18 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 ourcontext 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

TWENTY MINUTES WITH THE REV. ANDERS LITZELL

Lambeth’s Benedict Option

The Rev. Anders Litzell serves as prior of the Com-munity of St. Anselm at Lambeth Palace, one ofthe new initiatives begun by the Archbishop ofCanterbury. An Anglican priest from Sweden,Litzell has a background in charismatic andLutheran 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 20 othermembers 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

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made up of people who are 20 to 35. You havereceived hundreds of applications for only af e w s p o ts , d e m o n s tr at in g a g r e a t in t e r e stamon g young people in such a commun ity .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 aphenomenal 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 oftheir 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. IfI 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 myexperience. I am so enormously grateful for the gift ofmy 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 ofwhom have been resident at Lambeth Palace for acouple 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 ofChrist by a balance of prayer, study, and service to thepoor in growing mutual love; and transparency oflives towards one another. That carries an enormouspotential in and of itself.

The challenges are exactly the same; they’ve nevermet, 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 aboutmil le n n ia l s an d th e ir re la t io n sh ip ( o r l ac kthereof) 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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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 ofsocial 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 youngpeople we’ve been in contact with to be whole-hearted disciples of Christ, and they are looking forways to articulate that authentically — in thought,word, and deed — in their lives. That is enormouslyencouraging.

Ecumen ism i s a ce ntra l part of Arch bishopJustin 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.

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only one thing to be sustained: thecontinued example of persons whofind and embrace their commonunity as members of the body ofChrist. We are creating that kind ofunity in a place that is very visible.We are also doing it while invitingbranches of the Church that struc-turally, historically, and/or when en-gaging in current issues find it diffi-cult to engage with one another atall. But, and this is so important, ourvisible unity does not come from ourability to agree, our unity comes fromsearching for and discerning, by thelight of the Holy Spirit, the presenceof Christ in each other — and hon-ouring that presence even when, orespecially when, we disagree on im-portant matters.

Describe what an ordinary day in the life of thecommunity will be like.I’ll answer for the resident community; we have anon-residential membership mode also, where peoplekeep their jobs and accommodation in and aroundLondon and go on this journey completely embeddedin the workplace. The press has largely picked up onthe “you get to live at Lambeth Palace” thread.

Every day will begin with silence: breakfast, sharedBible reading, morning prayer, and personal prayer —all in silence until 10 a.m. (with the exception forsharing in the liturgy of morning prayer). Then therest of the morning and afternoon is given to an evensplit of either study or service outside the walls to themost vulnerable in society. This is broken by a middayEucharist. The day concludes with Vespers and anhour of joint silent prayer. The content of the eveningsvary between learning transparency with each otherin smaller groups, having fun together, and a range ofother things. On Sundays all members will find a localchurch to worship in. On top of this all household ac-tivities are shared — cooking for each other, doinglaundry for each other, cleaning, etc.

What passages of Scripture have been resonat-ing with you as you prepare to launch and leadthis community?Oh, that varies a lot with my needs each day and whatthe Holy Spirit brings to mind for my comfort — butas for constant voices this refrain has resounded from

the Psalms: “Arise, LORD, and come to your restingplace, you and the ark of your might” (Ps. 132:8, fromthe dedication of the temple of Solomon in 2 Chron.6:41). I have a very acute sense of our building,through our lives as a community, a house for thedwelling of the Lord (1 Pet. 2:5), and the power of hav-ing such a breadth of the Christian family tree in thebuilding of this community is far more than symbolic.It is the potential of being more fully the whole bodyof Christ, indwelled by his Spirit, revealing the Fa-ther’s love to the world in thought, word, and deed,and then everything becomes possible.

How can we be praying for you and for theCommunity of St. Anselm?Whatever you would pray for any family: for unity, forthriving, for relationships to be true and deep andhonest, for our dealing with conflict, for our searchingfor and finding the image of Christ in each other whenour words and actions hide that image well, and forthe grace to honour that image and so to bring outthat likeness more fully in each other. Perhaps espe-cially when we are at odds with each others’ opinionsor actions (or seeming inability to pick up our socksfrom the floor). And pray for the fruit in the lives ofour young people when they leave after a year, to re-turn to the mission of God in the world.

The Rev. Sarah Puryear is priest associate at St.George’s Church, Nashville.

Shared Bible reading, morning prayer,and personal prayer will start every

morning for the resident community.