Modern Day Monasticism

Last night I was painted blue and enjoying man council with a tribe of adventurous young men worshiping God and celebrating manliness.  This morning, I am back at my desk planning events, following up on emails and making decisions to move our community forward.  Talk about transition.

I’ve spent the summer seriously wrestling with what it means to live in community and discover the incredible truths of following Jesus and I can’t help but celebrate the role that camp has played in shaping who I’ve become.  Then it hit me, camp is pretty much modern day monasticism.

Saint Patrick, the father of Irish Christianity had a habit of starting up monasteries wherever he went, communities of young people dedicated to learning the teachings of Jesus and sharing them with the community around them.  I wonder if we should look to him as the father of camp ministry too.  The similarities are astounding, groups of people living in close quarters, sharing meals, learning together and serving together to advance God’s Kingdom.  What’s really exciting is that Saint Patrick’s monastic system helped immensely in the spread of Christianity and sprouted monasteries not just in Ireland but all across medieval Europe.

Communities of people discovering more about Christ and living in active participation with the locals in establishing God’s kingdom.

Maybe there’s more to camp ministry that we need to explore.  We often take it for granted as a part of summer culture here in Canada but maybe there’s more to be learned from camp than just archery and waterskiing.  If we were to seriously view camp as monastic communal living how would it change the way we approach spiritual disciplines at camp?  How would it change the way we approach camp culture?

From one monk to another, camp is an incredible part of the spiritual journey, maybe it’s time we elevated its importance and celebrated its relevance.

One Response to “Modern Day Monasticism”

1. admin says:

   August 5, 2009 at 9:34 pm

   as a follow up to this post. today I read an interesting article in Neue Quarterly about Neo-Monasticism. Good to hear that others are thinking monastically too. This one was focused much more on the relevance of monastic living in a post-modern and post-christian context.