Trust in the slow work of God

The need to keep in step with the Spirit is beautifully expressed by the French writer Teilhard de Chardin in this letter to his cousin, Marguerite:

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end without delay,
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made
by passing through some stages of instability...
...and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually;
let them grow, let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on, as though you could today
what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own goodwill) will make tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of your believing
that His hand is leading you, and of your accepting
the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense
and incomplete.

-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier-Priest 1914-1919 (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), 57.

more quotations may be found here on Kairos Spiritual Formation Quotes page



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Ears Thou Hast Dug for Me

 

Psalm 40:6

aznayim karitha li , literally “ears thou hast dug for me”

“mine ears thou has opened” (KJV)

“thou has given me an open ear” (RSV)

“my ears you have pierced” (NIV)

The psalm poet was bold to imagine God swinging a pickaxe, digging our ears in our granite blockheads so that we can hear, really hear, what he speaks to us.

The primary organ for receiving God’s revelation is not the eye that sees but the ear that hears – which means that all our reading of Scripture must develop into a hearing of the word of God.

Eugene Peterson (2006), Eat This Book: A Conversation in the art of spiritual reading, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 92)

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The Elephant in the Room

“Now let me tell you about the three blind men and an elephant,” Abba Ah Beng began his daily teaching session with his disciples.

“I know the story! I know the story!” disciple Ah Lian rudely interjects, “My father told me this story before.”

“Okay then, tell us the story,” Abba Ah Beng said with a gleam in his eye.

“A long, long time ago, in a country far, far away …,” begins Ah Lian.

“Sounds like the beginning of a Star War movie,” stage-whispered disciple Ah Kow.

“…there lived three blind men who have never seen an elephant. Why? Because they are blind, so cannot see, see?” continued Ah Lian while glaring daggers at Ah Kow.

“But they want to know what an elephant is because they have heard so much about the mighty elephant from their friends. So one day, their friends brought them to an elephant. ‘Why, the elephant is like a tree trunk’, said one blind man hugging a leg of the elephant, ‘and all along I thought the elephant is a large great animal.’

“ ‘No,’ said the second blind man feeling the elephant’s trunk, ‘an elephant is like a slimy eel. See it is long with a lot of mucus.’ The elephant was having a runny nose that day,” explained Ah Lian.

“ ‘Alamak,’ said the third blind man tugging at the tail. ‘It is like a vending machine with a rope. You pull it and something smelly falls out.’

“ ‘Ha, ha, ha’ laughs the first blind man. ‘What is so great and fearsome about an elephant? It is just something like a tree trunk.’ ‘No!’ the second blind man countered, ‘it is like an eel.’ ‘You are both wrong,’ the third blind man shouted, ‘it is a rope!’ The three blind men started arguing, shouting and pushing at each other.

“The elephant became exasperated and sat on the three blind men. They were squashed instantly. End of story.” Ah Lian looked up only to be confronted with the shocked and mystified expressions on his fellow disciples’ faces. “What?”

“The story does not usually end like that but it is a good ending anyway,” said Abba Ah Beng gently, “and you can close your mouth, Ah Kow unless you want to catch flies. Now, my disciples, what lessons about God can we learn from this story?”

“Our perception of God is limited by our senses,” volunteered disciple Muthu before Ah Kow can open his mouth again to answer. Muthu is part of the disciple-exchange program where monasteries arrange for their disciples to have cross-cultural exposure and to get rid of some their really troublesome disciples at least for a short time. “God is big and we can only perceive a small part of Him with our finite minds,” added Muthu.

“We can only know God through what we are familiar with and what our senses tell us,” Ah Kow adds, recalling the hilarious way Muthu is learning to eat with chopsticks. “But I don’t understand why the blind men have to fight.”

“That’s the way of men who thinks that they know everything about God,” sighs Abba Ah Beng who is a veteran of many theological battles where the learned Abbas fight with words, books and kung-fu. “They forget that we ‘see through a glass darkly’ as St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:12. They also forget that no one person can know God fully. All of us know God in different ways and even so, we know only a small facet of Him. So why do we act as if only we have the whole truth of God and no one else? And why do we fight insisting that our perspective is correct? Will God be pleased?”

