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P i l g r image o f Fa i th We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him. Acts 5:32

Spring / Summer 2012

ecoming a house of the Lord has been the focus of the Friends of Quaker Monastery for several years now. It is a journey of sacred trust and self-discovery where expecta-tions are silenced and submitted to

the Lord’s care and direction. It is truly an ongoing pilgrimage of faith.

We forge ahead in a work and way of life unique to Quakerism, but not unique to Christianity - even Christ himself with-drew from the world for spiritual discern-ment. As disciples of Christ, we are called here to be of one mind. In this place we are affirmed together in holy love, unified in the bond of peace, and we share Quaker Monastery as an oasis of that love and peace to an increasing number of visitors (from all faiths) every year.

And in him you too are being built to-gether to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22

As pilgrims ourselves in monastic life, we understand the journey. So, rather then hide our light under a basket, we extend Christian hospitality in order to share the Light that enlightens our lives with others. (Luke 11, 33). While every visitor perhaps experiences Quaker Mon-astery a little differently, as pilgrims to-gether each in our calling, we all share a journey of faith which seeks to encounter God in a constant spirit of conversion.

In this plain, uncomplicated place, God allows way to open for the revelation of simple blessings; blessings such as the unobstructed brilliance of a sunset that fills the eyes of those who for far too long may not have taken the time to look up, and stand in stillness, to witness the

Go up to the mountain, and bring wood,

and build the house; and I will take

pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

Haggai 1:8

profound grace of silent light as only God can reveal to those who truly seek Him.

Others make their way here for quite reflection through journaling, or reading a spiritual book, or even walking in wide open breezy fields which whisper spiritual secrets to the soul as time stands still for a little while.

The motivation and instinct to seek God never ends. Quaker Monastery is one small place, in a world of many such places, where sacred space is preserved for the worship of God. Those seeking God are welcome here in the way of the love and peace of Christ Jesus as they make their way, just as we do, on an ongoing pilgrimage of faith.

INSIDE:

Monastery News - 2 & 3 A Sense of Place - 4 & 5 Peace Bookmarks - 6

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt 18:20

FROM THE COMMUNITY OF

MISSION:

Our monastic voca-

tion is to relate the

redemptive love of

Christ Jesus through

a life affirmed as

drawn out by the

Holy Spirit; to ad-

vance God’s king-

dom; to promote

peace, to share the

living message of the

gospel with pilgrims

of all faiths, in the

spirit of peace and

goodwill, as exempli-

fied by Christ and

lived out in the first

communities of

primitive Christianity.

2 Quaker Monastery - Spring / Summer 2012

Monastery News

Contact Information

Quaker Monastery P.O. Box 10

Harrisville, Michigan 48740

[email protected]

QuakerMonastery.org

The Friends of Quaker Monastery fellowshipped with the

congregation of Harrisville United Methodist Church to

celebrate their 150th anniversary of Christian service in

8th month.

Donating a peace dove release to help commemorate the

event, the Friends brought 16 white doves, one dove for

each decade plus an extra dove as a blessing for the fu-

ture. Just before the bell rang for their morning service,

the Methodist congregation gathered together outdoors

where Brother William first offered a prayer for peace

and then released the doves all together from 2 plain

white baskets.

The angelic birds flew up to a beautiful blue sky while

everyone looked on. The doves circled overhead several

times and then headed back to Quaker Monastery.

They flew approximately

13 miles.

The Friends returned to the

Monastery 2 hours later,

and found the doves al-

ready there. They had made

it safely home, each and

every one.

We have uploaded a short

video to YouTube entitled

“The Peace Doves of

Quaker Monastery from

Hatch to Flight” watch it

here: http://bit.ly/KWerdo

Monastery Schedule

Our week begins on 1st Day (Sunday)

Contact us if you would like to attend any of the fol-

lowing:

1st & 3rd, 1st Days

9 a.m. Bible Study 10 a.m. Meeting for Worship

(unprogrammed / silent)

4th Day 7 - 8 p.m. Open Reading Bible Study

Phone 989-736-7627

od Ousley, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of

Eastern Michigan, responded to an invitation and

visited with the Friends of Quaker Monastery in

6th month. The community of Quaker Monastery is

exploring ways to develop a mentored relationship

with the Episcopal Church that includes monastic

over sight. The monastic history and experience of the

Episcopal Church and the open heartedness of their

ecumenical commitment, along with our relationship

with Saint Andrews by the Lake Episcopal Church in

Harrisville, brought us to this step after much prayer.

