"Creating a Life:" Presentation and Discussion on a Rule for Today

Tuesday, August 3, 2021
8:00 PM 9:00 PM 20:00 21:00

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Join Brynna Carpenter-Nardone, Cathedral Arts missioner, Tuesday evenings August 3 and 10 on Zoom for a two-part reflection for moving forward on our faith journeys. We will discuss scripture and prayer, tools for discernment, and how saints and artists have responded to change and a sense of God’s call. There will be time for personal reflection and discussion and questions.

Brynna Carpenter-Nardone became the Director of Cathedral Arts and the Assistant to the Dean for Mission in September of 2018. Brynna holds a certificate in spiritual direction, a BA in art, an MA in pastoral studies, and recently received a fellowship to study nonprofit leadership.

Tend only to the birth in you and you will find all goodness and all consolation, all delight, all being and all truth.
— Meister Eckhart, on Matthew 2:2

This workshop is offered free through Cathedral Arts, a mission of The Cathedral of All Saints with Brynna Carpenter-Nardone, Director. Please fill out the form below once to receive the Zoom link for both sessions. Suggested donation is $20.

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Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining me in this exploration of creating a rule of life for where we each are today. This is an individual quest on our journeys with and toward God, but community and the support of the Body of Christ is what will encourage us to move forward, and so I am grateful for your willing participation.
A rule is to free us to respond to God’s love and to walk in God’s ways so that we might be God’s companions. It provides limits such as a careful parent might make for a growing child which we make a mature decision to discern and commit to. It is informed by scripture and the traditions of the church and its saints, but also takes into account our individuality. Above all, discerning a rule will be a creative prayer process.
Mother Margaret Guenther likens a rule of life to a grape trellis: it must be strong enough to provide support for growth while not constricting it, able to present us upright for the pruning of the Master. Maintenance will be required, adjustments must be made from time to time. After our rule helps us sustain growth, we will come to see if it needs to be altered or strengthened for our continued vigor.
In this program, as we are not joining an order and assuming its rule, and as we do not have an abbot, abbess or guardian to guide us in following a rule, we assume responsibility for discerning our own rule and for where to draw guidance to do so. We trust our inner authority through the Holy Spirit in creating our rule, while recognizing that we live in communities of our own and must take our commitments and those in community with us into consideration when we make our guidelines.
Some preliminary work before we first meet: Find a passage of scripture, a poem, or statement that draws you (no more than a few verses long) that you intuit might be talking about a rule of life to you (it does not have to fit everyone), and bring it with you to our first class with pen and paper or whatever else you use to write. (Example: When I first attempted a rule, I thought of Micah 6:8. While that remains a fine verse, I think God might have something else for me now.)
You will not be required to share your writing, but writing—whether you want to write just a few bullets or many pages--will be a tool you use to help you reflect, discern, and be present to yourself and to God. Some of you in the program will have knowledge and insight you want to share--we will benefit from the wisdom of the group so please speak up or use the Zoom chat feature (and make sure I notice as I will be distracted by following my own notes). The meetings will not be recorded, but you will receive my notes even if you miss one. Suggestions for further reading and reflection will appear, a few major references are below. See you soon!
Blessings,
Brynna
At Home in the World: A Rule of Life for the Rest of Us by Margaret Guenther
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century by Joan Chittester