“God will flatten them!” boomed a loud voice from the back of the hall as a large hand slapped the wooden floor. All the little monks literally jumped out of their skin. They all turned. Standing sheepishly at the back is the cook who had snuck into the hall.

“Maybe not,” said Abba Ah Beng. “Like the blind men arguing over their perceptions of the elephant, the elephant remains an elephant. If the blind men took more time to feel the elephant more rather than making snap decisions, maybe they would have widen their perceptions. Instead of opening themselves to discover what an elephant is, they have instead created an elephant in the image of what they know, like an eel, a tree trunk or a rope.

“So it is the same with us who try to know God. Let us make sure that we are open to learn of God’s greatness rather than remaking God in our own image. There is the danger of remaking God like us, for example like Santa Claus, that we commit idolatry.”

“What about those people who do not believe that God exists?” asks Iskandar, another exchange disciple from the Middle East.

“There are some people who claimed that God does not exist. Others said that he is dead. There are those who claim that it is impossible for God to exist and that he is a figment of our imagination. God waits and smiles,” concludes Abba Ah Beng, adding, “the elephant in the room.”

Reflection questions

(1) What are some of the ways we can use to get to know God?

(2) In what ways do we remake God in our own image?

(3) How do we keep ourselves from narrowing instead of expanding our perception of God?

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Contemplative in Actions

I have been reading James Martin SJ 's wonderful book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life for my online Book Discussion Group. James Martin is an excellent writer with the ability to poke fun at himself and his order, The Society of Jesus or the Jesuits. The SJ which comes after his name stands for Society of Jesus (SJ) but also as he relates it was applied to him as Stupid Jerk!

Basically the book is an overview of Ignatian spirituality. He defines Ignatian spirituality as
1. Finding God in all things
2. Becoming a contemplative in action
3. Looking at the world in an incarnational way
4. Seeking freedom and detachment
which is an excellent summary of the main teachings of the Jesuits.

With no offense to the Jesuits, I always think that it should be "contemplative in actions" rather than "becoming a contemplative in action." I guess it is a matter of which is the object and which is the subject or which is the one where the emphasis is. I can understand why the Jesuits chose "contemplative in action" because of the misconceptions that contemplatives are navel gazers who does not contribute to the real world by being involved in real "action". Contemplatives are those who are closeted in the monasteries, protected by thick walls from the corrupting influences of the unwashed masses and spend their time in beautific communion with God.

That is a misconception of contemplatives. First a definition. A contemplative is a person whose inner life is lived focused on God with imputed grace resulting in love overflowing into every aspect of their being. Note the definition does not specify where the contemplative lives. That person may live in a monastery or with 7 million other persons on the tiny island of Singapore. Not all contemplatives are insulated from the mainstream of human life. I am always inspired by the examples of contemplatives like Bernard of Clairvaux who started hundreds of monasteries, became a Doctor of the Chruch, advised Popes and even started the Second Crusade, and Thomas Merton who became an anti-war activist, ecumenist and spiritual writer. So the focus on the contemplative seem to imply that the Jesuits are encouraging contemplatives to be involved in "action."

However, not all of us are contemplatives. Many of us, by temperament are activists. We are trees cutters rather than navel gazers. Hence "contemplative in actions" where the emphasis is on the "actions." We can act contemplatively rather than be contemplatives who acts. Another definition: a contemplative action is one that is done to please God and to fulfill his perfect will. This action may be something "spiritual" or "religious" or as simple as making a cup of coffee. God created coffee and who is to say that He does not have pleasure in seeing his creature enjoying the aroma of a full-bodied dark coffee?

Now where is my coffee?

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Carl McColman on Mysticism and Contemplation

Received my autographed copy of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism from the post office. I appreciate Carl making the effort to post it to me. I am looking forward to reading it.

