Rule of Life adopted at Feast of St. Luke
On October 21, 2009, Berkeley Divinity School celebrated the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist – a solemn yet truly festive occasion that included the wider Yale Divinity School community. Each year, we anticipate this celebration of Berkeley’s patron saint, but this year’s service carried special meaning as we inaugurated the community Rule of Life while also reinstituting the annual matriculation ceremony that was celebrated by Berkeley students from at least 1902 until it was dropped, for unknown reasons, in 1932.
As part of the Wednesday evening service, students marked their matriculation into Berkeley Divinity School and their subscription to the Rule by signing a leather-bound book that is remarkably well-preserved, considering it is nearly 100 years old.
“We were doing some housekeeping in the archives at Berkeley Center and stumbled across a rather dusty but substantial-looking volume,” said Joseph Britton, dean of Berkeley Divinity School. “A quick examination of the contents revealed that the members of each incoming junior class had signed their names under the following matriculation statement, thus affirming their commitment to a very high standard.” The statement read:
We the undersigned, candidates for matriculation in the Berkeley Divinity School, do promise that by the help of God we will endeavor by our life and example to prove ourselves worthy members of the School, and in particular that we will be constant in our attendance on Divine Worship and diligent in the discharge of all duties assigned to us, and will also maintain a standard of conduct befitting those who are preparing for the Holy Ministry.
Dean Britton explained that the discovery of the book was quite timely. The Berkeley community was ready formally to adopt a Rule of Life that was created through the diligent and prayerful efforts of students, alumni, trustees and staff, which began some three years ago. “It seemed only fitting to incorporate this practice of matriculation at the same time as we affirmed and adopted the Berkeley Divinity School Rule of Life.”
The process of developing the Rule was iterative, with the community gathering periodically to review and comment on a number of drafts along the way. The goal was to establish a narrative description – based in the Benedictine tradition but most resembling the contemporary rule of the Society of St. John the Evangelist – that would serve as a guide for living a balanced and healthy life. The hope is that such a rule would sustain students not only while at Berkeley/Yale, but also to help them balance their spiritual and vocational lives upon graduation and throughout their lives.
In a sense the Rule of Life not only supports students throughout their lives, it also affirms the tremendous value of living in community – a way of life that we as Christian are called to do. Graduating senior Bethany Davidson captured this principle quite eloquently as she preached during the service commemorating the Feast of St. Luke. Davidson shared about the special place Berkeley Divinity School holds in her family heritage. Her grandfather was a Berkeley seminarian more than 60 years ago, then went on to serve in various capacities, including parish priest, bishop of the Diocese of Western Kansas and, later, as assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ohio.
As a child, Bethany listened to stories of the challenges her grandfather faced, but, more important, he taught her about the value of a shared life of prayer, a shared commitment to Christ, and a deep commitment to support one another as we live into the way of life to which Jesus calls us. This ideal came to life as Davidson shared the unwavering practice of her grandfather and his classmates, upon their graduation in 1946, to write to one another each year on the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. The October after her grandfather’s death – the fall of Davidson’s junior year at Berkeley – letters arrived once again on the feast day. However, this time they were addressed to her grandmother. The commitment to community is a commitment to a way of life in Christ that is generous, loving and far-reaching.
Davidson reflected on the significance of a Rule of Life, describing it as a countercultural practice in a society that both encourages and rewards individualism. The Rule is a way to formalize a commitment to “hold one another up, to pray for one another,” she said. It binds us to a “common life” in which we hold one another “mutually accountable.”
The Yale Divinity School community joined with Berkeley in affirming the Rule as faculty, staff, students and family members joined in praying a Litany on the Rule of Life that was created from, and affirmed, key elements of the newly published Rule. The Litany began with this statement from Dean Britton:
From the time of its founding in 1854 Berkeley Divinity School has embraced rigorous intellectual inquiry and deliberate spiritual formation as the core elements of its educational mission to form new priests and lay leadership for the church. Tonight we officially institute a Rule of Life which gives substance and shape to the fulfillment of these ambitions. As a way of naming this we join together in praying a litany which embodies the content and structure of Berkeley Divinity School’s Rule.
The Litany continued with prayers affirming various aspects of the Rule, including commitment to: corporate prayer; the Holy Eucharist; spiritual formation and individual prayer; academic life and intellectual integrity; personal character and relationships; mission and service; reconciliation; and vocation and leadership. The Litany concluded with the following prayer on “living into the Rule of Life”:
Holy One, may the pattern of life described in this rule cultivate a disposition toward Godliness that will equip each of us for the service of Christ in the world as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. May you turn our attention from a preoccupation with the self to a commitment to the other.
After receiving communion, all students were invited to participate in a ceremony of matriculation by signing the leather-bound book unearthed from the archives. In this act, they owned their place not only among their own classmates but also in the long line of those who have come before as well as those future generations to come. In this act, they acknowledged an acceptance of and commitment to live into the Berkeley Rule of Life – in Davidson’s words, a “faithful common life,” drawing them closer to one another and to God.
Click here to go to Rule of Life page.