Supported and challenged in community

Holy Wisdom MonasteryBenedictine Bridge, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

by Pat Hobbins Kemps, Sunday Assembly member Holy Wisdom is a spiritual community; I gain so much from being part of it. But, it can never be an end itself. Jesus calls us to go out among the people—the larger community.  Once nourished, as we are each week in the Sunday Assembly, we are asked by God to share God’s peace, love and non-judgmental acceptance. Often in our busy day some folks drift right by us unnoticed: Why is he so sad—this man who walks past my house each day with his companion, a black lab … Donny’s gone, no longer works here. …

Sister Lynne Smith offering Infant baptism

Celebrate the blessings of new life in our midst

Lynn LembergerBenedictine Bridge, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

On April 25, 2015, we welcomed and offered a blessing for 19 new members of our Sunday Assembly. The new members include one single adult, one retired person, one mom with two daughters (one in middle school, one in high school), one family with four children, ages 4, 7, 8, 12, and three young couples or families with babies. One of these babies was baptized on April 12, while the other two are in the process of planning baptisms. What joy and new energy these new members bring to our Sunday Assembly. All are welcome to join us for worship each …

2014—the year of communities

Car McGinleyBenedictine Bridge, Care for the Earth, Homepage, Hospitality, Monastic Life, Oblates, Retreats, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

Members from the various communities at Holy Wisdom Monastery come together to celebrate Sister Joanne Kollasch’s 60 years of monastic profession. Sister Joanne sums up community living, “in community you receive so much more than you give.” (Photo by Kent Sweitzer)   As I reflect on the year 2014, I’m amazed at all that has emerged at Holy Wisdom Monastery in one short year. What rises to the top for me is the sense of community. Community living takes many forms here, from the monastic community to the Sunday Assembly worshipping community, to the oblate community, to the volunteer community, the …

Colleen Hartung's Homily, July 6, 2014

Holy Wisdom MonasteryHomilies, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

“He  Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30)   “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.   Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me….  You will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11: 28-30).   The Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel likes to tell parables or share scraps of wisdom, like this one, that throw his listeners a little off balance.  He does this in order to make them ponder and rethink taken for granted assumptions.  …

Spring 2014 update from Vera Court Neighborhood Center

Mike Sweitzer-BeckmanJustice, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

Holy Wisdom Monastery encourages donations to support the programs at the Vera Court Neighborhood Center. A collection is taken to support VCNC every third Sunday of the month at Sunday Assembly. These donations are then passed on in full to VCNC. Recently, VCNC shared this update on their programs and how donations are helping their programs. Click here to download the PDF update. If you are interested in learning more about VCNC, please visit their website: http://www.veracourt.org/. To learn more about programs at VCNC, contact Patrick at 608-246-8372 or patricks@veracourt.org.

The "big tent" Church

Holy Wisdom MonasteryPrayer & Worship, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

by Jim Smith, Dignity/USA program manager As the official institution of the Catholic church in Madison, WI continues down a Razinger-esque path of rigid uniformity and parochialism—the “small chapel” of church referred to negatively by Pope Francis—the Dignity community in Madison brings some fresh air to that beautiful city. From their inception, they have joined with the Episcopalian LGBT group Integrity to worship, serve and build relationships together. Taking very seriously Vatican II’s clarion call to build bridges between communities of different denomination and faith, Integrity/Dignity (I/D) of Madison didn’t waste time. Through these many years they have managed to sustain …

Celebrating the gift of ecumenical Benedictine community

Lynne Smith, OSBLiving in Community, Monastic Life, Oblates, Sunday Assembly, Women Exploring Community Leave a Comment

Today, February 17, 2012, marks the 6th anniversary of our official re-founding as an ecumenical Benedictine community for Benedictine Women of Madison. “A New World Order” is how the media sees it. “Welcoming women of all Christian traditions” is how we talk about it. “It is a gift to be welcomed into a community” is how a recent Volunteer in Community experiences it. The history that brings us to this day is rich and deep, as Sister Mary David Walgenbach recalls: The first steps were inspired by the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and the Community of Taize, France. …

Christmas Eve Homily

Lynne Smith, OSBHomilies, Monastic Life, Prayer & Worship, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

“Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” What we treasure and ponder in our hearts shapes our lives and creates our reality. These days many forces around us seek to tell us what to treasure in our hearts. The pre-Christmas advertizing has told us to ponder our needs and what we lack so that we will treasure the multiplicity of things they have to sell. Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to want us to ponder our status, power and entitlements so we will treasure winning more than working together for a greater good. …

The Ecumenical Path

Steve PowellBenedictine Bridge, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

How does a person raised in a small Evangelical Protestant church become an oblate of a Benedictine monastery and a member of Sunday Assembly at Holy Wisdom Monastery? The journey is not as long as one might suppose, because these two seemingly-opposites of the Christian spectrum have a lot in common with each other. Both of them have a strong belief in ecumenism, a realization that all Christians should be able to worship together. I grew up in the Christian Church (a conservative relative of the Disciples of Christ denomination). When I was in high school, we learned that our …

Christian-Islamic Relations Initiated at Holy Wisdom Monastery

Larry NesperInterfaith Relations, Prayer & Worship, Sunday Assembly Leave a Comment

Larry Nesper is a Sunday Assembly member and serves on the Sunday Assembly Council. Larry is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. * * * * * In the fall of 2010, Al Majkrzak gave a homily that included a call for people in Sunday Assembly to respond to the attacks on Muslim people, for proposing that a Muslim community center and mosque be established near the site of the attack on the World Trade Center.  Sunday Assembly Council took up the call and we contacted the president of the Islamic Center of …