Carl in his blog post explains mysticism and contemplation

Mysticism signifies spirituality that is characterized by mystery: in Christian terms, this means the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the Trinity, the mystery of prayer, the sacraments, and salvation. The Mystical Body is the mystery in which we mere mortals find union with Christ, who in turn is one with God the Father (see John 10:30). So Christian mysticism is the spirituality of union with God in Christ.

Contemplation, by contrast, signifies the relational “gaze” or interaction between a creature and God (in Christ, if understood as Christian contemplation). Contemplation is not a process of thinking, but rather a process of seeing. “I see God, and God sees me.” In the seeing and being seen, we are invited into union. Thus, contemplation is a normal and perhaps even essential element of mysticism. Contemplation, or contemplative prayer, is the means by which union with God may be consciously experienced (I choose my words carefully: “may” be experienced, for the act of contemplation, particularly as initiated by human beings, does not guarantee or engineer any particular experience of God; all it does is dispose the contemplative to receiving whatever gift, in whatever form, it may please God to give). But just as mysticism arguably requires contemplation, so too I think we can make the case the contemplation leads to mysticism (or, at least, to “ordinary mysticism” as I defined it yesterday). Thus, I believe that contemplation and (ordinary) mysticism, while not identical, are certainly most intimately related. Read more.

Here is an interesting dilemma:

is mysticism a subset of contemplation

or contemplation a subset of mysticism

or are both an overlap of the process of 'deitification' or union with God?

My understanding of mysticism is that it is the state in which our being (mind,soul,spirit) perceive of being in contact with God. It is best explained by the analogy of a dance. As the Orthodox tradition best explains it, this dance is the perichoresis of the Truine God. We are invited to join in this dance. Mysticism is the ontological and episemiological awareness of being participant in this dance.

Contemplation is a more focused mysticism in that the attention is directed to one member of the Trinity. It is also an ontological and epistemological awareness but narrower in scope.

Both mysticism and contemplation comes under the process of union with God as we come into deeper relationship and interaction with the Truine God who is both immanent and transcendent.

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McColman on Ordinary and Extraordinary Mysticism

Carl McColman whose The Big Book of Christian Mysticism I am impatiently waiting to arrive so that I can read it on the long plane ride to South Africa defines "ordinary" and "extraordinary" mysticism in his blog post here. I find his definitions very illuminating and similar to my own perspective. This is especially useful for Evangelicals who for some unknown reasons find mysticism threatening.

• Ordinary Mysticism is what I understand Rahner to mean when he says “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all.” This is, in essence, an experiential spirituality which seeks union with God, in the heart of the mystery of God, which transcends a merely rational or intellectual relationship with God. This mysticism basically has three characteristics: it aims for, and hopes for, the felt experience and conscious awareness of the presence of God, and union with God. But of course, since such experience can only by the gift of God, the seeker must recognize that sometimes God is “known” only in darkness or unknowing — the felt experience of the seeming absence of God. This is where faith is essential, for only a lively and well-nurtured faith can sustain the seeker through times when God seems absent. In addition to experience and faith, the third element of ordinary mysticism is practice: the disciplined engagement with historically recognized spiritual practices, including lectio divina, meditation, prayer, and contemplation, which do not cause the experience of God, but dispose the seeker to be open and receptive to receive whatever experience God may choose to bestow. One who engages in such practices can be called a “contemplative,” even though the highest, most mystical form of contemplation is, itself, purely a gift from God.
• Extraordinary Mysticism, like ordinary mysticism, entails the conscious awareness of the presence of God, and/or sustaining faith in God’s presence even when only aware of God’s seeming absence, and a life ordered to spiritual practices aimed at fostering greater intimacy with God. However, it is extraordinary in the sense that the mystic experiences phenomena or events that cannot be explained by ordinary human science: such as miraculous healings, visions, locutions, levitation, the ability to survive on no food other than the Eucharist, the stigmata, and the body remaining incorrupt after death. Such phenomena, of course, is controversial, and many devout Christians may remain skeptical about such things. I would argue that even a person who is skeptical about allegedly supernatural phenomena may still be an “ordinary” mystic.

