We will pray daily
This is the opening statement of the Missional Wisdom Foundation's Rule of Life. Since I bumped into the MWF in 2012 (when my husband Luke Lingle began Launch & Lead), I have wondered about that line.
Foundations Workshop
by Stephanie McKellar
November 2 - 4, 2017, the newly re-formatted Launch & Lead cohort met in Winchester, Virginia for our first gathering together, the Foundations Workshop.
We begin with spiritual direction, in the safe space of the Rotunda; we are hosted in our weekend by Shenandoah University. Matt Johnson welcomes us to the space with an abundance of spiritual tools to facilitate our spiritual practice.
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Launch & Lead Student, Diane Rheos
Diane shares here the ways in which she is using the skills she is learning to launch and lead new communities.
A Community in Partnership with a Great Lead Team
The WaySide is an intentional Christian community connected to Fremont United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.
We are getting to know how we can be supported by our lead team, which we call The WaySide Outside. Together we hosted an all church event on Sunday July 23rd . In Portland each summer there are Sunday Parkway events. The city closes a loop of streets and hundreds of people get on their bikes and make the circuit. The WaySide house-mates suggested the idea of an event to host a BBQ and then participate in the ride. The WaySide Outside Team were enthusiastic supporters. Together we provided a BBQ lunch for everyone in attendance that Sunday morning, and then a group of people decorated their bikes, and rode on the Sunday Parkways cycling route.
The WaySide Community
by Diane Rheos, current Launch & Lead student
The WaySide Community came about when pastor Linda Quanstrom had two unconnected conversations with church members. Diane Rheos is a Launch and Lead participant and had been sharing with her about Missional Wisdom and her search for intentional community. Soon after, Nathan and Laurel Howard mentioned to her that they had been researching intentional community. "Miraculously" at the same time, the lease on the Fremont United Methodist Church parsonage came up.
A new community carried by the flow of generosity.
It's amazing how fast our first four months have gone by! We began The WaySide, our intentional community, last November. Our house is located in the parsonage of Fremont United Methodist Church, in Portland, Oregon.
Friendship House
by Matthew Floding, Director of Ministerial Formation, Duke Divinity School
Friendship House is a residential ministerial formation opportunity at Duke Divinity School, Vanderbilt Divinity School and Western Theological Seminary (MI). In each of these, divinity or seminary students live in intentional community with persons with an intellectual or developmental disability. Our life is ordered around the community building blocks Jean Vanier articulated (founder of L'Arche communities), Eat Together, Pray Together, Celebrate Together!
Why Do I Witness?
by Ryan Klinck
The Witness section of the Missional Wisdom Rule of Life calls for us to practice racial and gender reconciliation, to resist evil and injustice, and to pursue peace with justice. This story describes the efforts of one of our employees to live into that commitment…
Saturday, January 28th, a couple thousand strangers spontaneously gathered together at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to protest the detainment of nine human beings as a result of President Trump's executive order. While eating dinner that night, some friends and I received an invitation. We knew we had to go, what choice did we have?
Retrospective
The Rule of Life, Week 16
By Andrea Lingle
I commit to this rule of life and to the well-being of this community, out of gratitude to God who forgives, heals, and makes all things new. May my life be a blessing within and beyond God’s church, for the transformation of the world.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
So, we did it. We talked about a Rule of Life for sixteen consecutive weeks.
And I think it has changed my life.
The Importance of Witness
The Rule of Life, Week 15
by Adam White
We will share the redeeming, healing, creative love of God in word, deed and presence as an invitation to others to experience the transforming love of God
-From the MWF Rule of Life
You are a witness.
Really, you are! For instance, you are currently giving witness by way of reading a weekly devotional, for which we are very appreciative.
Pursuing Justice
The Rule of Life, Week 14
By Adam White
We will pursue peace with justice
-From the MWF Rule of Life
If you could live at anytime in history, when and where would it be? Who would you want to see? What would you do? Why?
As a once-student-of-history, these are the questions I still find time to dream about. Me? What period of time and location in history would I want to visit? Be careful asking that--this newsletter is supposed to be short!
