Living by Rule (1)

Now after learning the canon of the Old and New Testaments, Brendan wished to write out and learn the rules of the saints of Erin. Bishop Erc gave him leave to go and learn this rule, for he knew that it was of God that this counsel had come to him.

  - Vita Brendani, Irish, 16th century from and earlier ms. (translation, Charles Plummer)

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say...

  - 2 Timothy 2.5, 6

Living to rule
Imagine: It’s the middle of the 6^th century. You are a young man in a pagan country who believes God has called you to the ministry of His Word. You attended the medieval equivalent of Christian prep school, Bible college, and seminary. You have one of the greatest mentors of the day as your soul friend and father in the faith. And now you want to make sure everything’s in place for you to succeed in the Lord’s calling.

What’s the next step?

Make a good plan.

Celtic Christian leaders understood the benefit to be gained by committing to a rule of discipline to guide their lives and ministries together. A fair number of these “monastic rules” have survived from the period of the Celtic Revival (ca. 430-900 AD), and they give us a glimpse into a way of life that had a profound impact on culture and society at a time when the Church in Europe was complacent and in decline.

The fact is, everybody lives by some set of rules or disciplines or routines that gives guidance and direction to his life. You do, I do, we all do.

For most of us, however, these “rules” are not written down. We’ve merely picked them up as we’ve gone along, and followed them more or less unconsciously. And so far they’ve worked pretty well for us.

The problem with such unwritten rules of life, however, is twofold: First, they don’t include enough guidance for the strengthening of our souls; and, second, we have little incentive to do anything other than bend them when the going gets tough.

These “rules” are descriptions of how we pass our time each week. They’re not prescriptions for how to ensure our use of God’s time will be always and increasingly for His glory. For that, we’ll need something entirely different.

Brendan and the rules of Irish saints
Bishop Erc, who was foster-father to Brendan, known as “The Navigator” for his missions on the ocean (fl. 560 AD), knew that his charge would not be ready for service to the Lord until he had demonstrated mastery of the Word of God, learned the rules of discipline currently guiding other pastors in their ministries, and adopted a rule of his own. To help him in preparing that personal rule, Erc would have counseled him according to Brendan’s sense of Brendan’s calling and their assessment together of his needs. The rule he would have written would have been designed to guide him in specific areas of growth, improvement, and work, according to the calling God appointed to him. His rule would have become a kind of “life-map” or plan for growth and ministry, and he would have reviewed it often and updated it as needed.

Thus the routines of his daily work would have been made subject to a set of rules or disciplines that would prepare Brendan, soul and body, to live and work for the glory of God in all areas of life. Any who might join Brendan in his particular mission would likewise have been expected to embrace the rule he had developed for himself.

Brendan’s rule served him well. The story of Brendan’s life and exploits was so beloved in medieval Europe that 125 manuscripts in three languages have survived to report it to this day.

The importance of a personal rule
This is why I think it’s important to establish a personal rule of discipline, first of all, to give guidance and structure to the development of our spiritual lives, and, secondly, to chart a path of growth and service for everything else we hope to accomplish.

A written rule thus becomes a plan to pursue, a standard to attain, and a touchstone to return to and assess ourselves by. Having a written rule of disciplines – as opposed to a daily or weekly unwritten routine – ensures that our minds will be focused on that calling God has appointed to us – our Personal Mission Fields – and will enable us to improve and invest our energies and resources accordingly.

The disciplines and plans we incorporate into our personal rules do not merely describe what we typically do in a given week. They prescribe what we must do in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, fan into flame the gifts with which we have been endowed, force our way more deeply into the Kingdom of God, make the most or our opportunities, and do all things to the glory of God.

Bishop Erc was pleased when God put it on young Brendan’s heart to study how the saints of Ireland before him had structured their lives and were working to ensure growth in their souls and service to others. He believed God had put this in Brendan’s heart, because both the young man and his foster-father understood a very basic principle of effective life and ministry: When you covenant with God, and with others who care for your soul as you do, according to a specific regimen of disciplines, objectives, and activities, the likelihood is greater that you will realize marked growth in every area of your life.

This is what we mean by living to rule. We assess our needs and opportunities, in the light of our specific calling from God. Then we establish a rule of disciplines, make a covenant with God, share it with others, and invite them to support, encourage, and hold us accountable along the way.

Our Celtic Christian forebears left a fair number of these rules of discipline as part of their legacy for us. In this series we’re going to have look at those rules from a variety of angles, in order to learn from those whose faith and endeavors “saved civilization” (Thomas Cahill) during those four centuries in early medieval Europe. I believed that part of their success is be accounted for by the disciplined ways they joined together to encourage and support one another, and to hold one another accountable, according to specific rules of discipline for life.

Their example confronts us with a challenge we must carefully consider: Will our lives be sufficiently well disciplined to leave a story others will want to hear?

T. M. Moore