Dear All Souls,
This Sunday, we will as a part of our Sunday Eucharist liturgy, affirm and reaffirm our shared Rule of Life. Our Rule and the practice of setting aside a Sunday for affirmations is a practice that has been part of the life of All Souls for nearly sixteen years.
In those years our Rule of Life has offered us a way of receiving a particular expression for the Living God's intention for every church: to be a people whose lives are shaped by attentiveness to Christ, generous hospitality, restoration, and shalom. As we have often said, our Rule is a way of ordering our common life around the gift of grace which is God’s kind invasion of God’s life into ours. It gives shape to our deepening shared desire to become the kind of people we are called to be through our baptism, learning together how to receive and respond to the life of God.
Over time, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we have received from those who have affirmed our Rule of Life has been a desire for more intentional support and formation in learning how to live into and out of the Rule. While it has continued to offer shape and direction to our corporate life together, many have expressed a longing for it to take deeper root in their individual lives, households, relationships, and daily rhythms.
In recent months, our conversations as clergy and church leaders have prayerfully held this feedback. We have been asking how we might better accompany those who have chosen to take on this shared way of life, offering encouragement, formation, and opportunities to reflect together on what it means to live faithfully within the particular calling of our community.
This year, we hope to make more explicit some of the ways we intend to come alongside you in this journey. Many of these practices have already been part of our life together, but the more we have talked, we do believe there is value in naming them more clearly and offering a more intentional rhythm of support. Alongside this, we also want to offer greater clarity about what it means to be a Rule of Life Member at All Souls, and the shared commitments we are making when we affirm or reaffirm this Rule.
Friends, above all, our hope is that the Rule will continue to be more than a statement of our common aspirations. We desire for it to be a living expression of our baptismal vocation, one that shapes our life together and accompanies each of us as we learn, slowly and faithfully, to offer our lives to Christ and to one another.
How We Walk With You
All Souls seeks to accompany those living under the Rule through several rhythms of care and formation:
Seasonal Gatherings: Shared meals during most liturgical seasons for Rule of Life Members that are centered on fellowship, reflection, prayer, and encouragement.
Monthly Letters: Every month an email is sent to our Rule of Life Members from one of our clergy. These letters, focused on our Rule of Life, include a brief theological reflection, a suggested practice, a question for examination, and something from the life of the church.
Weekly Intercession: Each person living under the Rule is remembered by name at our weekly Intercessory and Healing Eucharist.
Annual Pastoral Conversation: At least once a year, a member of our clergy reaches out to offer the opportunity to sit with you in order to reflect on how the Rule is shaping your life, where they are encountering difficulty, where they need support, etc.
Retreat & Resources: We offer our Rule of Life Members the opportunity for a one day retreat focused on our Rule of Life, and make available to them a growing library of resources and practices.
How We Share This Life
Those who take on the Rule are encouraged to seek to cultivate a common rhythm of life through:
The Eucharist & Participation: Rule of Life Members are encouraged to be present to one another at the Table weekly, or as best they are able. Beyond Sunday they are encouraged toward cultivating relationships and sharing responsibility for the community.
Prayer: Those taking on our rule are encouraged to establish a rhythm of Morning or Evening Prayer.
Generosity: Sharing our time, gifts, and financial resources according to our ability.
Ember Letters: The “Ember Days” are days of special prayer for the ministry of the entire church. On Ember Days, Rule of Life members are encouraged to fill out the Ember Letter form providing updates to our clergy on how they may need prayer and support, as well as offer stories and reflections from their life together with us.
Service: Rule of Life Members are asked to be willing to discern where one's life might offer beauty, truth, and goodness to the common life of All Souls. Including but not limited to the following:
Offering annual nominations for deacons
Leading small communities.
Serving as a lector or liturgist
Teaching in children's, youth, and adult formation
Serving as a pastoral care or prayer ministry leader
Participating in the formation and mentoring of newer members
Leading congregational initiatives related to hospitality, restoration, and shalom
As always, you do not need to take on our Rule of Life to belong fully to the life of All Souls. We often say of any invitation, “All may, some should, none must.” And we do mean that. For those considering affirming or reaffirming the Rule, I would encourage you to pay attention to what stirs within you as you consider this invitation, including any places of resistance or hesitation. These, too, can become places of prayerful discernment, as we seek to listen for how Christ is inviting us to order our lives more deeply around his life.
For the heart of Christ and the good of his people,
Bliss+