Beyond Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy - part 2

"Faith without works is dead."

"Works without purpose are empty."

"It is not what you say it is what you do."

"Beliefs drive actions."

"Anyone can take communion in worship."

"You cannot take communion unless you know what it means or it cheapens the sacrament." 

"Baptism of children are well and good because baptism is for all people."

"Baptism is only for those who know what it means, so babies are not considered." 

The argument of what is more important - what you believe or what you do - grows two camps. Each side appreciates the other side but in the end is ultimately convinced their camp is slightly more important than the other. Thus debates rage on and on in these dualistic conversations. 

Enter Jesus who brought a teaching that there is a third way. 

Jesus heals a lot of blind people, which is nothing to dismiss as though Jesus is just really good with eyes. Jesus heals blindness because it is this blindness that keeps us from seeing this third way - the way beyond orthodoxy and orthopraxy. 

Take the example of teaching people to give to the church. The orthodoxy side of us want to ensure people know that giving is important. The orthopraxy side of us wants to ensure people are giving to the right causes. When this right knowledge and right action are achieved then would count that as a good job. If someone knows they should give and then give to the causes that are the most fruitful, then "mission accomplished"! 

Teaching people to give and giving opportunities for them to give falls short in discipleship. These two steps are just the beginning and if we want to move beyond orthodoxy and orthopraxy we must see our need for orthokardia - right heart.

This process of discovering orthokardia is like learning a second language. When we first begin a new language, we are focused on the right words. Once the vocabulary is to a point, we then begin to work on the correct way to say the words (rolling the 'r' or pronouncing the umlaut). As we speak this second language we are at first really speaking our first language then translating in our heads what that word combination would be in our second language. With practice, we begin to shift from translating to just speaking. We being to think in terms of the second language and not our first. It is a wonderful transition and critical to anyone who wants to be fluent in languages.

Orthokardia is much like this. While we are focused on what people, think about giving or what they give to, we are not encouraging orthokardia. It is not enough to convince people to give or to give to specific causes, orthokardia is about making generous people. People who do not need to be told to give of their time or money or energy, but people who are aware of the numerous ways to be generous all around them.

It is an easy thing to get people to give compared to creating generous people. It is an easy thing to get people to understand the value of learning the story of Jesus compared to helping create "little Christs". It is very easy to pick out people who do not believe the right things or do the right things compared to those who have correct orthokardia.

If you don't play the game you will never be soccer player

The other day in a session I was able to teach, I sort of had a "going off the script" moment. These generally are the times where some of my better lines come from. While this line was not earth shattering, it was enough to stick in my mind and recall later. So I share it here.

My son is 4 and he is a horrible soccer player. He does not follow the rules. He likes to carry the ball. When I tell him to kick the ball into the goal, he sits on the ball. Needless to say, he is not on the fast track to be the next Messi (5 goals in one game! You have got to be kidding me!)

 

The thing about soccer, like all sports, is that there are rules that one must follow in order to play. If you do not follow the rules you will never be a soccer player. 

Likewise, there are rhythms and patterns and disciplines and even "rules" to the Way of Christ. If you do not follow these "rules" you will never be a Disciple.

Unless you play the game, you will never develop your game.

Let those with ears hear.

Form: Shaping Spirituality: Trans-form

In a final post about a way of spiritual formation, we will look at transform.

I credit Rev. Nancy Allen on the following visual. She said she got it from a Companions in Christ study, but she was not sure where she first saw it.

It is one of the better ways I have come across to describe what a transformation through spiritual formation "looks" like.

Many of us begin to talk about God in abstract terms and use language that speaks of God as "out there". As such, we relate to God as an "other" not related to the self (see fig. 1).

Some people find that to talk about God in the abstraction is not helpful or "Biblical" and so there is a very powerful movement in which there is a talk of getting Jesus into your heart. Whereas in fig 1 God is outside of the self, in fig 2 God dwells in the temple of the body.

The fact of the matter is in both fig 1 and fig 2, the protagonist is the human being. Fig 1 has the human story and God's story moving in parallel. There are times when the stories come close (Christians call these mountaintop experiences or thin places) but they do not touch. Fig 2, God becomes a personal deity in which prayers are offered and the person who prays them becomes convinced that God does not love them but is in love with them. This is parodied in this SNL sketch:

Jesus (Phil Hartman): Tina.. Tina.. all I'm saying is, prayers like, "Please don't let the rice get sticky." You know. 
Tina (Sally Field): Yeah! Yeah! 
Jesus: I mean, do you really need My help with stuff like that? See? 
Tina: [ crying profusely into her apron ] I'm very, very sorry..! I guess I was justwasting your time..! I certainly wish you had told me about this sooner..! 
Jesus: Well, I thought about it, and I decided to finally say something.. 
Tina: Oh, God, I'm so embarrassed..! 
Jesus: Well, believe me, there are a billion people with the same problem! [ chuckling ] 


Notice in this sketch and in fig. 2, the person center stage is not God, but the human. 


Through the process of reforming, we are transformed. Fig. 3 visually expresses that when we are transformed we are not longer looking as God or hold God in our heart, but we become enveloped in God. We have our story but our story is just one story of God's story. We have a relationship with God, but the relationship is not exclusively ours.


Fig 3 is a life transformed. The protagonist of fig. 3 is not the human - it is God. 


Transformation is beyond being a better person. It is beyond doing good or living by the golden rule. If we are religious or spiritual just to be better people, then the main actor in our lives is still, well, us. 


Rather, the call of Christian spirituality is a call to transform so that we are no longer the main player in our lives. We are not the protagonist. Transformation leads us to losing our story in God's story so that God's story becomes our story.


Spiritual formation is about moving toward fig 3. It is about being formed so that we are not the center of the action in our life. It is about learning God's story so that God's story becomes our story.


Spiritual formation is bound together in information, preformation, conformation, reformation, and transformation.