Dear parish family please reflect in anticipation of MAP (Mission Action Plan) on Sunday
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Faith formation says a great deal about what kind of life we are called to lead as a Christian. Nish Weiseth captures this; “Spiritual formation is the process by which we are shaped by the power of the Holy Spirit into the image of Jesus for the sake of others…Not for us, but for our neighbours, for our communities, for the sake of doing the work of Jesus here on this earth in this time, to see the Kingdom of God break through…so that others might flourish…We are called to be made more into the image of Jesus for their sake, so that they may be blessed.” From A Rhythm of Prayer, edited by Sarah Bessey, pg 95
Disciples are not mere followers nor are they simply participants in regular worship. The root of the word disciple is discere – to learn, and through faith formation, Christians learn the Way of Jesus. Faith formation is both guided participation in community faith practices and an intention and practice that attunes us to the presence of God, the sacred in everyday life, and service to others so that all may experience
God’s fullness of life. The joy of a community focused on faith formation is that faith formation envelopes the disciple in a process of experiencing, learning, and living the Way of Jesus. The faith community at its best is an incubator where we can practise spiritual disciplines, new ways of being compassionate with one another, and risk taking as we respond with increasing boldness to the Spirit’s call to compassion, humility, and caretaking of others.
What does it look like to be one who is faith formed? A faith formed person lives a life that is shaped in every aspect by the love of God as shown to us by and through Jesus; a person who continues in the word of Jesus. Faith formed people, disciples, live a daily rhythm of spiritual practices and intention that inform each moment of their day. They seek the best for others. Is this about perfection or sainthood? No, it’s about intention, and growing and deepening our sense of living in the fullness of God; being whole and authentically who God is calling us to be – and supporting others in that same fullness! Discipleship is a journey for every one of us; each in a different place, but all moving towards God.
Frederick Buechner says in Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Faith forming invites us to lean into our deep gladness, to relish our own unique gifts and charisms, and to connect those in our families, our neighbourhoods and our faith communities in ways that feed people’s deepest hungers. Can you name your place of deep gladness? Can you identify where your deep gladness nourishes and responds to the world’s deep hunger…for food, for shelter, for safety, for love, for dignity, for reconciliation, for God?
Another way of thinking about this is to ask what rhythms of our day differentiate us from the others around us. Which rhythms in our day have grown out of our faith? Are there aspects of our daily rhythms that might intrigue people enough to ask us about them? Do we have spiritual practices that gently move us into the lives of others? What about our faith practices would identify us as a disciple of Jesus to others?
These are challenging questions for Anglicans, indeed for many Christians, because for too long we have behaved as though disciples were formed in a private relationship between an individual and God at regular Sunday worship. There might have been a time when there was an unspoken, shared social agreement about what it meant to be a Christian but, in this secular, post-Christian world, that’s just not the case. We are being called to live counter-cultural lives; lives marked by spiritual practices and a deep connection to God through Jesus – lives that are both the announcement and demonstration of God’s love.