Who Are Daughters of the King?
We are women of the Episcopal Church who have intentionally taken lifelong vows to keep a daily Rule of Life as members of this religious order. We are a community of nurturing women who meet in local chapters across the United States and internationally.
The Order of the Daughters of the King® was founded in 1885, the outgrowth of a Sunday School class of young women at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Sepulchre (now Resurrection) in New York City. Although in earlier times its members were all Episcopal laywomen, today it encompasses lay and ordained women in the Episcopal Church, churches in communion with it (i.e., other Anglican churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), and churches with the historic episcopate (i.e., the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches).
Daughters of the King Fall Assembly October 23, 2021
On Saturday, October 23, via Zoom, we will gather for a Fall Retreat Day and welcome our speaker Jane Tomaine, author of St. Benedict’s Toolbox, a book much beloved by many of us. Jane will explore with us how to put into practice some of the ways of St. Benedict to enrich our spiritual lives. You do not want to miss this retreat! Mark your calendars. Registration is now open!
This is an online event. Visitors are welcome and should register themselves. There is a range of cost options. Register: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ei7auiql48c54504&oseq=&c=&ch=
“Fashioning My Life For His Sake”
SCHEDULE
8:20 Hospitality
8:50 Presidents’ and Bishops’ Welcomes
9:00 Morning Prayer and Installation of Officers
9:40 SESSION I: “Choose the Wardrobe”
10:45 SESSION II: “Make a Fashion Statement”
11:45 Lunch
12:15 Business Meeting
12:45 SESSION III: “Dress Right for Life”
1:45 Closing Prayer Service
Fashioning My Life For His Sake
Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ. (Rule of St. Benedict Chapter 72, Verse 11)
About this retreat, Jane writes…
How do we fashion our life for Christ? Do we really, really want to take this step? And, if our answer is “Yes,” how do we go about making the most of our time here on this earth to live For His sake in the midst of all our responsibilities, stresses and challenges that confront, distract and unsettle us?
Fashioning our life For His Sake encompasses our relationships, communities, resources, and how we choose to use our time as well as touching our emotions, physical health and our mental well-being. We need help to live into our desire to fashion our life for Christ. At the retreat we will explore how a rule of life, specifically the Rule of Benedict, can help us do just that.
At the mention of that much maligned word “Rule”…. please don’t vanish to check your email or escape to texting or, perhaps, to get a cookie!
Rest assured that the Rule is not a book of rules—it is a resource giving insights and guidelines for Christian living. The word Rule comes from the Greek term canon which originally meant “trellis.” Just as we plant morning glories by a trellis to support them to grow and flourish, Benedict’s Rule is a “trellis” on which we plant our life so that we can grow and be transformed. Benedictine living points us to the Gospels and gives us many ways to learn how to live in loving relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.
Author Esther de Wall beautifully summarizes the Rule in this quote from Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality:
It’s all about love. It points me to Christ.
Ultimately the whole meaning and purpose of the Rule is simply, [in Benedict’s own words] “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ.”
At the retreat we will be exploring some of the ways this trellis of Benedict can help us live more deeply into our Baptismal Covenant and the Gospel way of Jesus. You will be able to look at your life alongside The Rule of Benedict and find those elements of Benedictine living that support your life with, in and for Christ. You also will be given practical ways to make Benedictine living part of your life. Benedict’s path is a way towards wholeness and peace.
I am learning to follow Benedict’s way, living as best as I can the Rule offered to his community of the 6th century that still speaks with power and relevance today. Benedict’s way is filled with meaning and offers practical application. His trellis supports life in and for Christ, prayer, community, relationships, moderation, balance, living in the present moment, finding God in the ordinary hum-drum of daily life, and so much more.
Won’t you join me in this life’s work of fashioning your life For His Sake?
If your answer is, “Yes!” join your Sisters in Christ and me online at the Fall Assembly Retreat, October 23, 2021.
Blessings,
Jane