Spiritual Formation: Rediscovering old Terrian

One of my favorite quotes by T.S. Eliot reads, "We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Things of great value are susceptible to being lost. I believe Biblical discipleship is one of those things. When I say lost, I do not mean lost like a set of keys. But rather lost in a more subtle, dangerous sense. Lost like how an unattended campfire steadily dies down in the cool of the night until neither flame nor flicker remain. The roaring blaze that once was is now simply a dormant coal.

So things need not be misplaced in order to be lost, only mismanaged. There are many, many factors leading to the demise of discipleship in western culture (perhaps Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy is one of the best and most exhaustive resources tracking this demise). However, what is important is that we ALL agree that we generally do not agree on what discipleship means or how it is to be done.

So, in recent years movements have emerged that are attempting to impart a fresh and more distinct meaning of what discipleship really is. Some of these movements have used new language to describe the process of becoming more like Jesus. The word being used most often is spiritual formation. Spiritual Formation is simply the process of our spirits being formed into the spirit of Jesus. It's the process of becoming like Him, from the inside out.

Why the need for fresh language? Because language is a powerful tool in creating meaning. One thing language does is help us change our mental scenery. Over time any word begins to define itself through the same old images and familiar connotations. When we use the same language over and over again, it begins to lose meaning. It's like to walking into your home. Things become so familiar, you don't take time to really notice or appreciate them.

So, when mental landscapes form from over-usage of a word, meaning is subtely lost. Also, the original intended meaning counts for little. The mental terrain that we traverse has more to do with the context in which that word is most often used.

So we take the word Disciple(ship), a word brimming with amazing 1st century images and connotations involving a rabbi-student relationship. Unfortunately, the mental landscapes available to us when the word comes to mind has little or nothing to do with the its intended meaning in the 1st century. Or possibly even Jesus' intended meaning! The word has been used in so many way shapes and forms that its meaning has been dilluted, if not completely lost.

Is discipleship Sunday school? Does it involve joining a small group? Does it happen in church? At home? Is it the job of a para-church organization? If no one is discipling me, am I really being discipled? What about discipleship programs? If I read my Bible and pray everyday will I be a disciple? Do I evaluate discipleship in terms of faithful church attendance? Do I have to intend to become a disciple or does it just happen? Is it supposed to be birthed in a relationship? Can I be a Christian and not be a disciple?

Perhaps your answer to these questions are, "Well, yes and no. Kind of, sort of, but not really." Now, I'm no legalist looking for a cookie cutter definition of disciple. I'll be the first one to admit that God uses many, many different things to form us into the image of Christ. On the other hand, perhaps we have defined discipleship so broadly and loosely that even those of us who pastor our churches have become disoriented.

The term spiritual formation is fresh language (that's actually very old language) for "discipleship". Maybe the word alone will freshen up the stale and crusty landscape of dicipleship within the church. Perhaps this new term will lead us on an exploration. Maybe we can traverse old terrain with new eyes and fresh legs. Would you be willing to take such a journey? I'd throw all my chips in on this quest. I know of nothing more substantial that we can do in the church than to re-discover what discipleship (spiritual formation, holiness) really is supposed to be.

With God's help, I believe we can rediscover what was lost. I believe we can know arrive back to our starting points and know that place for the first time. I believe that all is not lost. A dormant coal lives and awaits a time when it can blaze anew with the fire it once had. Let's be the church that fans the ember Christlikeness back into a raging flame.

The Absurdity of it All

by Heath

"Christianity is the only major religion to have its central event the humiliation of its God".

This powerful statement begins Bruce Shelley's classic work "Church History in Plain Language". And so it seems fitting today for me to ponder the absolute absurdity of all. God becoming flesh entering into the embryonic state, forming in the womb of a Jewish peasant girl. Being born
amongst animals, hay and the fresh smell of manure. Living a simple life and dying a gruesome death. The word that today best sums it up for me is absurdity.

Countless years of Christmas carols, sipping
eggnog and taking in re-runs of "It's a wonderful life", has buffered us from the divine absurdity of Jesus. So each year we must re-remind ourselves that Christian orthodoxy has at its core the belief that our God's greatest victory was birthed in vulnerability. His greatest demonstration of love was discovered in His demise. His greatest act of heroism was His humiliation. How absurd.

So absurd that the Romans of the 1st century could hardly take such a teaching serious. This crude depiction of a crucifix is historically the first representation of Christ on the cross. It
dates back to the late first century and comes in the form of anti-Christian graffiti. Etched into the Palatine, the chief of Rome’s seven hills the caption etched next to the picture reads, “Alexamenos worships his God”. The artist reveals the absurdity Jesus by giving him the head of an ass.

