Benedictine Rules: Finding Communion through Community

January 17, 2011 by Daniel Harrell

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Benedict knew this too. So in addition to the familiar commandments, Benedict stressed others likewise rooted in scripture such as: Respect all people. Do not do to another what you would not have done to yourself. Visit the sick. Comfort the sad. Reject worldliness. Do not become angry. Do not keep deceit in your heart. Do not make a false peace. Do not murmur. Do not love sleep. Attribute to God the good you see in yourself. But attribute only to yourself the evil. Fear Judgment Day. See death before yourself daily. Desire eternal life with all your spirit. Monitor your actions ceaselessly. Know that God sees everything everywhere. Despise your own will. Do not desire to be called holy before the fact, but be holy first, then called so with truth. Hate no one. Do not be jealous or envious. Honor the elderly. Love the young. Make peace with an adversary before sundown. Never despair of God's mercy.

Obedience, tested and found true in the context of stable community, fed the cardinal virtue of humility. As Jesus said, "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted and honored by God."

Exaltation by God, union with Him eternally, this is our ultimate hope. Humility leads to exaltation. Obedience leads to humility. Community leads to obedience; it's not an end in itself. Given our penchant for relationships, wired in us by God Himself, humans naturally long for community. We yearn to belong in ways that matter. However, the enduring counsel of St. Benedict is not to settle for community but to see it as a means toward that ultimate end. Granted, we Protestants have long since given up on monastic versions of community. Shutting ourselves off from the world and its wiles seems a bit too extreme. Yet the accompanying attributes of stability, hard work, mutual submission, devoted prayer, and rigorous study of scripture—the essence of Benedict's Rule—these remain appropriate elements of any congregation of believers striving to experience authentic Christian community. Such a community is better known as the very Body of Christ.

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About Daniel Harrell

Daniel M. Harrell is Senior Minister of The Colonial Church, Edina, MN and author of How To Be Perfect: One Church's Audacious Experiment in Living the Old Testament Book of Leviticus (FaithWords, 2011). Follow him via Twitter, Facebook, or at his blog and website.

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