Frozen Roles – Br. James Koester

SSJE

Mark 6:1-13

About thirty years ago, we Brothers went through a period of renewal. We were stuck, and we knew it. It was difficult for us to make decisions. We were busy all the time, but it seemed, we were mostly busy spinning our wheels. We didn’t know which direction we wanted to go, and we weren’t even sure how, or who, would decide that. We were stuck, and we knew it. Luckily, we also knew that something needed to change. We weren’t sure what, but we knew we could not go on like that. And so, we asked around. What had other people and organizations done in similar situations? Eventually we were led to a woman named Jean. Jean walked into our life one day, and while there were countless times when we all wished she would walk right back out, she and we persisted, and we’ve never been the same.

Thirty years later, all of us who were here then, still speak of her. Brothers who were not here, certainly know of her. She is perhaps quoted, and referred to, only slightly less frequently than Father Benson. Ask some of us, and we all have our favourite Jean story.

One of the things that was eye opening for me, was the day Jean introduced us to the concept of frozen roles.

Jean’s point was that we often cannot see what another is doing, or saying, because we think we know what they will do, or say, even before they do, or say it. She always reacts this way. He always does that. I don’t need to bother listening because I already know what they will say. We freeze people, and even ourselves, into certain patterns, and we don’t allow them to break out, or to be different than how we expect them to be.

The dynamics of frozen roles are perhaps most prevalent in families, small work situations, and dare I say it, monastic communities, where members have known one another over decades. Here he goes again, we say to ourselves. How many times have I heard this in the last 10, 20, 30 years? I don’t need to listen. I already know what he will say.

Today in Mark’s gospel, the author paints a classic picture of frozen roles. Jesus comes home, after having been away for some time. At first, everyone is thrilled.

[Jesus] … came to his hometown …. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands![1]

The hometown crowd is impressed and astounded with his words and deeds of wisdom and power. But that astonishment quickly turns bitter. No longer do they see the man Jesus has become. They can only see the one they think they knew from before. Suddenly the past catches up and the wise teacher becomes the simple carpenter.

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’[2]

In an instant, small town jealousies freeze Jesus into roles that are as predictable and safe, as they are familiar. It seems all he could do in the face of their offence, was to lay his hands on a few sick people and [cure] them,[3] before leaving town.

Frozen roles and frozen expectations quench possibilities and stifle innovation. In the end if you stay there, everyone gets stuck, and no one can move. Patterns of behaviour and response are frozen, as are the relationships around them. Luckily, Jesus had the force of will, and that’s what it takes sometimes to get unfrozen, sheer force of will, and even the courage, to move on and leave town, amazed at their unbelief.[4]

Once he left town and escapes his former neighbours’ preconceived notions and frozen roles, amazing things began to happen.

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits… So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.[5]

Sometimes it takes a force of will and sheer courage to break out of a frozen role. Sometimes it takes a new leader, or, as in our case, the election of a new Superior.

Like people and organizations, monastic communities can become frozen. They can become frozen by expectations, both internal and external. We always do things this way. They always do things that way. We expect people, and organizations, and individuals, and monastic communities to behave or react in certain ways, because that is how history has repeatedly shown them to react. Until they don’t. When they don’t, expectations are tuned upside down, and strange, new, sometimes upsetting, and sometimes quite wonderful things happen.

The history of SSJE has been marked by a series of events when we broke out of certain frozen roles, both individual and communal.

The first frozen role that was shattered occurred in 1890 when Father Benson, our Founder, and until then our only Superior stepped down as Superior and moved away from Oxford for newly a decade. From our founding in 1866 until the 1880’s it had been unthinkable that Father Benson would resign as Superior. It was assumed that only death would remove him from that role. But by the late 1880’s the community was in crisis. The professed members were leaving in droves, and those who came to test their vocations stayed for only a short time before they too left. The atmosphere was gloomy, depressed, and discouraged. Father Benson famously declared that a religious community should not exist for more than one generation. The community and Father Benson were frozen into a certain mindset that said the end of SSJE in their lifetime was inevitable.

Fortunately, Father Congreve did not believe that, and he slowly convinced Father Benson to step down. In 1890 Father Page was elected Superior, and in a few years things turned around. Men came and stayed. Soon a new and larger monastery and church were built to accommodate the growing community. Roles which had been frozen were unfrozen, and new and wonderful things began to happen.

