We are living in a moment when many institutions — civic, cultural, and ecclesial — are struggling to find their footing. The dominant system is reactive, exhausted, and loud. And many of us, even faithful people, have absorbed these habits without noticing. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe believes something new is emerging.

He calls it the emerging system. And he is convinced that contemplative communities — people formed in prayer, rooted in silence, discerning about when to act — are critical to what comes next. This month, Contemplative Underground explores what contemplatives offer to institutions, communities, and systems in need of transformation. Core question of the month: What would change in your community if the Holy Spirit were invited into every decision, not as a formality, but as the first voice? March’s materials hold this question gently and offer a deeply rooted answer.

View formation materials here: https://www.contemplativeunderground....

This month’s learning includes:

• A 9-minute video reflection - Watch part of a conversation between Brother James Dowd and Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on the importance of this movement.
• A simple contemplative practice (one minute of intentional silence)
• Reflection questions for individual or shared use

This month’s learning may be engaged individually, in small groups, or within leadership settings. If you’re looking for a way to practice contemplation with others, this learning also connects directly to our ongoing live sits.

Explore the Month 3 course materials here. Use them as part of your personal faith study or with community groups, vestries, or Sunday school classes.

Come as you are. Begin simply. And, you are always welcome to join our Centering Prayer sits. View the schedule.

View the transcript of this video below, lightly edited for clarity and flow for reading:

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe

The recovery of these practices and this tradition — and by recovery I mean bringing it forward more than it has been — is critical to the emerging system. It is going to be what allows this next iteration of the church to come into being.

Imagine if the Episcopal Church, with its rich history and tradition, was contemplative and thoughtful about what it was doing and saying — discerning about when to speak, and how to do it in a compelling way, and how to do it in a way that is at the heart of Christ. I am now seeing more willingness to do that. And I think that's the game changer — the ability to not out-self-righteous the self-righteous, but to have a way to speak to the world that's grounded.

When I think of Rosa Parks — this is not somebody who just acted on impulse. This is somebody who was formed. She was part of a movement and knew when to act. This wasn't somebody out virtue signaling and being outraged and releasing statements. This was a person that knew when to act. And that comes out of formation. I think that's going to be critical to what's emerging. If we can embrace this, we will see something new — not only new, but transformational.

Br. James Dowd, OSB

The undergirding of a contemplative community — whether that's in a very localized community or across the entire church, nationwide, regionwide, provincewide — is in fact what gives wisdom to the wider community. The model I have is very Benedictine.

When a community of monks has to make a decision — short of a dire emergency, which almost never happens — the first thing they will do is pray. Silently. Then they'll vocalize the prayers. Then they'll discuss. If there's no immediate consensus, they go back to prayer.

One of the great things I learned from one of my first priors: we had a house meeting once a month. That was the place where we made the kinds of decisions that would affect the whole community — maybe our guests as well. And at the end of the meeting, if there was not a consensus, he said: "Okay, we'll put this on the agenda for next month and we'll pray all month about it." Coming out of media — live television, working in that world, constantly moving — I thought: are you kidding me? I'm not going to be able to make this decision. And sometimes it was only one or two people who weren't on board. We'd come back the next month, and it worked. Almost none of these decisions were truly life-shattering. But you have to be willing to take time.

There are all kinds of times when the church moves too slowly because it thinks it can get away with it. But there are other times the church moves slowly because God's people need time to really listen to the Holy Spirit — to listen to what's next. The Holy Spirit is as involved in guiding a particular person's vocation as in guiding institutional reforms that involve budgets and staffing. She should be invited in for all of it. That's the way you do it.

Contemplatives are oftentimes — though not always — much more introverted. I certainly am not one of those people. I'm much more extroverted, and the whole introversion-extroversion thing has almost nothing to do with being a contemplative. But oftentimes they are quieter. And eventually, if you're someone like me who was ready to talk all the time, the learning over decades — to be quiet first, to really listen, and then even to listen to myself, to listen to the Holy Spirit — all of that takes time.

Because contemplatives are not the type to jump to an answer or a proposal, the first thing I think you have to try to do is invite those folks in and help the culture of the chapter, the vestry, or whatever group has to make the decision — help them move into a more contemplative space. That can be done through a short liturgy held before the meeting opens, through lectio divina done within the group, or simply by observing five minutes of silence. There are all sorts of ways to build the contemplative into the structure of the community that's gathered.

But it's important — like everything else — to do it step by step. Not to suddenly say: "Okay, we're going to be all contemplative in this next decision." You build on it.

And sometimes for clergy in a parish, it's difficult to identify who the contemplatives might be among them. One of the ways to meet that challenge is to do something where it's open — not something anyone is expected at — whether it's a sit, a Taize service, anything. And see who shows up. It might be exactly who you expected. And then again, maybe not.

View formation materials here: https://www.contemplativeunderground....