Monastic wisdom online: How a community of brothers are sharing spiritual truths on social media
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article40777
- Author
- Koester, James (Colin James), 1957-
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican World
- Date
- 2017 March
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican World
- Date
- 2017 March
- Issue
- 144
- Page
- 14-15
- Notes
- In Advent, the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE) partners "with the Anglican Communion Office to offer #AdventWord, a global Advent Calendar, with thousands of images submitted by participants around the world. Each Lent, we produce a new six-week video series with accompanying workbook and online materials. And every day, an email from 'Brother, Give Us a Word' goes out to our subscribers, featuring a short quote pulled from a Brother's sermon with the invitation to read more" (p. 14). Fr. Koester traces the seed for 'Brother, Give Us a Word' back to the fourth century Desert Fathers (Abbas) and Mothers (Ammas). "The seeker would approach and ask, 'Abba (Amma), give me a word" (p. 15). The brothers' problem with social media is their concern that with a short 140-character tweet "there is a real limitation in the kind of relationships that can develop over that format" (p. 15). "The prayers of 'Brother, Give Us a Word' begin in worship, and when they go online, they invite those distant from us in time and space to join their hearts to ours in that worship of God that goes on and on. And so our worship -- and the fruit it bears in our online ministry -- links us to the Body of Christ around the world" (p. 15). "To subscribe to Brother, Give Us a Word, a daily email with a word of encouragement and hope from an SSJE brother, visit: www.SSJE.org/word" (p. 15).
- Subjects
- Society of St. John the Evangelist
- Monasticism and religious orders - Episcopal Church
- Social media - Religious aspects - Episcopal Church
- Social media - Religious aspects - Anglican Communion
- Desert Fathers
- Spiritual life - Christianity
- Community (Religion)
- Interpersonal relations - Religious aspects - Episcopal Church
- Interpersonal relations - Religious aspects - Anglican Communion
- Email - Religious aspects - Episcopal Church
- Internet - Religious aspects - Episcopal Church
- Worship - Episcopal Church
- Location
- General Synod Archives