In this excellent article for the Oxford Handbook of Evangelical Theology, Dallas Willard lays out a brief history of discipleship (commonly called spiritual formation in recent years) and how we have arrived, as evangelicals, in our current vacuum regarding this biblical injunction.
Discipleship
16 February 2011
14 February 2011
Authority
Authority is not a really popular concept, at least not in the United States, or in the churches that reside there. We'll talk and read about leadership until the cows come home, but authority is rarely discussed.
I find myself often distressed by the lack of "higher authority" in most churches. what do I mean? I mean there seems to be nothing that can be appealed to as the standard. Sure, we all look to Scripture. But the way we interpret it varies greatly and depending on who is doing the interpreting. Even heretics appeal to scripture.
I think a lot of this authority-aversion comes from 2 sources. First, it is a carry-over from the Protestant Reformation. Papal authority was challenged on many fronts and declared invalid by most of the historical reforms. The Radical Reformation took this a step further and clung to the idea of sola scriptura in a manner that excluded all else in most cases. With these streams, we tend to knee-jerk against anything that would claim authority over our belief and practice.
Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, is the influence of modern thought, primarily the existentialists thought that appeared in the 19th century. This idea that I am the center of my universe (to over-simplify the movement to be sure) is at the core of much of American, and Western thought.
We do not submit to authority willingly. We pick and choose and want the ability to quit whenever we want. This very idea gives a lot of business to chaplains in basic training units, believe me. ("You signed a contract and swore and oath--you can't quit.")
In the church this causes issues as well. Who is the authority? Pastor? Deacons? Elders? Congregation? Mr. Jones? Bishop? It varied from denomination to denomination in what the "official" church government is. Variety is okay, but even within those models, the "real" authority is often different than the "attributed" authority.
On matters of belief and doctrine, what is the authority? Scripture, right, I got it. Who's view of it? If we say we are an XYZ Church, what does that mean? (I would even question some groups using the word church at all...) What do we point to and say, "Here we stand"?
Is it negotiable? How much variance do we allow? I know Jesus spoke against the "polity police" of the Pharisees. I cannot help but think that in fear of that, we have allowed the pendulum to swing too far the other way in many circles. Orthodoxy and orthopraxis are both important to the church. All we have to do is read the Pentateuch to realize God is concerned with the way we believe and the way we worship.
We do not have as clear-cut guidelines in the New Testament. Obviously.
But, I think there is something to be said for saying "We believe this is the best way to do it, we believe this statement of faith and doctrine." And sticking to it. How else can we know what we are joining and aligning ourselves with? I don't know that we have to nail every last possible item down. But having our "core doctrine" as a non-negotiable certainly seems like a good place to start.
Without a firm authority to appeal to, we are likely to be blown by the winds of change and culture, instead of being the rock in the midst of these otherwise shifting sands.
I find myself often distressed by the lack of "higher authority" in most churches. what do I mean? I mean there seems to be nothing that can be appealed to as the standard. Sure, we all look to Scripture. But the way we interpret it varies greatly and depending on who is doing the interpreting. Even heretics appeal to scripture.
I think a lot of this authority-aversion comes from 2 sources. First, it is a carry-over from the Protestant Reformation. Papal authority was challenged on many fronts and declared invalid by most of the historical reforms. The Radical Reformation took this a step further and clung to the idea of sola scriptura in a manner that excluded all else in most cases. With these streams, we tend to knee-jerk against anything that would claim authority over our belief and practice.
Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, is the influence of modern thought, primarily the existentialists thought that appeared in the 19th century. This idea that I am the center of my universe (to over-simplify the movement to be sure) is at the core of much of American, and Western thought.
We do not submit to authority willingly. We pick and choose and want the ability to quit whenever we want. This very idea gives a lot of business to chaplains in basic training units, believe me. ("You signed a contract and swore and oath--you can't quit.")
In the church this causes issues as well. Who is the authority? Pastor? Deacons? Elders? Congregation? Mr. Jones? Bishop? It varied from denomination to denomination in what the "official" church government is. Variety is okay, but even within those models, the "real" authority is often different than the "attributed" authority.
