Brothers in Arms

Ordinangst has spent the weekend at Alton Abbey in Hampshire – an Anglican Benedictine priory.  He learned a lot by spending time with the six monks and two novices who make up this small but perfectly formed community.  It is an extraordinary privilege to be able to take all the noise out of one’s life for 48 hours.  No phones, no telly, no computer, no twitter, no blogging, no facebook, no email, no newspapers, no reading, no pens no paper.  One text message allowed per day to check that the long suffering Mrs Ordinangst and Granny Ordinangst were coping with the Ordinangst-ettes.  Add to that a very healthy dose of silence – Grand silence from nine at night till nine in the morning, and all meals (except Sunday lunch which I missed) in silence too.  Put in some structure around daily offices, and take up the offer for a two hour session of spiritual direction from a man who has lived in the community for more than 25 years and pulls no punches and you have a pretty potent platform (ah! a bit of alliteration on a Monday) for listening to God.

Ordinangst recognises that one man’s spiritual direction is another person’s tedium so he is not proposing to unburden to the blogosphere.  (Collective sigh of relief from much valued dear readers….).  Suffice it to say that on a personal level it was extremely profound and has quite possibly changed the entire direction of his ministry as it unfolds.  But he did learn one or two things along the way that are fun / may be of interest:

1.       The Psalms (which are used by the monks extensively in both spoken and sung worship) are incredibly powerful and beautiful.  Ordinangst is mortified that in all his muscular Happy Clappy upbringing he had forgotten his childhood as a choirboy singing Psalms.  It is a tragedy that Psalms are slipping out of the mainstream. 

2.       Monks do everything at about 75% of the speed of the rest of us – including liturgy.  It is amazing how bible readings spoke to Ordinangst when they are read slowly and passively almost in a monotone.  No theatre, just words.  The Gospel speaks powerfully when it speaks for itself.

3.       Eating is silence is the weirdest experience…it completely changes one’s attitude to the food on the plate.   I can remember every single thing I ate.  The non-verbal communication around the table is also quite sophisticated.  Weirdly, Ordinangst really enjoyed it – almost as much as he enjoys talking.  He also enjoyed the farting noise made by the squirty ketchup bottles – huge mirth around the (silent) table.

4.       Confession is a powerful and moving experience.  I couldn’t recommend it more highly to my non-catholic (small “c”) brethren.

5.       Welcoming is a behavioural rather than purely a verbal concept.  Ordinangst felt an extraordinary sense of welcome from the community from the moment he arrived, stumbling into a dark chapel in the middle of silent prayer.  He didn’t exchange more than a few words to most of the community during his stay but felt the community wanted him to be there. That’s God in action.