Another occasion when roles were unfrozen happened towards the end of the First World War. For decades the Brothers here in Boston had been advocating for the establishment of an independent American Congregation. This move towards independence was resisted tooth and nail by the community in Oxford. In fact, things got so bad it seemed at one point that the house in Boston would be closed, and the work here in this country shut down. When word of this leaked out, a great hew and cry went out from across the Episcopal Church and the Superior General was flooded with pleas to keep the work here going. About the same time, Father Bull, an Englishman who had served for several years at the Mission House on Bowdoin Street was recalled to England where he was elected Superior General. Knowing the situation in Boston and the United States firsthand, he took steps which resulted in the creation of an independent American Congregation in 1921. With autonomy from the English Congregation came vocations, and new work was opened in San Francisco, Canada, Japan, New York, and right here on Memorial Drive. Roles which had been frozen were unfrozen, and new and wonderful things began to happen.

Another occasion when roles were unfrozen happened in the early 1970’s, with the election of Paul Wessinger as Superior. Again, the community was in crisis. Men were coming to test their vocations, but more men were leaving. They left in droves in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Some left because they perceived us to be too liberal. Others left because we were thought to be too conservative. At one point the novitiate was closed, and it was expected that we would simply die. But in 1972 Paul was elected Superior and he took the risk to change thing. The novitiate was reopened. We adopted the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as our standard for worship. Women were welcomed into the choir and guesthouse, to name a few. Roles which had been frozen were unfrozen, and new and wonderful things began to happen.

I believe we are in such a time.

The world and Church are in crisis: economically, environmentally, demographically, politically. No matter how well certain patterns of behaviour have served us in the past, they may, or may not, serve us in the future. The world is a different place than when Father Benson, or Father Page, or Father Bull, or Brother Paul, or even when I became Superior. The Church is a different place than when Father Benson, or Father Page, or Father Bull, or Brother Paul, or even when I became Superior. If we are to serve the Church and the world in the years to come, we cannot simply do what we have always done. If SSJE is to survive, and thrive, and serve the Church and the world in the years to come, we cannot simply do what we have always done. We cannot afford to remain frozen. We need to take the risk to change.

In a few weeks the Brothers will elect a new Superior, and things will change. Things are already changing. They will change because whoever we elect is not me, nor will he be a James clone (and that is a good thing). Nor will he be Paul, or Father Bull, or Father Page or Father Benson. And that is a good thing. We are not living in 1866, or 1890, or 1921, or 1972, or even 2016. Things will also change because whoever we elect will be under the age of 55 and might even be in his 30’s or 40’s. Whoever we elect will have only been in the community since about 2009 and will only really have known either Geoffrey or me in this role of Superior. That alone will cause roles to be unfrozen, and things to change.

It takes a great deal of courage to break out of frozen roles. I cannot imagine how difficult that conversation was when Father Congreve told Father Benson it was time to step down. I cannot imagine the risk Father Bull or Paul took when they set a revolution in motion. Everything could have gone wrong. The resistance could have been so great, and the freeze so deep, that nothing might have changed, and like the residents of Nazareth, they could have been dragged to the cliff to be thrown over by the Brothers. But instead, roles which had been frozen were unfrozen, and new and wonderful things began to happen.

In the days and months ahead, our task, the task of the Brothers, the task of the new Superior, even your task as our friends and those who pray for us, is to pray for the gifts of courage and of hope. Courage to do things differently, because the world is different, the Church is different, and all of us are different. And hope to remember that the future, the world’s future, the Church’s future, and our future belong to God who promises to meet us in whatever the future will bring for remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.[6]

I must say that I have never so eagerly anticipated the election of a Superior as I do at this very moment. It is not that I am ready to lay down this role, and pass it on to someone else, although that is certainly true. Rather, it is because I am excited about our future, and the expectation that God’s promise to meet us there will be fulfilled in new and wonderful ways.

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[1] Mark: 6: 1 – 2

[2] Mark 6: 3

[3] Matthew 6: 5

[4] Matthew 6: 6

[5] Matthew 6: 7, 12 – 13

[6] Matthew 28:20