North to Minnesota
I spent the week in northern Minnesota participating in an ecumenical dialogue on the pastoral life. The consultation was sponsored by the Collegeville Institute who gathered a small group of pastors and academics from around the country to dialogue with Eugene Peterson about his recent memoir, The Pastor. The conversations were generative and insightful as we worked through a series of questions related to the formation of pastors and the nature of the vocation.
The confab took place at St. John’s University, which is both a school for 4,000 students and home to a large Benedictine monastery. The campus is beautiful, situated on 3,500 acres of living forest with a couple of picturesque lakes stretching the landscape. Prayers were held morning, noon and evening in the Abbey Church (designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer), which gave us a wonderful rhythm to the day.
While there we were able to view the St. John’s Bible, one of the few hand-written, illustrated Bibles produced since the advent of the printing press. Last summer, I saw the famous 6th century manuscript, The Book of Kells while in Dublin. The St. John’s Bible was carried out by Donald Jackson, one of the world’s premier cartographers. He gathered together a team of artists and calligraphers to produce the script and illustrations. The entire project took thirteen years and millions of dollars. The final volume of seven was just completed and delivered to St. John’s Abbey last week and the Benedictines hosted a mass to commemorate the occasion.
Each day we would pray with the monks, share our meals together and discuss the subject of pastoral ministry in guided conversations. We had some free time during the day to write and read and hike. At night we can back together for music and food and stories, including one evening at the home of Don Ottenhoff and Kathleen Cahalan which was like showing up at Babette’s Feast with an appetite.
Tasting Life Twice 