To journey, assemble, listen govern and serve is an epic adventure.
Basileians journey, assemble, listen, govern and serve.
These five disciplines flow out of the story that shapes our charism, which serves as dynamic source our way of life.
We are equipped in this Basileian way of life through our catechism. What we mean by "catechism" may be understood in two senses: 1) as a formal period of instruction and formation as a Basileian and 2) as the whole period of our lives in this age, especially as shaped by the Church Year, whereby day by day we are transformed in ever-greater measure according to the likeness of Christ.
Our Catechism (in both of the senses described above) expresses the whole of our Basileian charism, albeit in an instructional and formative way.
- journey with passion
- assemble in a convergent way
- listen to wisdom
- receive empowerment to govern
- serve to advance transformation
The spirit of our catechism is not merely about downloading information. It is about instruction and the formation of life disciplines supporting our Basileian way of life. It is intended to embody what we believe and who we are and finally to also equip us to effectively serve the Church and the world.
Therefore, we employ the following general catechetical pattern comprised of five primary disciplines and their related practices:
Journey with Christ to the Mountain
- As Worshipers who engage in Eucharistic worship, beginning on Sundays.
- As Global Pilgrims who pray the Daily Office.
- As Contemplatives who practice contemplative prayer.
Assemble as the Church
- As Soul Friends who love and help others to belong in order to believe.
- As Celtic Community-Builders who cultivate colonies of heaven on earth.
- As Forerunners who in our governing roles create thin places between heaven and earth.
Listen to the Word
- As Storytellers who follow the lectionary in rhythm with the Church Year.
- As Pattern-Keepers who interpret the Word according to the Apostolic Rule of Faith.
- As Overcomers who observe our Constitution.
Govern from the Table
- As Sentinels who welcome all whom Christ authorizes to come to the Table.
- As Friends of God who make consensus decisions that bind and loose.
- As Stewards who create wealth and tithe to fund the government of the Kingdom of God.
Serve the Church and the World
- As Hosts who offer hospitality to all already within and to those yet beyond the Church.
- As Ambassadors who advance the Kingdom through our vocational callings.
- As Voluntary Exiles who travel to the edges of established expressions of Christendom.
The more I immerse myself in the universal language of myth and legend the more alive Scripture becomes, the more mystically transformative the sacraments and the Liturgy become, and the more clear the speaking of the Holy Spirit becomes.
Giving ourselves to the epic quest of embodying God in our leprous bodies is how we exhaust evil.
The Father’s language is way more wild, controversial, deeply mystical, and outright outrageous than mortal minds can handle. Thus, to hear and learn from the Father we must first eat what Tolkien calls lembas, the waybread of Elves.
Both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan, like white and black pieces on a chessboard, are at war over whose world system shall rule creation.
Romantic fiction and science fiction give us the key that puts into proper perspective rulings like those of late by the U.S. Supreme Court redefining marriage. The key? Heroism.
The Roman Empire didn’t have a problem with Christian believers, but with Christian worshipers.
It doesn't matter if you're sailing a boat, smacking a tennis ball, kicking a football, climbing 8,000 meter peaks, playing chess, or drinking Christ’s blood from a chalice served by a priest in the Eucharistic worship of the Church. We’re all playing the same game for the same prize.
Providentially, only two days before watching the movie, Lucy, for the first time in my life I encountered the phrase, “the drug of immortality,” but not from a Hollywood scriptwriter.
Spiritualistic and materialistic notions of the world are scandalous. They both suffer from an underdeveloped sense of the Resurrection as an accomplished fact. The image of God in us isn’t just a “spiritual” reality, but also one for the physics books.
Having faith in God doesn’t magically make the world a better place. Having God’s faith in humanity does.
"Circle me, Lord." The First Adam didn’t pray this way nor invite his wife to join him in such a prayer. However, the Second Adam does pray this way and invites his bride, the Church, to join Him in praying this way too.
Forbidden fruit never satisfies. The more we eat, the hungrier we get. We’re at a turning point. Something big’s happening. We’re losing a taste for formulas. The prodigal son is coming to his senses.
Arising out of a common desire and hunger to experience the fullness of Christian worship and spirituality, the Convergence Movement seeks to blend or merge the essential elements in the Christian faith represented historically in three major streams of thought and practice: the Charismatic, Evangelical/Reformed and Liturgical/Sacramental.
As a Soul Friend, Tim is forming a colony of heaven on earth by giving people a place to belong in order to believe instead of requiring them to believe before they can belong.
In all great stories, there is a point where the hero and his or her friends make a costly choice. Contrary to the instinct for self-preservation, they take dangerous paths into the heart of darkness to destroy evil and save the world.
The mission to restore all things is the spirit and pattern of liturgical Eucharistic worship. Replacing the Fallen World System with the Kingdom of God is the joy of worship.
Subcultural and countercultural forms of denominationalism effectively say yes to Hades and to hell with the Church. Kingdomculture dares to say yes to the Church and to hell with hell.
When we’re about the ultimate business of running our own city, we no longer “go to church” or “go to work” or “go to the store” or “go to school” as exiles, but go from Church into our own city to embody the Kingdom of God in our various specialized vocational callings seven days a week.
Our destiny, your destiny, my destiny is to shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. Dare to imagine that. Dare to imagine becoming by Grace what God is by nature. As St. Athanasius says, Christ became “incarnate” so we might be “ingodded.”
The covenantal nature of mankind as created in God’s image with both an individual and collective nature is foundational to understanding the nature of male-female equality and the nature of male headship, respectively.
The Covenantal view of how men and women exercise individual and collective governance is an area of profound confusion today.
In addition to the false dichotomy between “local church” and “mission church” we also face a great challenge in the false dichotomy between individual freedom and collective order in membership.
Basileia's Canons are the ecclesiastical standards by which we govern ourselves in unity with and accountability to Christ and His Church.
Six ecclesial jurisdictions give expression to our charism: • The Alliance • Communities • Fellowships • Abbeys • Societies • Chapters
Diaconal functions of member formation in general and of the Catechumenate and of the Novitiate in particular are led and administered by Basileia’s Deacon Councils.
Forming jurisdictions, guarding Constitutional and Eucharistic boundaries and administering membership rites is the responsibility of Basileia’s Presbyter Councils.
For mortals, fantasy isn’t real but pretend. But fantasy in the hands of faithful immortals is the power of sanctified imagination to fuse thought and action and build worlds in the language of poetry, epic story, ceremony, liturgy, and ritual.