I strongly hold that mysticism has a place in Christian spirituality because mysticism prevents Christians from placing God in a box.

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Eugene Peterson on Spiritual Theology

I always regard Eugene Peterson as one of the modern masters of spiritual theology. I am sure he does not think of himself that way. He was one of the few early Evangelicals who was into spiritual theology before it became popular. He is the Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology of Regent College, Vancouver, Canada. His earlier books are still worth reading. These five books of a conversation on spiritual theology together are Eugene Peterson's magnum opus on the subject.

2005

Jesus is God incarnate, a God who is immanent and transcendent. In this book, Peterson shows an immanent Christ that is present in us all and in creation. This forms the framework for the rest of the books on spiritual theology

2006

The book is about the Bible and how we as Christians are to understand the truths that are in it. Peterson, the author of The Message which is a modern paraphrase and translation of the Bible is in a unique position to show us what teaching and learning from the Word of God is about. He challenges us from mere cognitive understanding to propositional truths to assimilating and living it out the Bible - hence eat the book.

2007

How we do as disciples of Jesus Christ behave and live in this world is the subject of this book.

2008

Languages are important media of communications. In this book, Peterson takes on the way we understand truth and how our culture limits our understanding. Peterson shows us the way Jesus uses languages to teach his disciples.

2010

This is the final book in the series. Peterson wraps up his discourse on spiritual theology by exploring what spiritual growth or spiritual formation involves.

Mystical-Political Theology

The latest from Thinking Faith...


Book Review: The Relevance Of Bernard Lonergan’s Notion Of Self-Appropriation To A Mystical-Political Theology by Ian B. Bell
Reviewed by Gerard Whelan SJ
In outlining his project for a ‘mystical-political theology’, Ian Bell offers a summary of some representative thinkers in both mystical theology and political theology and seeks to relate the thought of the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan to each of these currents. The book addresses issues of paramount importance with answers of real significance, and I hope it will whet an appetite to study further this remarkable thinker, Bernard Lonergan, whose thought has the widest of applications and potential importance today.

Read more >>

God With Us

The latest from Thinking Faith...


God with us
Continuing his reflections on scriptural passages that we can sometimes struggle to understand, Fr Jack Mahoney asks us to consider what the idea of God being ‘with’ us means. What can we learn from the many instances of this phrase in the Old and New Testaments, and how should its meaning manifest itself in our daily lives? Read >>

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A Call for Spiritual Formation (8)

Paragraph Five

Spiritual formation is, by its very nature, missional. As we are formed into the likeness of Christ, we increasingly share God’s infinitely tender love for others. We deepen in our compassion for the poor, the broken, and the lost. We ache and pray and labor for others in a new way, a selfless way, a joy‐filled way. Our hearts are enlarged toward all people and toward all of creation.

There have been in recent years an expanded understanding of mission as not only sending out certain people to share the good news but also that the whole church is by its nature, according to theologian Darrell Guder (1998) is “God’s called and sent people.” The term missional is used to describe this expanded understanding of mission. In other words, God’s purpose is not just to call a people for himself but also in order that these people may become his instruments for his purpose of redeeming his fallen created order.

Christian spiritual formation is missional in that the process of growing into Christlikeness in communties of faith will deepen our compassion and love for others and lead to active involvement in the world. It will mean sharing the good news, helping the poor and sick, defending the oppressed, fighting injustice and healing the earth. Christian spiritual formation is the process of transforming and equipping us to discern where is God working in this world, and to align our lives to the achievement of God’s purposes. We become partakers of the missio Dei; the mission of God.

In summary, Christian spiritual formation enables us to become part of the larger purpose of God. It is not individualistic in forming just an I-and-Thou relationship with God, nor is it to form an exclusive community of faith where only certain people are admitted. It is not about us. It is all about God. It is about God’s purpose for the world.