We shared the Founding Discipline and Advices of

our community, and also reviewed the current Monas-

tery projects and our plans for the future.

Bishop Ousley was enormously patient and kind. We

are deeply grateful for the time he took to listen to our

thoughts, concerns, plans and request. The mentor-

ship that we are asking for is unique. But, we know

that the Lord is guiding our progress every step of the

way and we continue to follow as He leads us.

Only time will tell what the future holds, but we will

always be glad for Bishop Ousley’s thoughtful con-

sideration.

eace Dove Release

http://bit.ly/KWerdo

Monastery News

ee Keeping & Maple Syrup

The bee hives have been set up, cleaned and made

ready for the season. Unfortunately, most of our hives

suffered CCD (colony collapse disorder) last year and

while we are hoping for a good honey season, we de-

cided only to set up a few hives for this year. The

honey harvest will be reduced, but we felt it was best

not to make too large of an investment this year.

That said, springtime actually begins for us with ma-

ple sugar season. Maple syrup is our first real harvest

of the year. But, due to the fact that the weather was

unseasonably warm and unstable with the temperatures

of 3rd month in the 70’s and even 80’s for 2 weeks and

then returning to below freezing for several weeks af-

ter that, the maple sap run was only fair this spring.

The result was a decreased amount of syrup as com-

pared to other years. But, the syrup we did put up was

particularly good and most importantly, we had more

than enough to share with friends and supporters of

Quaker Monastery, and of course, our family.

Shortly after the sap run is finished, it is time to get

ready for lambing season. As early as weather allows,

the sheep are gathered (by the Collies!) into the barn

where they are sheared. Our small flock consists

mostly of Cotswold sheep. Once a sheep is sheared,

their hooves are trimmed and then they are returned to

the flock, ready to birth their lambs.

We collect each individual fleece and skirt it to dis-

card any unusable wool. Then the fleece is gathered,

packed and tagged to be washed at a later date. Some

of that wool will be sorted into locks, some is also

carded into roving for spinning into yarn, the rest is

processed into pillow or quilt batts. All of the wool

sold at the Quaker Monastery Shoppe is produced right

here from the sheep we raise ourselves.

hearing Sheep


A question often asked of us is, “What is life like at Quaker Monastery?” This is understand-able especially since we are a new monastic community and even regarded by some as part of the “new monasticism” movement. In order to answer the question of what life is like here, a sense of place and time is needed.

The Nature of Life Our life seeks to embody a fullness of service to God, in a community structured by gospel order, where the sole focus of everything that we do is whole-hearted discipleship to Christ. We are students in a school of the Lord’s ser-vice, continually learning how to live the Gos-pel. Our life is called out and directed by Christ. Our discipleship to the Lord as monastic's is not something that we offer - for we are nothing in our-selves - but, our monastic disciple-ship is an acceptance of a way of life that Christ offers and calls us to. As Deitric Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ.” Our way of life is, in many ways, very ordinary, but the focus of our lives is clarified in monastic commitment; our life-focus is on God - seeking and sharing His kingdom. Every element of our lives is dedicated to God so that individually, life becomes a living prayer. Our daily schedule is patterned in monastic tradition, a discipline so to speak through which way opens for the single minded pursuit of God. Prayer and work fuse together throughout the day and no matter what the occupation we strive to live in the presence of God. As the founder of the Shakers, Mother Anne Lee, once put it - “Hands to work, hearts to God”. In order to follow our Lord closely, distracting worldly influences are kept to a minimum. Believ-ing that the soul can best listen for the Lord in the grace of quiet, the use of commercial radio and

network television are entirely avoided. This is

a blessing for ourselves as well as for those who visit Quaker Monastery. We hear Christ’s call to peace and love of neighbor as being literal commissions. For that reason, our “mixed monastic life” is both contemplative and active, and ecumenical. We serve ministerially in our community at large in a variety of ways, and we contem-platively attend to and nurture our spiritual lives so that we may grow in the Light of the living Lord, however He wills.

