Order for living

At the stewardship conference, I went to a workshop put on by Karen Ward on the new monasticism movement. It's a fairly simple concept of a rule of life and an order for living, but requires community and commitment. There's a local order here in the Mission district. They have a monthly Thursday gathering that seems to have gone dormant. They also have a core group that follows an order for rhythm of prayer and vows.

They're rhythm looks like:
Morning and Evening Prayer
Daily Scripture Reading
Communal Prayer every other Friday morning
Weekly communal gathering
Monthly Tithe
Monthly Sharing of created artifacts
Yearly Silent Retreat
Yearly deinvestment of possessions
Hospitality
Caring for the stranger, orphan, elderly, poor and unaffliated


and they're order:
Service

We account for and leverage our time to serve others through evaluating our commitments and developing a written schedule we share with one another that reflects our most important priorities.
We give priority in our schedules to seeking the presence of God with orphans and widows and people who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, lonely or in prison.
We seek to do work that provides income and fulfills our true vocation with dignity and in ways that promote equality, sustainability and justice.

Simplicity

We keep careful account of our personal finances and live a budget that reflects sustainability and intentional conscientious priorities, and we share our income and expense budgets with one another in a yearly members meeting..
We give away 10% of our income; (5% to the common work of Seven and 5% to the charities of our choice).
We seek to live lives that are focused, content, sustainable, and generous. As a general principle we are mindful not accumulate possessions and, once a year, (on the day after thanksgiving) we collectively take an inventory of our belongings and evaluate what to keep, share, sell or give away.
Creativity

We cultivate divine imagination by reading the scriptures daily with our family or household.
We seek to find God in all of creation and our humanity through intentional and reflective interactions with nature and cultural artifacts.
We create cultural artifacts (recipes, poems, paintings, songs, stories, etc) and share them with each other once a month leaving a trail for others to discover and learn from.
Prayer

We begin and end the day with 15 minutes of prayer.
We take an annual three-day silent retreat.
We participate in cooperative morning-prayer the second and fourth Fridays of every month.

Community

We are active in a Jesus dojo cohort.
We participate regularly in Sunday night SEVEN gatherings.
We practice hospitality on a weekly basis (Thursdays suggested) with neighbors, coworkers, travelers and strangers on a weekly basis.
Obedience

We keep our vows.
We meet with a trusted mentor at least once a month to talk about personal growth. (either someone within SEVEN or another local person.)
We seek community discernment on major life decisions (change of vocation, marriage, relocation, personal crisis, etc) through a listening meeting
Love

We seek to meet one another’s needs.
We seek to be reconciled one with another and with all people.
We seek unity, cooperation and goodwill with all groups and people locally and globally seeking God in the way of Jesus.



What would it look like? A monthly gathering? A group to develop a rule? A group to be responsible to? Tell me what you think? Are there people that come to mind?