Gordon E. Ellis
June 19, 2005
WRECK-CREATION OR RE-CREATION
I know that a LOT of people really LOVE reality TV! SOME even become ADDICTED to it. Well, I’m NOT one of them. In fact, I find reality TV quite BORING! BUT, there’s ONE reality TV show coming OUT that even I want to watch! It’s called The MONASTERY, and it’s produced by the BBC. THEY selected 5 MEN, out of hundreds of applicants, and SEQUESTERED them, for 40 days and 40 nights, with 22 MONKS in a Benedictine Monastery, called WORTH Abbey, in Crawley, England. And THERE, these 5 men had to LIVE the life of a Benedictine MONK. They PRAYED with the 22 monks 6 times a day. They worked with the monks on their various JOBS at the monastery. AND, they were asked to observe the Benedictine rules of SILENCE, OBEDIENCE and HUMILITY.
Now, NONE of these 5 men were Roman Catholic. Tony Burke, a 29-year old AGNOSTIC, made his living filming TRAILERS for a sex CHAT line. Gary McCormick, a 36-year old PAINTER, was a former member of a Protestant PARAMILITARY unit in Northern Ireland. THESE two, by the way, were the FIRST to CRACK! Within their first DAYS at the monastery, they were filmed sneaking OUT of the Abbey to go to a nearby VILLAGE in search of VIRGINS and CIGARETTES, they said. BUT, when they RETURNED, with their BAGS of cigarettes, potato chips, chocolate and soda, they were CAUGHT by the Abbot, the HEAD of the monastery, who SAT them down and EXPLAINED that TRUE FREEDOM is being able to CHOOSE to RESIST the urges of the body.
The ABBOT, Christopher Jamison, says that the MONKS decided to DO this project because they VIEWED it, (and I quote) as an opportunity to discover what OUR way of life OFFERS to people today who do not SHARE our BELIEFS. And for the participants, we hoped that THEY would discover hidden DEPTHS in their lives, and IN those hidden DEPTHS, encounter GOD. And he continues: And this HOPE was fulfilled to an extent that took us ALL by SURPRISE. You see: Tony BURKE, the agnostic who filmed trailers for sex CHAT lines, underwent a religious CONVERSION. He not only came to believe in GOD, but he ALSO quit his JOB. He says: It’s the BEST thing I’ve EVER done! Another participant, Nick Buxton, a 37-year old student of BUDDHISM at Cambridge University, RETURNED to his ANGLICAN roots, and NOW attends church EVERY week. Gary McCormick, the PAINTER, who when the show BEGAN, couldn’t stay out of JAIL, was one of the FIRST to find what HE was looking for: the STRENGTH to come to terms with his PAST, and the ensuing INNER peace. He said: There are 22 MONKS in here, and every ONE of them LOVES you and ACCEPTS you. I have NEVER been made so WELCOME in a place in ALL my life.
SO, I plan to watch The MONASTERY. But you know: AS I was READING about this new REALITY show, I recalled my OWN days of staying with the MONKS at Weston Priory in VERMONT. And the LIFESTYLE there is exactly the SAME. It’s BENEDICTINE. Well, it wasn’t easy for me EITHER -- and I only stayed there for a WEEK. In fact, Rick Haverly STILL picks on me because I called the OFFICE about 4 times on my very first DAY there! You know: MANY people don’t KNOW this about me, but I am NOT a MARY! I am a MARTHA! I am BUSY about MANY things most of the time! Oh, I DO have my DEVOTIONAL time, but it’s NOT often EASY for me to TAKE it. And THAT’S why, as I look ahead to JULY, AFTER leading the Mission Education Trip to Mexico, I’M a little bit NERVOUS! You see: I feel like I’m leaving for vacation pretty TIRED and WORN OUT this year. In fact, I’m kind of a WRECK inside. So, I really WANT to be a MARY. In fact, I NEED to be a MARY! BUT, when I get to Lake Moore, I KNOW that I will to be TEMPTED, as I am EVERY year, to get into ALL sorts of PROJECTS, to visit with a MULTITUDE of PEOPLE, and to just to KEEP on MOVING! But that’s NOT what my VACATION should be ABOUT, especially THIS year! THAT’S what I do all YEAR long! SO, I’m pretty NERVOUS about it.
