Threshold - Winter 2004

On Being a “Presbyterian Benedictine”
by Rev. James Gordon, Obl.S.B.

Jim Gordon with the statue of St. Benedict in the
saint’s cave at Subiaco, Italy

I am a Presbyterian Benedictine. I was baptized in the Presbyterian Church in 1961 and was ordained a Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament in 1986. For ten years I have served as the pastor of Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church in Kansas City and for most of that time I have made regular visits to Mount St Scholastica.

As I think about it I really didn’t decide to become Presbyterian or Benedictine. I was baptized as a baby, so I originally had no say as to whether I would be Presbyterian. I experienced a deep sense of call to ministry that I felt I had to follow. Through my regular visits to the Mount I was so taken by the spirit of hospitality and the tangible feeling of prayer in the air at the monastery that I could not stay away. Mount St. Scholastica has become my spiritual home away from home and, in 2002, I recognized what God was already doing in my life. I became an oblate and vowed to live the Benedictine life in the stability of my baptismal, ordination and marriage vows, obedience in seeking God in the scripture and in others, and always being open to the transforming Spirit.

This past summer while on sabbatical I did some reading and study around the Rule of St. Benedict. As I was fortunate enough to receive a grant to travel, my family and I spent six weeks in Europe. We began our adventure in Rome. While I enjoyed the Coliseum and the Vatican, one of my greatest memories is of Subiaco. The cave where Benedict lived, seeking God before being called out into the world where he formed his rule, was a moving and holy place.

I was also fortunate to study with Dr. Esther de Waal, historian and author of Seeking God, among other books on Benedictine spirituality. Sitting at her kitchen table in the border country between England and Wales, discussing the Rule as well as sharing meals and conversation, was another rare privilege. Finally, spending a week with my family on the tiny Scottish Isle of Iona in a former Benedictine monastery now run by the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian Church) was a symbol of what it is to be Presbyterian Benedictine.

It is a great sign of the times to me that, through the gracious hospitality of the community of the Mount, I do not feel out of place as Presbyterian Benedictine. It gives me hope for the Church and for the ecumenical movement. I will be forever grateful that I continue to experience God through the church of my birth and the Benedictine community which has embraced me.