Reflecting the Light Inside
The Rule of Life, Week 13
By Adam White
We will practice racial, gender, and other forms of reconciliation wherever we find sinful and destructive walls of division between people
-From the MWF Rule of Life
The first toy I ever remember playing with as a child was a glass triangular prism. I used to lie on the ground by the window on sunny days and play with the prism, refracting the light that was coming through the sun onto different surfaces. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I would shine the light into the eyes of my older siblings and parents. What captivated me most about this tiny, seemingly insignificant glass object was how the light could be refracted and present an array of colors that could change shape.
Enough
The Rule of Life, Week 12
by Andrea Lingle
We will practice regular Sabbath as a means of renewal so that we can lovingly serve God and neighbor
-From the MWF Rule of Life
Sabbath is a word that, for me, used to sound a lot like restriction. It might be a strange pronunciation, but it was not until I found myself practicing Sabbath in the context of community that Sabbath manifested itself into the practices of rest and freedom that truly reflect this ancient directive.
Ring-aRound-the-Rosies
The Rule of Life, Week 11
by Andrea Lingle
We will practice mutual accountability with a covenant group within the community, for how we serve God and neighbor
-From the MWF Rule of Life
Ring around the rosies,
I resemble my parents and my children resemble me. The writers of the creation accounts included in the Torah made it clear that human-kind resembles its Creator.
Blessed
The Rule of Life, Week 10
by Andrea Lingle
We will serve God and neighbor out of gratitude for the love of God
-From the MWF Rule of Life
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
My family lost a baby three years ago. We have not yet healed from this grief. Sometimes I still find myself staring into the middle distance lost in a moment so large and disorienting that I have to, mentally, follow the bubbles to the surface. In the weeks following her death, I was screened for depression. “Yes, I cry every day. Yes, I feel detached. Yes, I have lost interest in my normal activities.” We decided to watch and wait. Situational depression due to grief should only last three to six months.
Gifts for the Common Good of the Spirit
The Rule of Life, Week 9
by Adam White
We will use our spiritual gifts, talents and abilities to serve God within and beyond this community
-From the MWF Rule of Life
There are natural gifts and then there are learned gifts. If you ever wanted to find a way to understand what your natural gifts are and what gifts you can develop, then intentional monastic community is the place for you!
Caring Together for God's Gift of Creation
The Rule of Life, Week 8
by Adam White
We will honor and care for the gift of the earth and its resources, practicing ecologically responsible living, striving for simplicity rather than excessive consumption.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
“Debt” is a word that often makes me cringe. I think it is because throughout my life, and probably yours, there have been numerous warnings to stay away from debt. For instance, to have financial debt is to be in a lower position, having to owe money to someone or something.
Family Dinnner
The Rule of Life, Week 7
by Andrea Lingle
We will be hospitable to our faith community through participation in our worship, fellowship and mission.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
In my past I have thought of the word hospitable as something that you did that was larger than life. Hospitality was having a perfectly decorated Christmas tree. Hospitality was a clean house and a perfect meal. Hospitality emanated from the same ethos as glossy magazines and could be offered as soon as the pillows on your couch were in order.
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Not Alone
The Rule of Life, Week 6
by Andrea Lingle
We will be hospitable to our neighbors in our families, neighborhoods and workplaces.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
Being hospitable is something that is absurdly simple and yet overwhelmingly hard. Where is the line between hospitality and recklessness?
The Contemplative Stance
The Rule of Life, Week 5
by Andrea Lingle
We will practice a contemplative stance in order to be present to the world and ourselves.
-From the MWF Rule of Life
How are you here? How are you absent? Do you believe that contemplation is a good use of time?
When a pilot is learning to fly in low visibility conditions, he or she is instructed to disregard the sensation of being upright and rely on the gyroscope. Without visual reference, a person cannot tell which way is up. That is why divers tell you to follow your bubbles.
The Struggle and Grace of Mutual Accountability
The Rule of Life, Week 4
by Adam White
We live in a world that struggles with accountability. The kind of accountability being addressed here can be defined as the sacred thread of mutual support that pierces through our individual self, others, and God. Our struggle with accountability though, really shouldn’t come as a surprise or shock us.
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Praying in a Variety of Forms
The Rule of Life, Week 3
by Adam White
We will use a variety of forms of prayer
- From the MWF Rule of Life
The wonderful thing about prayer is that every person will bring to it her or his own unique emphasis, style, and rhythm. Bringing these individual practices into a house or group of persons who come together in prayer offers an intriguing and, at the same time, challenging space to embrace. Questions begin to arise like, “How do I personally and passionately connect to God while sharing with others?”