Most of us are familiar with the traditional vows that members of religious orders make - poverty, chastity and obedience. We are less likely to be familiar with the Benedictine promises of stability, obedience and conversion of life. This is unfortunate, for these vows are appropriate not only for members of Benedictine monastic communities, but also for us as members of Saint Matthias Church.

The promise of stability has been central to my life in Christ for the past eleven years. I came to see its importance in the year after I left the diocesan staff in 1991. When my position at the diocese was eliminated, my first thought was to look for a position in New England. Our daughter Meghan, who was 12 at the time, had other ideas. She wanted to stay in Buffalo and asked me, in no uncertain terms, to look for a position here. Her reason was clear: she didn't want to leave the good friends she had made over the three years that we had been in Buffalo. Somehow I was given the grace to hear God in her request and we stayed. Over the next few years, I came to see the value of stability, to see that the community of lay people and clergy that is the Diocese of Western New York was where God wanted me to be. It is this community that has helped me to grow during the past decade and has supported me and my family through changes that were often difficult. The promise of stability is my promise to stay put and look for God in my current relationships and circumstances. But it is also God's promise that if I will be still and open my eyes, I will see that God is there.

When we embrace the promise of stability, we can embrace much more readily the other two Benedictine promises. In a community in which we are known and loved, obedience to God becomes possible in a way that I don't think is possible outside of community. In such a community we can hear and respond to God, taking the risk of obedience in the confidence that the community will support us. In such a community we can also experience conversion, not the once in a lifetime Damascus Road type of conversion, but our daily transformation into the likeness of Christ.

The American patriot Tom Paine wrote in the introduction to The Crisis in 1776, "These are the times that try men's souls." In times of crisis God calls us to respond. Although I know that God can and often does use crises to call people to move on to new places and new opportunities, I believe that God's more frequent call in such times is the one the Children of Israel heard at the Red Sea when the army of Pharaoh was approaching: "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today." (Exodus 13:13) I am thankful for those members of this community who have stood firm during the past eighteen months, trusting that God would be present and at work in these difficult times. I pray that many of those who found it too difficult to be here will in God's time return and find once again God's presence and transforming power in our life together.