The One Thing

Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico is one of my favorite places in the world. Though I’ve only been there twice, once was enough to seduce me. It’s desert landscape and panoramic views of giant mesas and azure skies are breathtaking. It’s now an educational spiritual retreat center similar in many ways to Richmond Hill and has become a destination for many who long to stand on sacred ground.

Lots of amazing things have happened there. Dinosaurs once walked the soggy wetlands that predated its current arid features. Millions of years later Navajos and various other tribes roamed the valley. The Spaniards settled there, too, eventually, and then came the cattle rustlers, the wranglers and the dudes.  Less significant, yet interesting nonetheless, is the fact that Ghost Ranch is often the destination of Hollywood film crews. Wild West adventures and science fiction thrillers have been brought to life there. In 1991 it was the location for the popular western comedy, City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal. The movie chronicled the midlife adventure of a few urban lightweights who took on the rough and tumble west in hopes of bringing deeper meaning to their lives. They discovered by way of a brash and intimidating cowhand named Curley that the secret to life rests in one thing. When they finally mustered the courage to ask what that one thing was, they were told it was up to them to decide and then devote themselves totally to it.

For those of us who follow Jesus, that one thing is made clear in the Sermon on the Mount. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Concern about everything else is to take a back seat to that. At Richmond Hill we try to live that out with your support. Our commitment as a community to the Benedictine way of ora et labora, work and prayer, provides structure toward our mutual goal of seeking the welfare of the city, that God’s Kingdom may come here, as it is in heaven, and that we might be a part of its coming. We work toward that together by striving to heal racial wounds, alleviate poverty, and insure access to things like public transportation, good jobs, education, and affordable housing. We’re able to make strides in that direction because of what many of you are already doing in the city and as a consequence of the support you provide those of us who live here so we can devote ourselves to praying the hours. Without you it would be untenable. The Lord provides as we provide for one another.

If there were one thing you did consistently and exceedingly well that would make a difference in your own life and the lives of those around you, what would that be? The short answer around here is prayer. It’s the heartbeat of our communal life. In the Benedictine tradition it is the Opus Die, or the work of God that we participate in daily. The Divine Office at Richmond Hill involves stopping to pray every morning, noon, and evening to honor God and participate in God’s love for the world.

In the Rule of Benedict, the statement is made, “We believe the divine presence is everywhere…especially true when we celebrate the Divine Office.” We trust in that together as we pray for our metropolitan city and for continued reconciliation. Joan Chittister, in her commentary, The Rule of Benedict: Insight for the Ages, writes that prayer in the Benedictine tradition “becomes a furnace in which every act of our lives is submitted to the heat so that our minds and our hearts, our ideas and our lives, come to be in sync, so that we are what we say we are, so that the prayers which pass our lips change our lives, so that God’s presence becomes palpable to us. Prayer brings us to burn off the dross of what clings to our souls like mildew and sets us free for deeper, richer, truer lives in which we become what we seek. (p. 89-90.)”

In my first year here at Richmond Hill there is nothing that has had as profound an impact on me personally as prayer. At times it has carried me. But even more than that, I believe that prayer is being answered around here all the time. I marvel at people’s devotion to it and trust in it. Their example has been an inspiration to me and has deepened my own conviction that prayer matters and imparts change. I can’t explain it, but I know it to be true. How else do you account for the evidence of healing all around us? The truth-telling about the racial past of this city, the young lives touched by Micah and ALP, the groups that now come from across the country to organize for change, and the variety of individuals who stop through day after day and say they feel inspired to make a difference…all signs, if you ask me, of the power of prayer. I know there is much more we hope and pray for, but don’t you think what has been done is significant? I do. It’s come as a result of a lot of hard work, no doubt, and in answer to countless prayers.

We can’t quantify the impact of 120 years of the Sisters of the Visitation of Monte Maria gathering in the chapel to chant the psalms together, to say nothing of the intentions of the native people from this area who we know also gathered on this corner of Church Hill to drum and pray in their tradition. We can, though, acknowledge that it has made a collective difference. And we can add our own voices to the chorus trusting that our mutual prayers continue to resonate with God’s love bringing about healing and reconciliation.

As always, we invite you to join us. March is the month that congregations recommit themselves to participate in Prayers for Metropolitan Richmond. The new prayer books are out. If you, or your congregation, need one, please let us know, or pick one up the next time you stop by. And when you do, come to the chapel and join us for prayer. Our collective intentions are not without impact. God is present in them and our desires are heard. May we continue to pray with eagerness and commitment, and a trust that doing this one thing well continues to bring about the healing we seek.

Rev. Joel Blunk, Co-Pastoral Director
March 2017 UPDATE