On matters of belief and doctrine, what is the authority? Scripture, right, I got it. Who's view of it? If we say we are an XYZ Church, what does that mean? (I would even question some groups using the word church at all...) What do we point to and say, "Here we stand"?
Is it negotiable? How much variance do we allow? I know Jesus spoke against the "polity police" of the Pharisees. I cannot help but think that in fear of that, we have allowed the pendulum to swing too far the other way in many circles. Orthodoxy and orthopraxis are both important to the church. All we have to do is read the Pentateuch to realize God is concerned with the way we believe and the way we worship.
We do not have as clear-cut guidelines in the New Testament. Obviously.
But, I think there is something to be said for saying "We believe this is the best way to do it, we believe this statement of faith and doctrine." And sticking to it. How else can we know what we are joining and aligning ourselves with? I don't know that we have to nail every last possible item down. But having our "core doctrine" as a non-negotiable certainly seems like a good place to start.
Without a firm authority to appeal to, we are likely to be blown by the winds of change and culture, instead of being the rock in the midst of these otherwise shifting sands.
30 January 2011
Who is it about?
I'm not big on "theology via YouTube" generally speaking. It tends to be right down there with "theology via bumpersticker." That not withstanding, this is a pretty good piece.
20 January 2011
What is the Purpose of Prayer?
[Note: I've been trying to make this a nice, neat post on the subject, but the more I work on it, the more it seems to grow like a patch of tangle-foot. So I'm just going to throw it out there as is.]
Why pray?
No, really. Have you given much thought to the reason for this practice? Why do we pray? To tell God what our concerns and joys are? We certainly seem to do that in prayer, but he already knows. (The Lord knows the thoughts of man Psalm 94:11a)
If God already knows, what is with this exercise in repeating it? Let me ask another question, is the purpose of prayer to make God aware of what is on our mind, or is it to shape our mind toward God's?
Prayer is a spiritual discipline. It is one of the 2 "primary" ones, along with reading of the scriptures. We practice spiritual disciplines rightly not to earn anything from God, because we can't. (Pelagius is still a heretic, despite his ideas popularity.) So why do we engage in spiritual disciplines?
To improve ourselves. To conform ourselves to Christ-likeness. Spiritual disciplines are also called "spiritual exercises" and I think that title is illustrative. I don't do push-ups because I think I will ever need to really do a push-up in any really life situation. I do push-ups because I understand it is a good and time tested way to develop my triceps and pectoral muscles so when I do need to use them for other tasks, they are fit and ready.
How does this apply to prayer? Well, if we hold that prayer is about shaping me and not shaping God, then it is a time to ingrain in ourselves what He wants for us and from us. I pray not because I have anything of value to say to the King of the Universe, but because, as his subject, it behooves me to listen to him.
Once we understand this dynamic of prayer, then our "shopping list" prayers suddenly become embarrassingly trite. Granted, we are commanded to pray for certain people. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) I think it is important that we obey Scripture's command on this. The list presented does not include our cousin, our neighbor's dog or any of the other usual targets of our petitions, however. Rulers and those in authority.
Pray is not conforming God to my will, but allowing God to conform me to his will, and, if it be his will, to allow myself to be used as an instrument of that will.
Lex orandi, lex credendi--Latin for "the law of prayer is the law of belief." What this means, essentially, is as we pray, so we believe, so we pray.
If we only pray about the common cold and the weather, it would seem to reveal that we think God is some sort of cosmic personal assistant. I don't think any of us would ever state that blatantly, but to listen to prayers, sometimes we hear that very thing.
To start with belief--what we profess--scripture, the creeds, well-written prayers that address the majesty and sovereignty of God, this shapes us in a more deliberate way. A way that causes our praying to conform to our belief.
An interesting exercise might be to write out your prayers for a week, or a month. (Or even record them.) Then examine them--is the whole counsel of scripture being reflected? Is their confession? Repentance? Prayer for those in authority? For the church? For the lost? Do you address the Trinity? Our future hope? Our history as the people of God? Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension?
