I found myself responding to a friend not long ago saying ‘My life is full of church’. Even as I said it, I thought of how superficial it sounded. It is true that each day there is not only prayer but an activity, or several, related to church for me. But that makes it sound more like a job, a set of chores that must be done: a sermon to write, prayers to prepare, a social event to organise, a meeting to minute, a bereaved family to visit.
It is easy to fill your life with such ‘church’. As a lay Anglican minister, I would soon run on empty if this was all that there was. The love of family and friends, my church family and my small flock of sheep are more powerful than the ‘things’ I do for church. But even these blessed gifts need enlivening. Pope Francis has spoken of the flame of hope that has been given to us; something we need to fan and feed to keep it alight.
My faith is strong and always needing to be fed. We are presently in vacancy in my parish, so there is much to do as we await a new vicar in prayer and hope. And it was in this context that the Lay Community of St Benedict appeared in my life, through one of the talks from Saint Benedict’s week in 2024. There were immediate connections here – my career has embraced online work, my faith has been shaped by Catholicism as well as my Anglican home, my need for spiritual feeding was answered by the formation that the LCSB offered, by the personal welcome found online in the daily office and by a re-introduction to the Rule of St Benedict.
It wasn’t long before I felt called to be a Seeker in the community. Seeking what? I’m not sure - apart from wanting to learn more about both humility and stability. Saint Benedict offers a way in which we can accompany one another while we search to live honestly and positively together in the presence of God, and this is encouraging. Seeking whom? I love God but will never know enough; my sermons and prayers and chaplaincy lead me to the endless discovery of a road, a way, without prospect of more than finding where I am, rather than finding where I am going.
I needed reassurance, I think, and find it both in the lovely companion who has been chosen to accompany me in my journey as a Seeker, and in the wonderful people sharing prayer each day. My worries about taking on too much are groundless, as being part of the Lay Community deepens and enhances everything I do. So, compared with last year, I look forward to this Lent, knowing that not just the busyness of life but also sacrifice and self-discipline can always be faced when you journey with friends with whom you share belief in Christ.
Just as God is our constant companion through life, my companions in the LCSB enable me to bring signs of hope to others. Archbishop Rowan Williams refers to the continuous reality of hope grounded in God’s truth. In the outside world we are exposed to an echo chamber of algorithmic hysteria; in faith I look for an echo chamber of spiritual truth and hope.
Sue Greener
2025
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