A Sense of Time The day starts at 5:00 am. Morning private prayer is followed by a light collation: a small

fast break of fruit, coffee or tea and toast. At 6:00 it is time for chores. Breakfast is cooked for the Collie dogs and then the livestock is tended to. Once all creatures (great and small!) have been cared for, it is time for morning prayer.

Breakfast proper is at 9:30 and work begins in earnest at 10:30. While general duties are seen to daily, many occupations follow the di-rection of the seasons. In spring, summer and fall months there is much outdoor work; lamb-ing, kidding, hay and harvest are all seasons in their time. Plus, grounds are maintained, gar-dens are kept and more. During these months we offer hospitality and spiritual retreats to pil-grims of faith. Winter is the season for indoor work such as soap making, fiber sorting, writing, recording and more are attended to. We support our-selves by the work of our hands. Simple but nourishing meals of lunch and din-ner are served at 1pm and 5 pm and we eat together, in silence, at community table.

Regardless the tasks or occupations, every day is coalesced by prayer.

continued on page 5….


“Discipleship is not an offer that man makes

to Christ.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

continued from page 4….

We gather together at the Peace Chapel - or even outdoors in good season - 3 times a day, laying down all effort at the feet of our Lord, seeking the balance of His peace and direction. Our prayer life includes daily time for interces-sory payer and a weekly peace vigil. Meeting for worship and bible study are on 1st day mornings. At the close of each day, we offer our service to the Lord, praying that it is acceptable, and rest our minds and hearts and trust in Him.

Sense of Place John Senior once wrote; “Benedict’s is best understood as the spirituality of ordi-nary life…The Benedictine is a spiri-tuality of work man’s by labor, God’s by prayer.” Our Christ-ordered way of life is given direction by the Rule of St. Benedict. In the Prologue of his rule, Benedict wrote of a monastery as being “a school of the Lord’s ser-vice…”. Quaker Monastery is such a school of the Lord’s service dedi-cated to the mission of peace - in the Christian church and throughout the world. A peaceful, prayerful atmosphere is main-tained throughout the day. We care for the grounds in such a simple way as to inspire spiri-tual focus even in the smallest things. Our preservation of dedicated space means that we do not crowd God out with distractions. We do not obstruct the visual with superfluous, worldly, man-made imagery. Space, especially outdoor space, is preserved in as natural a con-text as possible. Sheep graze contently in open pastures. Naturalized fields of grasses and wild flowers carry breezy whispers of invitation for walking in contemplative silence. A small number of free range birds grace uncomplicated spaces. Open skies reveal sunrise and sunset views so bril-liant and colorfully vivid that their slowly chang-ing textures still the soul with breath-holding wonder which naturally evokes self-humility and worship of the great God who made it all.

When night falls, a star filled sky confirms that being as small and insignificant as we are does not mean that we are ever alone. God Almighty, creator of a universe so in-comprehensible vast, knows us each as indi-viduals, we are precious to His heart; God, whom Christ taught us to call “Father”. Quaker Monastery is a place to lean to be “still and know…”, a school of the Lord’s ser-vice where space is a pallet through which God’s creative works can be pondered with-out distraction; where one can be drawn into holy silence. We welcome all who visit here in peace. We share a ministry of peace-work wherever

we are when away from the mon-astery, and with whom ever we share time with here or else-where. Quaker Monastery is a school of the Lord’s service in the ways of peace in Christian disci-pleship. Our Shepherd directs us, an-cient monastic wisdom guides us, work helps to materially sus-tains us, prayer clarifies us, peace compels us, and we hold

this contemplative place as a sacred trust in the work of the Lord as we continually learn and grow in a sense of place and time.


Benedict’s is best understood as the

spirituality of ordinary life…

The Benedictine is a spirituality of work:

man’s by labor, God’s by prayer.

- John Senior


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