You may not hit everything every day, certainly not in great detail. But are you getting a balanced diet? If lex orandi, lex credendi is true, and I think it is, then the implication would be in order to have orthodox belief, we must have orthodox prayers.
God used a year in Iraq to bring me to this place. It was no secret what my concerns were--I didn't want to catch a rocket on my way to the latrine in the morning. But that seemed a pretty shallow prayer life, as heart-felt as it was. I began writing out a daily prayer. I included Saint Patrick's Breastplate as the core of it.
I modified and shaped it over the remainder of my deployment. I found as I prayed the same thing day after day, the belief underpinning certain sections of it became clear, and I found I wasn't comfortable with all that at first sounded fine. I also began to deeply appreciate and learn from other sections.
This experience led me into the Book of Common Prayer, which I now use daily. It is a time-tested method of prayer, predating Thomas Cranmer's work in the 16th century, for he edited, translated and reformed the liturgy of the hours that had been used by the religious for over a thousand years before him, and still used by large sections of the church.
Why pray?
No, really. Have you given much thought to the reason for this practice? Why do we pray? To tell God what our concerns and joys are? We certainly seem to do that in prayer, but he already knows. (The Lord knows the thoughts of man Psalm 94:11a)
If God already knows, what is with this exercise in repeating it? Let me ask another question, is the purpose of prayer to make God aware of what is on our mind, or is it to shape our mind toward God's?
Prayer is a spiritual discipline. It is one of the 2 "primary" ones, along with reading of the scriptures. We practice spiritual disciplines rightly not to earn anything from God, because we can't. (Pelagius is still a heretic, despite his ideas popularity.) So why do we engage in spiritual disciplines?
To improve ourselves. To conform ourselves to Christ-likeness. Spiritual disciplines are also called "spiritual exercises" and I think that title is illustrative. I don't do push-ups because I think I will ever need to really do a push-up in any really life situation. I do push-ups because I understand it is a good and time tested way to develop my triceps and pectoral muscles so when I do need to use them for other tasks, they are fit and ready.
How does this apply to prayer? Well, if we hold that prayer is about shaping me and not shaping God, then it is a time to ingrain in ourselves what He wants for us and from us. I pray not because I have anything of value to say to the King of the Universe, but because, as his subject, it behooves me to listen to him.
Once we understand this dynamic of prayer, then our "shopping list" prayers suddenly become embarrassingly trite. Granted, we are commanded to pray for certain people. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) I think it is important that we obey Scripture's command on this. The list presented does not include our cousin, our neighbor's dog or any of the other usual targets of our petitions, however. Rulers and those in authority.
Pray is not conforming God to my will, but allowing God to conform me to his will, and, if it be his will, to allow myself to be used as an instrument of that will.
Lex orandi, lex credendi--Latin for "the law of prayer is the law of belief." What this means, essentially, is as we pray, so we believe, so we pray.
If we only pray about the common cold and the weather, it would seem to reveal that we think God is some sort of cosmic personal assistant. I don't think any of us would ever state that blatantly, but to listen to prayers, sometimes we hear that very thing.
To start with belief--what we profess--scripture, the creeds, well-written prayers that address the majesty and sovereignty of God, this shapes us in a more deliberate way. A way that causes our praying to conform to our belief.
An interesting exercise might be to write out your prayers for a week, or a month. (Or even record them.) Then examine them--is the whole counsel of scripture being reflected? Is their confession? Repentance? Prayer for those in authority? For the church? For the lost? Do you address the Trinity? Our future hope? Our history as the people of God? Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension?
You may not hit everything every day, certainly not in great detail. But are you getting a balanced diet? If lex orandi, lex credendi is true, and I think it is, then the implication would be in order to have orthodox belief, we must have orthodox prayers.
God used a year in Iraq to bring me to this place. It was no secret what my concerns were--I didn't want to catch a rocket on my way to the latrine in the morning. But that seemed a pretty shallow prayer life, as heart-felt as it was. I began writing out a daily prayer. I included Saint Patrick's Breastplate as the core of it.
I modified and shaped it over the remainder of my deployment. I found as I prayed the same thing day after day, the belief underpinning certain sections of it became clear, and I found I wasn't comfortable with all that at first sounded fine. I also began to deeply appreciate and learn from other sections.
