year we’ll be working with ideas from Ian’s book Cave Refectory Road: monastic rhythms for contemporary living…
What does it take
to mark the canvas
to write the line
to play the chord
to plough the field
to cross the river
to change the world?
Perhaps
the courage
to let become
what is waiting to become
– Ian Adams ‘What does is take?’
REFLECTION: ‘Modern life is rubbish’ was the succinct conclusion of the band Blur in 1993 and anecdotal evidence is that, for many, things have not got much better in the years since. In the face of so much that seems to suggest that (post)modern life is rubbish, Cave Refectory Road imagines how the traditional monastic life may help to bring about something truly hopeful for the world – a new flowering of personal and community life in the twenty-first century…’
PRACTICE: ‘We’ll ask if it might be possible to take monastic practice, wisdom and spirituality into everyday life, and we’ll try to imagine what that might that look like in both personal and community settings. We’ll wonder how a renewed exploration of the monastic way in the context of daily life might contribute to a reshaping of the wider world for the good of all, replacing our widespread sense of disillusionment with hope…’
©Ian Adams ‘Cave Refectory Road: monastic rhythms for contemporary living’ (Canterbury Press and Liturgical Press USA)
Look out for short daily posts around the week’s theme on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll be doing the practices wherever we are, and we’ll look forward to hearing how you get on – do let us know!
Ian’s new collection of poems Unfurling is out now in paperback and e-format on Canterbury Press, also via your local bookshop, and all usual online sources including Book Depository with free delivery world-wide.