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A Call to Spiritual Formation (6)

Paragraph Three

Our engagement with God’s transforming grace is vital. Renewal into the image of Christ is not a human attainment; it is a gift of grace. God mercifully uses all our experiences, including our suffering and trials, to teach and transform us. Even so, transformation requires our involvement and effort. We need to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit’s work in all our life experiences, particularly through intentional engagement with historical Christian disciplines, including Word and sacrament. These practices open us to the presence and grace of God. As a result, we become, through time and experience, the kind of persons who naturally express love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‐control.

I am in full agreement with this paragraph. Christian spiritual formation is a paradox. On one hand, it is pure grace. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our inner lives, transforming us. On the other hand, it requires consent on our part, making ourselves available, and “intentional engagement with historical Christian disciplines, including Word and sacrament.”

Christian spiritual formation takes place in the context of who we are and where we are. At any one time, there are external and internal influencers on our Christian spiritual formation. External influencers may be the country we are residing in, freedom of worship, religious pluralism, post-modernism, post-Christendom, denominational biasness, socioeconomic stability, and the effects of globalisation. Internal influencers may arise out of our cultural legacy, childhood trauma, deep inner wounds, and our psychosocial development. Effective Christian spiritual formation must be able to counteract the negative effects of all these influencers. Thus Christian spiritual formation can never be a program because the challenges are unique to every Christian. There is no “one size fits all” in Christian spiritual formation.

The process of Christian spiritual formation is often likened to a journey. As in any journey, we are often required to move out of our comfort zones and encounter difficult obstacles. The Holy Spirit journeys with us and often uses the circumstances (James Loder’s transforming moments) to transform us. It is this constant interaction involving the Holy Spirit, our being and the world that enable the Holy Spirit to bear fruit in us. Christian spiritual formation takes place in our everyday world, not somewhere far away in a monastery or hermitage.

Spiritual disciplines and practices are important in Christian spiritual formation. The key to spiritual disciplines and practices are that they open us to God. All spiritual disciplines and practices must revolve round the Word and sacrament. Ressourcement is the act of looking into our past rich Christian heritage and reappropriating these spiritual disciplines and practices that we can use in the 21st century. It is important to be aware that spiritual disciplines and practices are the means of Christian spiritual formation and not its end. It is equally important to clarify the misconception that spiritual formation is equivalent to spiritual disciplines. This is because in some churches, spiritual formation has become synonymous with practicing the spiritual disciplines.

In summary, Christian spiritual formation involves both grace and human choice. The choice is to seek God and detach ourselves from all influences that will draw us away from God and into the world. The spiritual disciplines and practices are useful only in that they open us to God.

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A Call to Spiritual Formation (5)

Paragraph Two

As we are rooted in Jesus and in the kingdom he proclaims, we are progressively transformed. Jesus is the center of all life and history, both the source and goal of all creation. God shaped this universe as a place where the love and life of Jesus Christ might flourish. Because we are formed in the divine image, we have the capacity to receive and express this life and love. Although human disobedience corrupts the divine image in us, God still forms a people able to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves. Jesus makes this possible through his life, death, and resurrection. In him we experience a restored relationship of love with God and one another, and continual transformation into his likeness. We are becoming a reconciled and renewed community – which is both the goal and the substance of life in God’s kingdom. This is the good news we proclaim with joy to the whole world.

Reading this paragraph, I am confused with the disjointed facts about Jesus, God’s kingdom, reconciled and renewed community and the good news. “As we are rooted in Jesus and in the kingdom he proclaims, we are progressively transformed” is a sentence that needs clarification. Does this means that transformation occurs automatically and progressively? What does “rooted” in Jesus and the kingdom means?

This is followed by “Jesus is the center of all life and history, both the source and goal of all creation.” While I agree that Jesus is the center and source, I wonder what is meant by Jesus is “the goal of all creation.” I am mystified by this. Is all creation going to become a Cosmic Christ as Teihard de Chardin suggests? As Karl Rahner so ably informs us about the divine Trinity economy, Jesus stands outside of creation.

