Our reading for that day came from a booklet written by Christopher Webb and printed by Renovare.
Claim 1: Webb takes the six streams of Christian tradition
from Foster and makes them into categories for the shaping of a rule of life.
He says, “as our passions and character are aligned with those of Jesus, so we
increasingly become intentional about expressing each of these aspects of his
life in our walk with him” (pg. 7). I took Integrated Theology last semester,
and we read parts of Foster’s Streams of
Living Water to cover the spiritual formation section. Foster seemed to be
much more focused on providing a descriptive look at these six areas,
while Webb is seeking to turn them into a prescriptive
guide for creating Christ-likeness in our lives. I don’t know if I just don’t remember correctly or if this was
actually the case with Foster. At any rate, while I really enjoyed reading
Foster’s book (particularly the Sacramental section), I can’t say it changed
anything in my life. I’m hoping Webb will be otherwise.
Claim 2: Gradual change is more effective than sudden shifts.
As Webb writes, “You are far more likely to successfully build a modest rhythm
of prayer into your day than to utterly reorganize your life around hours of
devotion” (pg. 9). He later provides an example of this by discussing how his
almost simplistic rule of life has “had a profound impact on every important
area” of his life (p. 13). I can certainly see the wisdom and common sense in
Webb’s statement. But I don’t like having to keep working at something. I am
much more of a pendulum person. My tendency is to attempt making a drastic
change, get it all taken care of, and have it done–crossed off my checklist! I
don’t naturally like being in a gradual process.
Question 1: Given Mulholland’s definition of spiritual
formation (the part about “for the sake of others”), why is it that the
monastic desert fathers tend to be so revered? Their idea of holy living
frequently lacked the horizontal plane of interaction. They often tried as hard
as they could to never be around people, though that was typically a difficult
task because people would try to flock to them. Webb describes Anthony’s life –
he tried “to strip away every distraction this world had to offer so he could
seek God with his whole heart” (pg. 4). Clearly, that sounds like a noble and
good ambition. And his commitment was admirable. But what happened to “for the
sake of others”? From later parts of the chapter, Webb clearly believes in
being in relationship with other people. But when I read this early bit on
Anthony it just made me wonder why it is that we tend to put monastics on such
a pedestal? If we look at it holistically, they were, in some ways, trying to
be very selfish in their holiness. I am certainly prone to do the same as an
introvert – so it’s a good reminder to me to be aware of that.
Insight 1: “Every day we live is like a miniature picture of
our whole life…” (pg. 4). This was a really important point for me to hear. As
I mentioned in class, what I actually do with my time is frequently quite
different than what I would say my
Rule of Life is. I need to remember and to seek to live out the fact that my
daily, moment by moment choices are what shapes who I am in fact.
Insight 2: As a recovering practitioner of Christian legalism, I
greatly appreciated the way in which he differentiated between
commands/regulations and the guiding principle of the quest for a regula vita which he advocates (pg. 5). It’s
like he said. If we want to shape our life to a particular pattern, it is very
helpful to have a ruler to guide our pencil. Without it, our shape is much more
likely to not match what we had in mind. BOTH flexibility AND guidelines – a
balance that is so much fun to try to maintain for an extreme perfectionist
just barely beginning to recover, like me!
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