The Bethany Community of Saints Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

The Bethany Community is an intentional contemplative community for spiritual growth and support. Saints Mary, Martha and Lazarus were friends of Jesus who lived in Bethany where he often rested in their company and enjoyed domestic hospitality. (John 12) 

As an intentional community we share a desire like the friends in Bethany, for companions who encourage spiritual transformation. The Bethany Community will regularly study and pray together rooting deeply in ten spiritual practices/principles.  

We are a contemplative community. Meaning that we believe all people can experience a loving union with the Spirit through ordinary experiences in life as it is. Our study and prayer together assist our understanding of contemplative spirituality and mystical knowledge.  

We are an ongoing community, designed to be dispersed companions across Kansas. Living in our individual contexts we gather regularly for spiritual growth in community. Our meetings will happen both in person and using video conferencing.  

We are an ever-renewing community. Annual vows support our commitment to ten intentional guidelines assisting us toward healthy spirituality:

Silence

A basic human need; it cleanses our heart, bringing healing and renewal to our being. The Psalmist prays, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) “Silence is God’s first language; everything else is a poor translation.” (Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love)

Service

This is service which arises spontaneously from compassion and friendship.  It is about the mutual gift of our humanity: how we encounter God through sharing the life of others.  True service is a sanctuary of attentiveness where we recognize in each of those we serve the image of God. 

Scriptures

We believe God speaks in many places and in many ways, we seek to find God primarily in meditation on the Old and New Testaments, with nature, in the wisdom of Christian teachers, saints and mystics, as well as spiritual writings from other religions.  

Sacrament

God pours out everything for life and redemption to sustain the creation God loves infinitely. We seek to know the grace of God’s outpouring love in our lives. The Sacraments of the church use water, oil, bread, wine, and fire as outward signs of our indelible and eternal union with the God.    

Sabbath

God finished the work of creation and on the seventh day rested.  Sabbath was established in God’s time for refreshment and renewal of body, mind, and soul.  Sabbath is the thread weaving daily living and spiritual well-being. It is a gift of time to create sacred space. 

Sharing

In our community we seek to drink deeply from the spiritual well of life and find inspiration to live more intentionally empowered by the Spirit. Like Jesus and the family in Bethany, we share the joys and challenges of life, and we are encouraged in our faith together.

Simplicity

The absence of everything, in simplicity only the Spirit remains.

Surrender

Jean Pierre de Caussade called surrender the “sacrament of the present moment.” Surrender is a process of forgetting about what you think you want, releasing the desire to control the solution or outcome, and accepting what is as it is.

Solitude

A state experienced from intentionally withdrawing one’s attention from human activity in order to become more fully present with oneself and with God. It’s about an inner focus and awareness. 

Stability

Through our community we seek an intentional life that is healthy and life-giving.  To be stable is to be rooted in God even when life can be chaotic, difficult, and tumultuous. Our regular gatherings, study, and prayer form a foundation from which we can live not only for ourselves alone but in service to the world God loves so deeply.