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THE LIVING CHURCH • September 6,2015
By Sarah Puryear
In your doctoral work you have focused onthe leadership of St. Benedict. Because of hiscreation of an intentional Christian commu-nity in a time of cultural change and politicalchaos, Benedict is considered a timely examplefor the church in a post-Christian culture e.g.,Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option”). How has St.Benedict’s example guided you so far in creat-ing the Community of St. Anselm?
St. Benedict is a great influence on me and Arch-bishop Justin alike (who is a Benedictine Oblate) andthe flavour of our Rule is much inspired by St. Bene-dict,both in particular emphases (restating in our context St. Benedict’s exhortation to his monks to“prefer nothing whatever to Christ”)as well as the ba-sic balance between work, study, prayer, rest— andthe importance of silence in our daily schedule. Also
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ITZELL
Lambeth’s Benedict Option
The Rev. Anders Litzell serves as prior of the Com- munity of St. Anselm at Lambeth Palace, one of the new initiatives begun by the Archbishop of Canterbury. An Anglican priest from Sweden, Litzell has a background in charismatic and Lutheran churches and attended St. BarnabasChurch, Glen Ellyn, while studying at WheatonCollege in Illinois. The Community of St. Anselm,which launches this September, will consist of anecumenical group of 16 residents and 20other members living and working in London. Mem-bers have committed to one year of communitylife, daily prayer, and service to others.
Community of St. Anselm
Photos courtesy of the Community of St. Anselm
September 6,2015 • THE LIVING CHURCH
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made up of people who are20to 35. You havereceived hundreds of applications for only afew spots, demonstrating a great interestamong young people in such a community.What is it about this venture that appeals tomillennials?
Just under 500 people from all over the world, andfrom a very great range of denominations, started theapplication process, applying for 16 resident and up to40 non-resident places (the latter for people livingand working in London). By any standard, that’s a phenomenal response.Yet on one level there is nothing special about themillennials’response to this at all; it is the call of theHoly Spirit to be shaped into the likeness of Christ.That call is the same and equally attractive in everygeneration, which is why we are able to draw ontreasures from throughout the life of the Church inthis formational year. Jesus Christ is the same, yes-terday, today, and forever,and he calls a people to hisname today as before, and it is not only attractingmillennials. But for this to be a gift to future genera-tions, we are inviting people in the earlier stages of their lives.St. Benedict’s wisdom in shaping and facilitating deephuman relationships is a wealth of riches that contin-ues to inspire and challenge me as we make thesmaller, but ever so important, decisions that willguide our day-to-day life.
What experiences in your own past, both withinand outside of the church, will you be drawingupon most as you lead this community?
That is a very good question— but I can only answer “all of it and more.”Drawing together a global com-munity of young men and women from the wholerange of the Christian family tree is going to takeevery ounce of wisdom that I have and then some. If I were to become complacent about my personal ex- perience working across denominations, in foreigncountries and cultures, in a range of styles of worshipand theological contexts,etc., I would be setting my-self up for failure because my experience is only
my
experience. I am so enormously grateful for the gift of my team, which brings with it a range of other expe-riences of international and cross-denominational re-lationship and community experience,not leastthrough our close friendship and partnership with theFrench Catholic community of Chemin Neuf, some of whom have been resident at Lambeth Palace for a couple of years now.
The Community of St. Anselm will be uniquein part because members are committing to aone-year term. What do you see as the oppor-tunities and challenges of committing to thiscommunity for a period of one year?
The opportunities are a group of young people whohave never met coming together to share everythingfor 10 months; being shaped into the likeness of Christ by a balance of prayer, study,and service to the poor in growing mutual love;and transparency of lives towards one another. That carries an enormous potential in and of itself.The challenges are exactly the same; they’ve never met, they come from all over the world with a vastrange of differing cultures and ways to understand lifein Christ. Add to that the inherent challenges of shar-ing life and we have a set of challenges that, when em-braced in a commitment intentionally to learn to love,are going to bring forth exactly that likeness of Christ.It is a work of God’s grace;it is also a work of deep hu-mility and commitment from these young people.
Much has been said in recent months aboutmillennials and their relationship or lackthereof) to the church. The Community will be
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Archbishop Justin Welby will serve as abbot to the Community of St. Anselm.
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THE LIVING CHURCH • September 6,2015
On another level,this year of community life is ad-dressing a series of needs and wants in society, whichthe Holy Spirit is even today equipping the Church torespond to. The word
community
is being usedwidely by both Church and increasingly in secular so-ciety today (and it is even bent out of shape fromtime to time). It is a banner waved around by politi-cians, banks, even the police, at least in the U.K. Thereis a distinct need for a different way of relating to oneanother in life than transactional connections, thanisolating individualism and self-identification, and Ithink that need and desire is what secular society isreflecting.In that sense it is not about millennials per se, butabout the signs of the times, perhaps most visibly em-bodied by the millennials. Community life in the nameof Christ; a life shared in increasing transparency toone another, self-giving to each other,and to thosemost in need in society. A life shared in sacrifice, prayer, discipline, study: this kind of community life isnot another add-on to be slapped onto Western indi- vidualism/consumerism. It is a different paradigm of social existence,and I am delighted that we canmodel that in such a visible place, and annually sendmore young people out into the world with a deep ex- perience of that way of life.
How might the example of the Community ofSt. Anselm inform local churches as they seekto reach form and equip young-adult Chris-tians?
I can guess, but my guess will be as good as yours.This is the kind of question that we can answer look-ing back. But on a broad scale, we can model some-thing and so be a visible encouragement to others toimplement what God has put on their hearts, whichmay bear some likeness to what we are doing (and infact I am already seeing that effect reflected in my in-box on a significant scale). What’s also very importantis that we can show that there is a profound willing-ness, even eagerness, among the hundreds of young people we’ve been in contact with to be whole-hearted disciples of Christ, and they are looking for ways to articulate that authentically— in thought,word,and deed— in their lives. That is enormouslyencouraging.
Ecumenism is a central part of ArchbishopJustin Welby’s vision for the Community of St.Anselm. How will ecumenism be woven intothe identity of the community and what doyou hope it will contribute to the ecumenicalmovement?
The ecumenical movement as a phenomenon needs
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Of the 36 members of the community,16 will live at Lambeth Palace.