You see, the Christmas story really is absurd, even ridiculous. After all, what kind of king would be born in a manger? What deity would suffer death on a cross? What sort of transcendent being would allow Himself to be beaten and spat upon and slapped and scorned by mere
mortals? The way of the world screams in unison, “absurd”! Only a fool. . . No, only a jack-ass would willingly suffer such a fate. This is not the way of great men or of gods. Human wisdom teaches us that obscurity and humiliation is the way of the weak, not the way of the divine.

But, we are called not to rely on human wisdom, but a deeper wisdom sourced in the loving way of God himself. Drink in the rich insight of this text:

“For the message of Jesus is absurd to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God. .

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God
was pleased through the absurdity of what was preached to save those who
believe. . .

"For the absurdity of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the impotence of God is stronger than man’s strength. . .”

I Corinthians 1:18, 21, 25

Malcolm Muggeridge commenting on this text asks, “Was it not after all, the perfect way to come and expose the inadequacy of all human wisdom by displaying the utter foolishness of God? And what a better way to reveal the impotence of worldly powers than to defeat it with
divine weakness.”

I’ve concluded that the Christmas story is absurd. And, it’s precisely in its absurdity where the greatest depth and strength and power reside.

Let’s make a pact together this Christmas to not make the story more plausible. Let’s not clean up the manger or sentimentalize the child. Let’s embrace the absurd truth that our God was humiliated on our behalf.

God’s love is so amazingly absurd. It's only by embracing this kind of love that we have the power to offer others this same kind of love. May your love this season reflect God’s love to all whom you encounter.

Merry Christmas!

Uprooting

Uprooting

by Heath

People are like trees. The exist to grow, flourish and point to God. Our hearts are like the roots of the tree. They are forever seeking to be firmly established in a life-giving source.

The unformed soul is like a sapling without soil. It knows intuitively that it will dry up, shrivel and die unless its roots find a home. Roots operate like desperate hands forever grasping for some life-giving source in which it can cling to.

This insatiable desire for the human heart to be rooted in something larger than ourselves is universal and explains why everyone is rooted spiritually. The problem is the where we have planted ourselves. As this picture depicts, a tree can be rooted almost anywhere. This small Maple tree has found its home in a 2x10 rough-sawn oak bench. In it's vulnerable state and desperate quest for life a tree will lay down roots into anything that has the slightest resemblance of earth. Sadly, it has become dislocated and despite it's natural inclination to live, it will die.

In the same way, each person in the world has a heart that's been rooted. The problem is where that heart has been planted. Too often we settle for so much less than the rich soil of God's kingdom. Like the sapling, we too will die unless we uproot and are transplanted.

But, ah, herein lies the problem. Roots are attachments. Their job is to establish a firm and safe home. For the small Maple tree, being yanked out of it's established dwelling (as bizarre as a place that it's been planted) must feel like a kind of death is taking place. The great writer A.W. Tozer puts it well:

"The roots of our hearts have grown down into
things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have
become necessary to us, a development never originally intended.
God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset
by the monstrous substitution."

Following Jesus ALWAYS involves uprooting. This means there is a process of detachment, and de-establishment from our old established home. This is why Jesus says that if you truly want to live, you must first die.

While the rough-sawn oak cannot sustain life, if it's all we ever knew, and where we have established our source of life, the goodbyes can be painful. It can feel like death. The good news is that although it feels like death, we will ultimately live.

Our sapling lives can be re-established in the right sources. We can be transplanted and grow as we never previously knew.

If we want to understand how people have been formed, we must look at where their roots have been established. We must never water-down or minimize this "uprooting" process in discipleship. Rather, we have to give them a wider and deeper vision of where we were meant to be established and live.

Boiling Point - The Start of Transformation

When WATER begins to BOIL, it no longer is just water, it becomes STEAM. It becomes a new entity, it is transformed from the previous state it once held.

In Youth Ministry, that is one of the main focuses, to help the teens get to the place of Transformation, to become a new creation in Jesus Christ!

What does Transformation
look like?

Transformation is the beginning of change.

The result of transformation is different in most cases but the one constant is Jesus Christ, He is the change agent and when you come into contact with Jesus, transformation is bound to take place.

Transformation is that place of a persons life when a decision is made, a decision to fully commit themselves to follow Jesus with all that they are and all that they do. This has more to do with attitude then anything else. An attitude of commitment. The commitment is to live according to Jesus Christ's example in the New Testament. The tangible portions of Transformation are seen within a persons decision making, their integrity and their willing to do what is right when no one else is looking. This is just a portion of what transformation is and how you can recognize it in children, teens and adults.

There is more to this but for now, Let's hear from you and your thoughts on Transformation!

what undergirds christian education?

Here is an email (below) that I received and responded to regarding the heart and operation of Christian Education on a Sunday morning and beyond. This is to further the continued conversation of “Spiritual Formation” in Wisconsin.