Instead of clarifying the previous sentence, the next few are equally puzzling: “God shaped this universe as a place where the love and life of Jesus Christ might flourish.” I am curious in the choice of the words “God shaped” instead of “God created.” In a negative sense, the sentence may be interpreted as that God shaped the universe to fail so that Jesus Christ might flourish. “Because we are formed in the divine image, we have the capacity to receive and express this life and love.” If the “this” refers to the previous sentence, then the divine image enables us to receive and express the love and life of Jesus Christ. “Although human disobedience corrupts the divine image in us, God still forms a people able to love the Lord their God ...” Is there then two groups of people- one that have the life and love of Jesus Christ and the other formed by God with the ability to love him? I do not believe this is what the drafter of this statement meant to say but it is the impression I get while reading The Call to Spiritual Formation.

The point I want to make here is that there is no generally accepted and fully developed theology of Christian spiritual formation. Without a theology of Christian spiritual formation, the movement will continue to stumble and stall. There is a great urgency to develop this theology. A theology of Christian spiritual formation must be Trinitarian in basis, biblical in nature, taking into account the anthropological aspect of the divine image, the human person and persons-in-community, and the redemptive plan of God to restore his original perfect creation. This theology will provide the framework for discussion of the nature, matrix and means of Christian spiritual formation.

In this framework, the rest of the paragraph makes sense,
Jesus makes this possible through his life, death, and resurrection. In him we experience a restored relationship of love with God and one another, and continual transformation into his likeness. We are becoming a reconciled and renewed community – which is both the goal and the substance of life in God’s kingdom. This is the good news we proclaim with joy to the whole world.

The paragraph mentioned a reconciled and renewed community. Might this not be another reason for Christian spiritual formation? What then are the telos or goals of Christian spiritual formation? I will suggest the telos of Christian spiritual formation are:
(1) restoring our relationship with the Godhead;
(2) restoring the imago dei into Christlikeness in our being;
(3) becoming a people of God (laos);
(4) becoming his instruments for his plan of redemption (missio Dei).

A theology of Christian spiritual formation will help us to understand its relationship with discipleship. Some people regard spiritual formation as synonymous with discipleship. I noticed that many authors writing about spiritual formation try to avoid mentioning discipleship. It would have been helpful that this statement on A Call to Spiritual Formation enlightens us as to the difference between spiritual formation and discipleship.

In summary, there is a deep need for a theology of Christian spiritual formation that will be the framework to build the movement on. Otherwise it will become a buzz word, a fad, or a bandwagon for everyone to jump on. A bandwagon that may be heading nowhere fast.

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A Call to Spiritual Formation (4)

Paragraph One

God calls us all to become like Jesus. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”* We experience this abundance of life – here and now – as our passions, character, understanding, and relationships are increasingly aligned with those of Christ. This lifelong transformation within and among us is the continual gift of God’s Spirit. We are called to be renewed into the likeness of Jesus – but we do not always fully embrace this calling. Sometimes we seem content to be known as “Christians” without intentionally engaging with this work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Other times we desperately long for a new way of life, wanting to grow in our walk with Jesus, but needing help and encouragement. We, therefore, commit to pursue passionately and to receive joyfully God’s grace to be more fully transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

This paragraph highlights what Richard Lovelace in 1973 identified as the “sanctification gap.” By the “sanctification gap”, Lovelace meant the huge gap that exist between what Christians know about God, profess about God, what God expects them to do, and how these Christians live out their daily lives. Often cognitive knowledge of God is not automatically translated into Godly characters. Numerous surveys have shown that there are not much difference between lifestyles of Christians and non-Christians. This is what exists in churches despite huge amount of effort and money being spent on Christian education, discipleship programs and teaching seminars. This is the key challenge facing Christian spiritual formation.