And THAT’S WHY, in preparation for my vacation, I need to keep REMEMBERING a vacation experience I had a number of YEARS ago. I’ll NEVER forget it! We were at Lake Moore, and I just COULDN’T stop doing PROJECTS. And I remember getting so FRUSTRATED with Diane, and ASKING her: HOW can you just LAY in the hammock for SO many hours, and just READ? And SHE would say: If you’d TRY it, you’d find OUT how EASY it IS. Well, in the MIDST of that vacation, I took a DAY, as I ALWAYS do, to go to Weston Priory for some spiritual renewal. But when I GOT there, the brothers had gone off on RETREAT! How DARE they? SO, the place was DESERTED, and I ended up having a whole DAY at the monastery ALL by myself. And believe it or not, it ended up being one of the BEST days of my entire vacation. In fact, it was the TURNING point of my vacation. You see: AS I sat GAZING into the POND in front of that DESERTED monastery, I found myself thinking about this morning’s SCRIPTURE lessons, and in particular, about my tendency to be a MARTHA. And I thought how HARD it is for ME, and LOTS of us, to make GOOD use of our LEISURE time. Either we WASTE it, OR, we make SO much WORK and ACTIVITY for ourselves that we never GET the REST and RE-CREATION we NEED. THEN, I thought about how OFTEN the BIBLE tells us to TAKE time AWAY from it all, so that GOD can WORK on us and RENEW us. The 10 COMMANDMENTS even tell us to take ONE day of REST in every 7, ONE day for spiritual RENEWAL and RE-CREATION, ONE day when we don’t run around like CRAZY people! AND we know that Jesus OFTEN wandered AWAY from the crowds, and even away from His DISCIPLES, to be ALONE, to PRAY, to be in COMMUNION with GOD, sometimes ALL night long! And that was HIS time for RENEWAL and RE-CREATION. And He REALLY seemed to NEED it! In fact, in our Scripture Lesson from MARK, He’s teaching His DISCIPLES to do the SAME, because THEY need it AFTER going out in PAIRS to MINISTER.
You know: I think OUR problem is TWO-FOLD. FIRST, our CULTURE is just SO busy these days that WE somehow feel INADEQUATE and UNWORTHY if WE aren’t CONSTANTLY feeling like we’re a WRECK with BUSYNESS. And second, we’ve been SO indoctrinated into that OLD, Protestant WORK ethic that WE feel a NEED to be continually be doing something CONSTRUCTIVE. However, a WISE person is someone who KNOWS the difference between what HAS to be done and what we THINK has to be done, as well as the difference between what is IMPORTANT and what is ESSENTIAL, because it ALL seems IMPORTANT, doesn’t it?
Well, as I SAT by the POND at Weston Priory that day, I decided that I did NOT want to come HOME from vacation READY for a vacation. I decided that I wanted to come HOME from vacation RENEWED, REFRESHED, RE-CHARGED! I wanted to come home from vacation feeling RE-CREATED instead of WRECK-CREATED! And at THAT moment, and for the REST of my vacation, I CHOSE to become a MARY. And WHEN I got back to Lake Moore, Diane and the kids were absolutely AMAZED, because I took time to FISH and to PRAY, to LOOK at the stars and to ride my BIKE, to strum my guitar and to smell the FLOWERS, to hold my WIFE and to read a NOVEL, to play HORSESHOES and to laugh with my KIDS, to take BOAT rides and EVEN to just SIT on the beach and do NOTHING! I’ll tell you: I was a CHANGED man that summer! And when I came BACK from that vacation, instead of feeling WRECK-CREATED, as I SO often DO after vacation, I felt RE-CREATED! And WHAT a WONDERFUL feeling it WAS! And THAT’S what I want THIS summer as well!
BUT, it’s not just ME who NEEDS it! YOU need it TOO! ALL of us are a WRECK with busyness MOST of the time! We’re SO busy that even the IDEA of spiritual RE-CREATION, and of COMMUNION with GOD, sounds FOREIGN to our ears, and like a LUXURY that we can NEVER take the TIME to pursue. WORSE yet, when we plan our VACATIONS, how MANY of us plan to GO, GO, GO every minute? Well, friends, that’s a SAD commentary on our LIVES and on our CULTURE! We have become STIMULATION JUNKIES, and we’re raising our KIDS to be FAR worse than WE are. I REALIZED after my vacation that year, that MY ministry, LIKE that of JESUS, was FAR more effective and fruitful BECAUSE I had taken TIME to be a MARY. And SINCE then, I’ve done a MUCH better job at BALANCING the MARY and the MARTHA dimensions of my ministry. There have EVEN been a few TIMES when people have called the office and been told: Gordon will get BACK to you in a little while. Right now, he’s in PRAYER.
You know: there are times when we all NEED to be MARTHAS. But MORE often than not, we CHOOSE to be MARTHAS! Well, WHAT would be far BETTER, and FAR more HEALTHY, for both US AND our SOCITEY, is the BIBLICAL approach to life. It’s STRIVING to achieve a BALANCE between the MARTHA in us and the MARY in us. Martha is GOOD! We NEED her! BUT, we don’t need as MUCH of her as we’re seeing NOW. We ALSO need MARY! And we need a LOT more of her NOW, because we’re WAY out of BALANCE! And if we DON’T begin to see MORE of MARY, we’re heading for LOTS of troubles. So, FIND your MARY, my friends, and LET her LIVE! You’ll be GLAD you did, because you’ll be RE-CREATED instead of WRECK-CREATED! AMEN.
Source: Real Monks on Reality TV Make a Real Difference, National Catholic Reporter:, June 3, 2005