This week I am at the Midwest Regional Conference for the Spiritual Formation Forum. We are meeting at Elmbrook Church in the Milwaukee area. I am planning on posting a summation of the content of the plenary sessions from each day, and perhaps my own reflections and wonderings based upon my time this week.
On Wednesday evening, we heard from David Johnson, senior pastor of Church of the Open Door in Minneapolis, MN. Dave called us to the development of the interior life as the goal and focus of our life and ministry. "This isn't about spiritual formation as the next big thing, it is about life and death." Dave used the story of Samson as an illustration of a person who had a powerful anointing of the Spirit for the purpose of setting Israel free from ####### to the Philistines, but he didn't have the character to carry the anointing well. Dave said, "If you don't have the internal strength to carry the weight of the anointing, it will crush you eventually."
'Formation of the interior life in community' sounds scarry to most of us who have entered or are currently in an evangelical church. The messy work of the formation of our character brings us to a place of discomfort simply by the introduction of the idea. I don't want to have to really look at the way that I do life because I know that I am going to find areas that look less like love, joy, peace, patience, etc. and more like pride, jealousy, anger and bitterness. So while I profess to love Jesus, his love is not having a shaping impact on my internal world in a way that fleshes itself out in my everyday life.
So, what if we stopped 'doing' church as a way to provide goods and services for consumers and began to 'be' the church as a formed community called into the world on mission with God? How would that change the way that we do the organzational life of the church? How would that change the way that we do our life at home, work, with family and neighbors?
Dave concluded his talk with this question: "What do you want?" What do I want? Do I want more program driven, church activity that draws a crowd? Or, do I want the life that Jesus offers those who become his apprentices and are drawn into community together. Jesus said that it is possible to have his life in us, can you imagine? Really...the Father in Jesus, Jesus in the Father, the Father and Jesus in us through the presence of the Spirit who is in them...really?
That sounds like life to me, and want that! I want that for my family! I want that for the church!
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