This paragraph contains the call of God (to become like Jesus) and our response (pursue passionately and to receive joyfully God’s grace). We all carry the sin-distorted image of God. It is God’s intention to restore his image in us. Anthony Hoekema (1986, 89) notes that “because Christ is the perfect image of God, becoming more like God also means becoming more like Christ.” This is God’s call to us (Galatians 4:19; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Our response is to intentionally “pursue” and “receive.” There are a few points to note here. Firstly, evangelicals have this morbid fear of “work righteousness.” They have been so taken up by the image of the potter and the clay that they perceive themselves as inanimate lumps of clay – to be passively formed by the potter. Any effort by ourselves to draw closer to God is considered work righteousness and earning merits. Somehow, we confuse justification and sanctification. Justification is purely by grace and there is nothing we can do to earn it. Sanctification, on the other hand, is a process and needs work – not to earn righteousness but to become righteousness.

Secondly, it is possible to be a Christian and not grow spiritually (become more like Christ). Paul’s constant exhortation in his epistles to learn, pray and mature in the faith means that there are Christians who are not growing. They do not grow because they choose not to.

Thirdly, there are some Christians who are so triumphant in their beliefs that they believe they are already perfect now and do not need to grow. We need to only look at ourselves in the mirror to know that we are not there yet.

Finally, our response will not bear fruit without the Holy Spirit and God’s grace. Our response is to work with the Holy Spirit, allow him to work in us so that we may appropriate God’s grace that is so freely given to us.

In summary, the paragraph is important because shows what the call of God to us is – to become like his Son. It also highlights how vital our responses are. It boils down to a matter of personal choice.

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A Call to Spiritual Formation (3)

The Definition

The definition offered is Christian spiritual formation is the process of being shaped by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ, filled with love for God and the world.

Christian spiritual formation must be identified and recognized that it is distinct from other types of spiritual formation. Spiritual formation occurs whether we are aware of it or not. All of us are being spiritually formed at all times. Therefore Christian spiritual formation is distinctive because it occurs after “conversion” when one comes to believe in the saving grace of Christ’s work on the cross. During the process of conversion, after receiving justification, the Holy Spirit is sealed onto our spirits to begin the great work of sanctification or as Dallas Willard calls it, ‘the renovation of our souls.’

It is important to recognize that Christian spiritual process is a process. Unlike justification which is instantaneous, spiritual growth takes time. Paul uses the metaphor of putting off our old nature and putting on the new nature. This is further illustrated by the “wretched man” when he explains the struggle of the old and new nature in Romans 7.

I will suggest an important qualifier for the word process – intentionality. Christian spiritual formation is an intentional process. It is volitional and involves choice. We can choose to grow spiritually or not to grow at all. We can chose to be “mature beginners” as John Coe suggested, feeling on spiritual milk despite decades of membership in the church. The role of the Holy Spirit is recognized here as the shaper of our spiritual formation. However the Holy Spirit will only work with our consent. Unlike inanimate clay, we are embodied souls and the Holy Spirit respects our freedom to choose.

According to the wording of this definition, the telos or goals of Christian spiritual formation is (1) shaped into the likeness of Christ, (2) filled with love for God, and (3) filled with love for the world. The first goal is obvious from biblical literature as God wants to restore the imago dei in us and to recreated the shalom or perfection of the created order through his Son, Jesus Christ.

I am curious about the notion of being “filled” with love for God and the world. This implied a passive filling love which is an emotive term. When Jesus summaries all the teaching in the Old Testament into loving God and loving our neighbours (Mark 12:29-31), love is used as an active verb. Christian spiritual formation is not to be filled with love for God and the world (though it may have a part) but to love God. The process of loving God involves taking part in what Karl Barth called the missio Dei – the great redemption plan of God for all mankind and the fallen created order. This will mean that the process of Christian spiritual formation will involve becoming co-partners with God in restoring the damaged planet and fallen humanity.

This definition implies an individualistic Christian spirituality. It seems to describe a type of Christian spirituality that is between me and my God. This is a dangerous type of Christian spirituality because it will lead a person to be totally inward-looking and be exposed to the risk of falling into the idolatry of narcissism. Thomas Merton points out the risk of individualistic spirituality and differentiates it from contemplative spirituality. True Christian spiritual formation is personal but not individual. It is communal where the community of faith is both the nurturing crucible, and the matrix where Christian spiritual transformation takes place. The church or a community of faith, in spite of its imperfect, is vital to Christian spiritual formation.

