1. We are a community on a journey together for a long time. We are not merely an organization who dispenses religious goods and services. We are not a place to come so that your duty to God is done. We are not about comfort and anonymity. We are a community. We commit ourselves to one another and to those around us, to help one another along this long journey, to Love one another as He has loved us, as He does Love us. As a rule of life we adopt the 12th chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Succinctly, this chapter is how we are to live as God’s Children on earth.
   
   
2. Our commitment to certain parts of this rule are contingent on our level of commitment in the community of Vine & Branches itself. We have borrowed from the great tradition of the Monasteries in which there are concentric circles, if you will, of commitment and involvement. The first is actually on what might be called the "outer edge" of the community, that of Friend. There will always be those whom we will call "friends," who are connected to Vine & Branches because all or some of us have a relationship with them in some way. These Friends may visit and worship with us from time to time, and they are welcome to do so as they wish. We want to be hospitable in this way as a community, as when a friend comes to visit you in your home and sits at the kitchen table for coffee. In this analogy, though, they do not live in the house with you as your family does.
   
   
3. So, while we do want to make a point of having levels of commitment inside our community, we do not want to close ourselves off from those who may never intend to enter that community as "family" (as a postulant and eventually as permanently professed). There will always be people whom we love, those who will hang out with us and worship with us, who will never become members, properly speaking, of Vine & Branches Christian Community. Even so, they are welcome, as friends are welcome, to visit our family.
   
   In the life of a Friend there may well come a time when they feel a call to step inside the family. That's wonderful and of course they will be welcome to become a Postulant any time they wish. Until that time, though, there will be no pressure for them to do so. Encouragement in that direction would only be done as we see that it might benefit the Friend in question.
   
   
4. The next of the concentric circles inward, toward the center of the community, is that of the Postulant: literally, one submitting a request, in Latin. In our context, as in most monastic communities, it means investigator - one who is living as a member of the community while discerning, in themselves and with the community, whether they are indeed “called” to be a permanent part of it. When someone comes to be a part of Vine & Branches, they will be a Postulant until they feel, along with the community, that they are ready to take the next step.
   
   
5. The “next step” may be one of two things - the Simple or Solemn Profession. One may, with the community, discern a call to be part of our family, at least for now. They know this is, for now, their spiritual home as the church goes on earth. They may not be ready nor may they have discerned a permanent call as of yet. In that case there is the step of making what is called a Simple Profession (may be called a Temporary Profession). They may, as stated before, come to know, as well as the whole community, that they are indeed "family" but aren't sure what the future holds as far as making a vow of stability (to stay in one place for good). It could well be that these people are analogous to children in a family who grow up and then go off to start a house of their own. We want there to be room for this kind of family member as well.
   
   So, if you have been a Postulant for a year or so and you realize that this is a family for you and you want to take another step of commitment, there is the option of becoming a Simple Professed - professing for perhaps one or two years with prayer and reevaluation after that. This may be a good step for a student who doesn't know what's next after they graduate or someone who's in an in between state in life. Whatever the case, the option is there.
   
   
6. All these steps are designed so that this community will be an intentional one, where thought-out, prayed-out, on-purpose steps of commitment are taken by all. As we get to know each other, these steps should be taken in consultation with the community and it's abbot. The yearly evaluation will be a good time for discussions of this sort. Everyone from the Postulant inward will be in that loop. Of course, any time anyone at any level wants to talk things out, we'll be open to do so.
   
   
7. The inner-most and final step of community membership is that of the Solemn Profession or Permanent Member. In the Monastic tradtion this is the point where the Postulant or Novice makes the decision, with the community, to profess “vows” of commitment to that community; namely, of stability and adherance to our rule of life. Stability, in this context, means that one will be a living part of this community until they die unless God obviously, in the context of the community, leads them elsewhere. Adherance to the Rule is to say that you are a permanent member of this community and it’s rule is your rule - it’s way of life is your way of life without reservation. The only real difference, practically speaking, between these parts of the community is that future appointed members of the pastoral council as well as deacons will be selected only from among the permanently professed. Otherwise, all are a part of the family and will be treated accordingly.

| posted by + Alan | 9:16 PM | 1 comments

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