This email highlights a lot of programmatic elements of what we do @ Hayward Wesleyan, but it is peppered with underpinnings of thought and values that should be present in a ministry context and discipleship environment regardless of what “program” or “vehicle” one uses. Most core values get lost in translation when all one does is talk about programs and “what we do at our church” type stuff. I don’t care (necessarily) what a program is… I care more about the people and heart behind the program and the interaction and intentionality that exists as a foundation.

Perhaps the ongoing conversation will focus more on core values; and the tension, nail-biting, convicting teachings and parables of Jesus; and the application of being the people of God in the world today that are tasked with the mission of bringing God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Eternal stuff!!

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From: Jeremy
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 11:20 AM
To:
Subject: RE: Christian Education

[Name]--

1. Who oversees/coordinates the program? Paid staff person or a volunteer?

I do. I am the children’s pastor and I am full-time on staff.

2. How is curriculum chosen?

I choose it. Actually, I write it. My gifitings rest primarily in teaching and leading (and relationships). Therefore, the teacher in me would rather spend time and energy creating curriculum than buying it and using someone else’s stuff. So that is what I do. It has taken a lot of work, but it is paying off. I’ve been here over three years now (moving in to my fourth year). When I came, there was no comprehensive plan with Sunday School curriculum. So my plan was (and continues to be) to teach through the Bible Stories (all of the real significant ones) in a chronological way (from beginning to end) in three years. At the end of three years we would repeat it because the first grader who started in Genesis will be in an entirely different developmental level (mentally, emotionally, and physically) and will be ready to learn on a new level when he or she is in the fourth grade. Since I am currently in my fourth year, we have re-started the curriculum back at the beginning again. My teachers just love it! They tell me that they themselves have really learned about the Bible going from beginning to end. I write the curriculum to the teachers and for their learning, not so that they will say certain stuff to the children. I want the teachers to be impacted and learn from the Holy Spirit and His Word. Then turn around and share and give what they themselves have learned to the children. So, basically, the curriculum that we have compiled in the last three years looks like commentary on all the major stories of the Bible, life application ideas, coloring sheets, activity and craft ideas. Thus what the teacher’s main job is to reinforce the story in whatever way they can to that age group they are working with. For example, our first grade teacher. Her job is to be the best first grade teacher she can be. I expect her to know and be able to step inside the mind of a first grader. What do they need? What is the best way to teach and instruct? What can we do each week that helps them remember and be transformed by the stories of God’s word? So that is what this teacher does. She has become, arguably, the best first grade teacher I know! All because we set her loose on these kids! I didn’t tell her what to do. I only told her what story had to be taught that day, and then gave her absolute freedom to create and bless the first grade children each and every week. This curriculum is used for our grades 1-6.

Nursery age is just Bible story book, puppets and things like that.

Pre-K and Kindergarten is interactive continual Bible stories as well. We are currently directing some greater focus and long-range planning with this age group

3. How is it staffed?

With teachers and helpers for each age group. In our Nursery for 24-48 months there is play time, story time, sing time, snack time, craft/make stuff time. For our Pre-K to Kindergarten (4-6 years old) there is a teacher and helper(s) who play with them then do stories and crafts. Our elementary group (grades 1-6) all meet in one large room together for 20-25 minutes. During that time we do some motion-type singing, then B-day celebration, then prayer, then announcements, then, to the large group, in a creative and fun way, the day’s story is told. Then the students get sent in grade divided small groups or classes. Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, etc. Grades 7-8 have one teacher who (through the whole hour) currently is doing a story-based idea (which is working fairly well) and then questions and discussions in light of the story. High school (grade 9-12) have their own thing going on in a large classroom with different teachers on different topics.

4. During what time frame does it function?

We have three services on Sunday morning (8:20, 9:40, and 11:00). During the 9:40 service, there is Sunday school going on at the same time (from 9:40 – 10:40).

5. How is it administered/governed?

Since I have oversight over this ministry, I (with the support of the church board) administer and govern this thing. We don’t do superintendents and stuff like that. The church used to prior to my position being created. I wouldn’t know how to work something like that. The less you can think about “governance and administration” the more successful any kind of children’s ministry/Christian Education program you will have. Children and parents and families can smell “governance” a mile away!

[Name], the above is a window into what we do on Sunday mornings with the children (Sunday School, we call it MAIN STREET). I’ve got to say, though, that the real power of a children’s ministry focus is on mid-week programming options (at least for our church's context). The real impact our church has had on the Hayward community is in our children's ministry after school programs called Followers and Junior Followers that happen on Mondays after school. This has created an amazing ministry to children in the community, not just church kids (which is primarily what one gets on a Sunday morning). Sunday morning should be targeted and specific and a definite curriculum plan should be in place for Christian Education and where you want children to learn as they grow up (i.e. catechism).