Christian spiritual formation is an intentional process which may be facilitated by the means of Christian spiritual formation such as assimilating the Word, practicing the spiritual disciplines, church traditions, fellowship, prayer and other such practices that open us to God. It is something we can do. Christian spiritual transformation on the other hand, occurs during the process of the Christian spiritual formation where true transformation takes place. It is often a movement from the cognitive to the affective. Christian spiritual transformation is the act of the Holy Spirit and is pure grace.

In summary I will offer the following definition: Christian spiritual formation is the intentional process of being shaped by the Spirit into the likeness of Christ in our communities of faith, developing our love for God by taking part in his redemption plan for humankind and the earth.

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Richard Foster' & Beebe's Longing for God

Richard Foster & Gayle D. Beebe (2009), Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotions, Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press.

Richard Foster is the founder of Renovare in Denver, Colorado. Gayle Beebe is president of Westmont Colleg in Santa Barbara, California.

This book reminds me of the approach taken by Richard Foster (2001) in his book, Streams of Living Water. While in Streams, Foster divided the Christian traditions, here they try to divide the spiritual life as seven paths of Christian devotion. These paths are
(1) The right ordering of our love for God
(2) The spiritual life as journey
(3) The recovery of knowledge of God lost in the Fall
(4) Intimacy with Jesus
(5) The right ordering of our experiences with God
(6) Action and contemplation
(7) Divine ascent

The authors have selected a few Christian spiritual saints from the past to support each one of these path. For example in the path of action and contemplation, John Cassian, Benedict of Nursia and Gregory the Great were chosen as examples and a small sample of their wrings were quoted.

As a student of Christian spirituality, I welcome the revival of interest in the leaders of the spirituality tradition. The Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christian mystics, spiritual directors and spiritual writers are enjoying a revival of sorts. Their works are being taken down from dusty shelves and their writings are being reprinted. These saints are very complex people and they lived in a time and space very remote to our time and space. Therefore I fear when they and their works are used to support certain views of spiritualities without reference to the context in which their works were produced. Oops. Sorry about the rant.

This is a well written book by two scholars of Christian spirituality. The seven paths mentioned are well defined but somehow felt too 'neat.' I hope now that Christian devotion is categorized, it will not be systematized and formulatized. In his book, Streams, Foster identifies six dimensions of the Christian life. After the publication the the book, Renovare organises spiritual formation groups which meet regularly. During each group meeting, they make sure they study or conduct activities that touches upon these six dimensions. While this sounds like a balanced Christian life, somehow it is too artificial and again, neat. Christian life is more complex than that. It is not a formula but a way of life.

After saying all that, this is a good book to read about Christian spirituality.

Richard Schmidt's God Seekers

Richard H. Schmidt (2008), God Seekers: Twenty Centuries of Christian Spiritualities , Grand Rapids, MI:Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. / Hardcover


This is an interesting book to read because it gives an overview of Christian spirituality by focusing on the biography of a certain person as representative of that spirituality. It is appropriate that the book should be entitled Christian spiritualities as each of the person mentioned represent a type of Christian spirituality. I am beginning to recognise and appreciate that there is not one Christian spirituality but many Christian spiritualities.

Schmidt offers the definition of Christian spirituality as "any spirituality which sees God in Jesus Christ." That's a great definition but it does not mention the role of the Holy Spirit and the telos of Christian spirituality.

There are 32 short biographies followed by a few quotations from each of the the person mentioned. Each forms a chapter and a type of spiritualities. The first biography is of Irenaues (early Christian spirituality) and ends with Rosemary Radford Ruether (Feminist spirituality). These make interesting reading but is just too brief. What make the chapters come alive is the beautiful line portraits of the persons mentioned drawn by Dean Mosher of Fairhope, Alabama where he drew from imagination, many of the the early spiritual writers who did not have any surviving portraits.

A good book for a general introduction to Christian spiritualities.