This is the journal I'm keeping for my independent study J-term, Exploring Modern Monasticism. I've been writing it down in a journal, so I'll try to transfer it here as often as I can.
1/7
After driving through bad roads and an almost blizzard, we arrived at the house in Lansing around 7 or so, much late than they were expecting us. But we were made very welcome. The house here is nothing like I was expecting. It's a tri-plex house, and filled with mostly younger guys--guys who barely seem older than us. They all seem really cool and laid back, and they made us feel very welcome here.
Pretty soon after we got here there was a UCO (University Christian Outreach) meeting, and the house was filled with lots of different people. Tadgh (pronounced like "Tyge"--he's Irish), one of the leaders here, told us to be prepared for charismatic worship, including praying out loud and speaking in tongues. I've been around some charismatic worship, but not much. I've never witness speaking in tongues before. The meeting was very interesting, and very good. The "prayer time" was not what I typically imagine for a prayer time. It consisted of singing songs of worship intermixed with outspoken prayer (by everyone at the same time), Scripture reading, and sharing by various people. The praying out loud part was what was most unusual and uncomfortable for me. I was held back by fear of saying something dumb, and lack of things to say. I know during that time that I wasn't letting go of control over myself and giving everything to God, and for some reason, I couldn't. One of the sisters during the prayer time read out of Zephaniah 3, which talked about the love of God singing over us. I got the feeling that, in these next two weeks, the love of God was going to be too strong for my defenses to hold up against. Part of me knows that's what I need, but part of me seems scared to let it happen, and I do not know why.
After the prayer meeting, there was fun and games. I had a good time playing an intense game of Scattergories. After that was night prayer, which consisted of chanting/singing a psalm or two. It was unusual for me, but it was very soothing, while being reverent at the same time.
I'm really looking forward to what God is going to do in these next two weeks. I really want to learn from these guys and how they live. I had forgotten during most of this time that all of these guys have committed to living single for the Lord. They seem very happy and content, and I want to learn more from them about that, since singleness has been something that God has put on my heart a lot this year.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to sleep well tonight, with sleeping on the floor, and apparently with two loud snorers. Oh well, we'll see.
*SDG
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