Our move into Mill Street House has been completed (although we are still living out of boxes a bit). As I alluded to last time, MSH is an intentional Anglican community. We heard about it when we went to a newcomer's Advent dinner last December, upon meeting Beth Maynard. Beth is a priest who sometimes officiates at our parish, sometimes teaches at Gordon-Conwell on liturgical formation, and runs -- with her husband Mark -- MSH. It's a normal apartment building, a New England triple-decker home with a kitchen and bathroom on each floor. However, there are a lot of unique elements...
1) We all meet every morning in the chapel on the second floor for Morning Prayer (following the Book of Common Prayer). This takes about 20 minutes.
B) Although more optional than morning prayer, we meet in the evenings for Compline (Evening Prayer).
III) We all meet for community meals once a week. A different "family" cooks each week.
FOUR). We all are expected to serve (in some capacity) in the local community. Mill Street is not a very nice part of town (although I wouldn't say it is necessarily dangerous either). We are to serve by being friendly neighbors and a formative -- although subtle -- voice in the community.
Appendix) We will share our floor with another couple. This means sharing everything but our room (kitchen, bathroom...). Although not exactly convenient, this is an opportunity to live our convictions about the rampant individualism of American life. We will learn together how to open ourselves to Christian community while maintaining healthy boundaries on important things like our marriage -- and the many ways our communal and individual identities overlap as Christians (trinitarian!).
So, we are quite literally diving into liturgical life. Someone recently told us that it will be exciting, difficult, confusing, revelatory; in all, an incarnational venture in that something as simple as the passing of time becomes a Christian and worshipful activity.
Also, Sarah has some news regarding her job -- but before I make it public, I better check with her on how much to reveal :-) What a good husband I am, huh? Please check back with more updates on work and school. Thanks for reading these words and being interested in our lives.
(By the way, I "stole" this picture from Beth's blog -- thanks, Beth! Our digital camera, in true Albertson fashion, is now broken)
2 comments:
this all sounds so exciting!
Kids, you guys are trailblazers and some newfangled kinda throwbacks all at the same time! It sounds like a worthwhile adventure. I miss you like you wouldn't believe.
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