Going Home: Personal and Corporate Renewal through Spiritual Formation Practices

Going Home:Personal and Corporate Renewal through Spiritual Formation Practices Dwight Judy Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Aim of Christian Life • Imitation of Christ • Fullness of life • Capacity for suffering in Christ’s name • Hesychasm/Shalom • Eastern Orthodox • Hebrew Tradition • Sanctification/Divinization • Being made perfect in love in this life • Wesleyan aim

Perfection of love The Holy Spirit comes upon us bit by bit . . . So that were we to live a thousand years, we could still grow in love. -- Meister Eckhart

Love God with all of you heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Spiritual formation is the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ for the sake of others. -- Robert Mulholland

Big Rule • Beatitudes • Benedictine Rule • Opus Dei/Daily Office • Lectio Divina/Study of Divine Word • Opus Manuum/Manual labor, social justice, administration • Rule of Methodist Societies • Order of St. Luke • The Lord’s Prayer • The Ten Commandments • Ordination Vows

Disciplines of Holy LivingWesleyan Heritage • Being made perfect in love in this life • Rules of the Societies • Do no evil • Do good • Attend upon the Ordinances of the Church • Sacraments (particularly Holy Communion) • Searching the Scriptures • Public and Private Prayer • Fasting or Abstinence • Holy Conferencing

Be a Society • “Such a society is no other than ‘a company of [people] having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.’”

Bernard of Clairvaux – 12th Century If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than a canal. For a canal spreads abroad its water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and then communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.

Bernard of Clairvaux So urgent is the love of those through whom the streams of heavenly teaching flow to us, that they wish to pour it forth before they have been filled. They are more ready to speak than to listen, impatient to teach what they have not grasped and full of the presumption to govern others while they know not how to govern themselves.

Bernard of Clairvaux Give then to me out of your surplus – if not, then spare me.

Introduction to Daily Meditation • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Introduction to Daily Meditation, from The Way to Freedom • “Help against the unseamly haste and disquiet that endanger my work as pastor.”

Being a Reservoire • One practice that you need on a regular basis • Who are accountability partner(s) for you? • How will you know if you are growing in perfection of love?

Difficulties • Is there childcare in the desert? • Ernest Boyer, Jr., A Way in the World: Family Life as Spiritual Discipline (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984) • Need for Balance • Life at the Center • Life at the Edge • Need for Balance • Setting priorities based on pastoral responsibilities • Philip Tousley, Grace in Heavy Traffic: Avoiding a Partial Pattern of the Means of Grace through the Implementation of Ordered Ministry

Practicing SabbathKeeping the Sabbath WhollyMarva Dawn • Ceasing • Resting • Embracing • Feasting

Parker Palmer, Flora Wuellner, and Teresa of Avila • Shadow of the Leader • Need for Self-Awareness • Need for intentional spiritual life • “Leading from Within” • Let your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation • Distinguishing “soul” from “role” • Flora Wuellner, Feed my Shepherds • Prayer and Self-Reflection

John Wesley“The Means of Grace” • How do we “wait upon the Lord?” • By “marching forward with all our might.” • Ordinary Means of Grace • Public and Private Prayer • Attending upon Sacraments of the Church • Scripture reading • Holy Conferencing • Fasting or Abstinence

ExamenMarjorie Thompson • When have I been aware of your (God’s) presence, guidance, or grace (this week)? How did I respond? • When have I been especially unaware of your presence, guidance, or grace (this week)? Why? • What habit of the heart do I need to acquire in order to live more faithfully?

Questions for Choosing our DisciplinesMarjorie Thompson • What [of the disciplines] am I deeply attracted to, and why? • Where do I feel God is calling me to stretch and grow? • What kind of balance do I need in my life?

Be a Society “Such a society is no other than ‘a company of [people] having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.’”

Leaders chosen from Select Societies Live in love Inwardly practice the Means of Grace Outwardly obey the Rules Tom Albin The Upper Room

Ideal Ministry of Spiritual Formation • Drop In – short-term events • Contemplative study groups – all ages! • Retreats • Teaching all lay leadership spiritual disciplines • Guiding discernment processes for mission/outreach • Healing Prayer • Reaching out as “spiritual life center” for community

Spiritual Life Center Committee Structure • St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana • Development of the Inner Soul Committee • External Connections Committee • Infrastructure Committee

Galatians 5:18-26 • By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is • love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. • Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Act 3:1-8 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

Act 3:1-8 What do you have to give In the name of Jesus Christ? How will you sustain this ministry?

John 20 Peace be with you As the Father has sent me, so I send you Receive the Holy Spirit

Going Home: Personal and Corporate Renewal through Spiritual Formation Practices