This summer, join us as we journey…
INTO THE DESERT
“To be, to be possessed of the gift of life and to be granted
all that makes its richness means to be loved by God; and
those who know this, free from any delusion that they can
exist or possess apart from this mystery of love have entered
into the Kingdom of God which is the Kingdom of Love.”
Anthony of Sourozh, preface to
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers,
translated by Benedicta Ward
The age of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, around the 4th and 5th centuries, marked the beginning of the monastic movement in the early church. Just as the Christian church was being embraced by (and embracing) empire, these faithful men and women turned their backs on the things of this world that might distract them from true communion with God. They traveled into the desert and into a life characterized by simplicity, prayer, community and hospitality. Some lived alone as hermits while others formed small groups of brothers living, working, and praying together or disciples organized around an Abba (father) or Amma (mother), creating new kinds of families that were not tied to status or legacy. They were pioneers of a sort, conducting experiments on the life of faith and the human condition.
Those who chose not to commit themselves to such a radical lifestyle, but who admired them for their courage and integrity, made pilgrimages to the desert to seek out their wisdom. Over time, their sage words were written down and eventually collected into books so that others might benefit from them.
We will journey into the desert this summer. We will focus on one or two sayings of these desert Abbas and Ammas each Sunday in worship, examining them through the lenses of scripture and our contemporary experience. Perhaps we here in the 21st century, might benefit from their wisdom.
