Good Shepherd Church
Genesis 1:26-28 NIV
The first vow St. Benedict called believers to take: The Vow of Stability
What is the purpose behind the vow of stability?
1. Through the vow of stability, God wants to give us a gift.
• Notice, the first gift that God gives humankind is the gift of place.
• And the first curse after The Fall is the curse of placelessness!
Place gives us:
Security
Identity
Mastery
What is the purpose behind the vow of stability?
1. Through the vow of stability, God wants to give us a gift.
2. Through the vow of stability, God wants to make us holy.
A couple cultural trends at play:
1. We live in an Age of Wanderlust
2. We have become Pathologically Conflict-Avoidant
We vow to remain all our life with our local community. We live together, pray together, work together, relax together. We give up the temptation to move from place to place in search of an ideal situation. Ultimately there is no escape from oneself, and the idea that things would be better someplace else is usually an illusion. And when interpersonal conflicts arise, we have a great incentive to work things out and restore peace. This means learning the practices of love: acknowledging one’s own offensive behavior, giving up one’s preferences, and forgiving.
If you want to become holy, remember that people are the great purifiers!
What is the purpose behind the vow of stability?
1. Through the vow of stability, God wants to give us a gift.
2. Through the vow of stability, God wants to make us holy.
3. Through the vow of stability, God will use us to “re-family” the world.
Psalms 68:5-6 NIV
“The church is a colony of heaven in the country of death.”
– Eugene Peterson