This experience led me into the Book of Common Prayer, which I now use daily. It is a time-tested method of prayer, predating Thomas Cranmer's work in the 16th century, for he edited, translated and reformed the liturgy of the hours that had been used by the religious for over a thousand years before him, and still used by large sections of the church.
17 January 2011
Stop. Just Stop.
Lake Superior State University has again released their oft-quoted list of words that should be banished because of misuse and over-use. You can read it here. (Apparently I need to man up and make a few changes to my vocabulary...just sayin'....)
I would add one, for all of Christendom that the above list missed.
"Worship."
And all of it's adjectival, verb and noun forms. It means (unfortunately) absolutely nothing because it is used to mean almost everything. It can mean music, singing, slowly, redundantly, quietly, emphatically, church service, adore, praise and it goes on and on. I honestly had a gag reflex the other day when someone (on our "worship team" aka BAND) suggested that we sing (in worship--aka the singing portion of the service) a song in a worshipful (aka slowly and repeated ad naseum) way.
Stop it! Just stop! We need a moratorium on this word until it is cleansed out of our collective systems and we can maybe, begin to use it in a meaningful way.
Okay, I think I am done ranting about this, for now.
I would add one, for all of Christendom that the above list missed.
"Worship."
And all of it's adjectival, verb and noun forms. It means (unfortunately) absolutely nothing because it is used to mean almost everything. It can mean music, singing, slowly, redundantly, quietly, emphatically, church service, adore, praise and it goes on and on. I honestly had a gag reflex the other day when someone (on our "worship team" aka BAND) suggested that we sing (in worship--aka the singing portion of the service) a song in a worshipful (aka slowly and repeated ad naseum) way.
Stop it! Just stop! We need a moratorium on this word until it is cleansed out of our collective systems and we can maybe, begin to use it in a meaningful way.
Okay, I think I am done ranting about this, for now.
05 January 2011
Some Good Stuff
I've been reading lately...quite a bit. Here's a few good things I've found.
Pretty good list of "draws" of Anglicanism.
Developing a Consistent Prayer Life. Very good series (well, actually 2 that dovetail into each other) about reasons for the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer.
Beyond Smells and Bells. Okay, this one is a actual book, but a very good look at the "why" of deliberate liturgy.
Pretty good list of "draws" of Anglicanism.
Developing a Consistent Prayer Life. Very good series (well, actually 2 that dovetail into each other) about reasons for the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer.
Beyond Smells and Bells. Okay, this one is a actual book, but a very good look at the "why" of deliberate liturgy.
30 November 2010
Feelings Fail
Like most people, I'm desperate for intimacy with God, so my instinct is to glom onto prayers and songs that make God seem close. But when I begin here, I am tempted to identify God with the warm feelings such prayers and songs generate. I sing a "worshipful" song, and I get "worshipful" feelings--and I assume that's God. Do this habitually, thoughtlessly, prayerlessly, and it's easy to end up with a relationship with a glorified self.
But the liturgy puts a brake on narcissism right up front. When we are forcefully reminded that we are not worshiping an idealized form fo the self, but a God, "in heaven," a "holy" God, a genuine Other.
Mark Galli, Beyond Smells and Bells, p. 43
This has been a great read so far, and Mark hits several points that are "draws" to me to Anglicanism as antidotes for what I see as weakness in contemporary spirituality.
God is not like us. If he were, there would be little reason to worship him. We are made in his image, but he is holy. That, all by itself, sets an impassable gulf of difference between us.
Yet, by his mercy and grace, he sent his only Son, to be called Emmanuel--God with us. To span the divide and pay the debt we could not pay. If Jesus only had done what we could have done, again, what would be the significance?
But God does what we cannot. He saves us from sin and death. He delivers us from ourselves and from guilt and shame. He is both holy and wholly "other." Therefore, we worship him. Therefore we long to know him more, and in this context we gain intimacy.
Deliberate liturgy delivers us from a slide to narcissism and creating God in our image. It raises our vision to heaven.
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