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From Volume 5, Number 4, Spring 1999 The Ways of Aidan: Aidan the gentle evangelist has been the motive for the St. Aidan Trust. He provides an example of devotion to Jesus, humility, passion for the human soul, simplicity and a heart for justice which is like refreshing rain to the hard, packed soil of our times. Yet following the Aidan Way in a culture so alien to his every virtue is no easy matter. Aidan had two critical resources which we lack: a healthy world view that was natural to his time and culture and a community which shared that world view. The contemporary pilgrim on the Aidan Way finds his or her path beset by obstacles both within and without. The obstacles without are plain enough, for the materialistic madness of the West surrounds us. The daily office lectionary of the Episcopal Church provided a series of readings from the prophet Jeremiah during the weeks of Lent this year. Again and again one is struck by the parallels between today's world and the corruption, indifference and religious compromise against which Jeremiah rails. God's values for economic and social justice, personal holiness and spiritual honesty and integrity find little place in our times. However, the inner obstacle is less obvious. We have been raised in this culture; it has been a part of our food and drink and the air we breath since infancy. If the fellowship of Aidan is to serve as salt in a bland world, as leaven in a dying world, then we must take great risks in standing against the tide. This risk taking provides us with one of the first models within the Aidan Way, the Way of Brendan. Brendan of Clonfort is better known as Brendan the Navigator or Brendan the Voyager. Probably the latter title is to be preferred, for navigating is one thing that Brendan did not do, at least on the outset of his voyage. He and his companions set out under sail towards the west. After two weeks the wind failed, so the brothers took to rowing until at length their strength failed. It was at this point that Brendan set forth both their course and ours: "Brothers, do not fear. God is our helper, sailor and helmsman, and he guides us. Ship all the oars and the rudder. Just leave the sail spread and God will do as he wishes with his servants and their ship."1 The launching of the St. Aidan Trust occurred under similar conditions: a wonderful vision, faithful companions and strong westerly breeze. But when the wind failed we were left to our own devices and soon exhausted the human possibilities. The late John Wimber told a story of a turning point in his ministry. He was pastor of a successful congregation, the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. He was a sought after speaker at church conferences and a lecturer at Fuller Theological Seminary in the area of church growth. At the same time, it took more and more of his dwindling stock of energy to keep up the pace, and the constant activity was taking its toll on his health. One night, stressed and discouraged, he sat in the easy chair in his study wondering how he could continue. In this moment of darkness the Word of the Lord came to him: "John, you've showed me your ministry, now I want to show you Mine." When we've exhausted our resources there comes a time of stillness when God is at last able to speak and to lead. It would be ideal if we could avoid the exhaustion and confusion and discouragement, but it takes a more faithful saint than I have ever been to travel daily on the breath of God and never try to take charge the moment I think I know where God is heading. Yet this reliance on the wind of the Spirit is essential to following the Aidan Way. The element of risk in the Aidan Way, the risk that calls us to model ourselves on Brendan, is that of sailing in uncharted waters with the Spirit as our guide and our hand off the rudder. We believe God called us to forsake the models of religious community that exist in the contemporary church. It is not that they are somehow defective, indeed we honor them for their faithfulness, the blessing they are both to the discipleship of their members and to the life of the Church universal. Rather, we seek a community formed around the relational patterns of the Celtic saints, and for that there is no contemporary model. The first test of a call to the pattern of Christian living encompassed by the Aidan Way is this test of risk. If our discipleship requires us to be part of a settled and structured community, then Jesus is not asking us to take the Aidan Way. This does not mean we cannot weave the elements of the Way into our Rule of Life, only that it should be done in the context of an established community. There are Friends of the St. Aidan Trust who are members of such communities and have been wonderful resources in this journey. However, if Brendan's choice, to surrender the rudder and oars and rely upon the Wind of the Spirit, touches something deep within, then seek your soul's friend and continue your exploration of the Aidan Way.
1The Voyage of St. Brendan. Trans. From the Latin by John J. O'Meara
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