Formative Rhythms
Scripture Text: Romans 12:1-2
Stanley Hauerwas & William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony
The Gospels make wonderfully clear that the disciples had not the foggiest idea of what they had gotten into when they followed Jesus. With a simple “Follow me,” Jesus invited ordinary people to come out and be part of an adventure, a journey that kept surprising them at every turn in the road. It is no coincidence that the Gospel writers chose to frame the gospel in terms of a journey: “And then Jesus went to,” “From there he took his disciples to,” “From that time he began to teach them that . . .” The church exists today as resident aliens, an adventurous colony in a society of unbelief. As a society of unbelief, Western culture is devoid of a sense of journey, of adventure, because it lacks belief in much more than the cultivation of an ever-shrinking horizon of self-preservation and self-expression.
Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule
We become what or who we reflect, which is to say we become what we pay attention to. We can’t become ourselves by ourselves. The way we discover ourselves is by staring at someone else.
Richard Foster, The Life with God Bible
The problem with a “living” sacrifice is that it always wants to get off the alter.
James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom
Liturgies—whether “sacred” or “secular”—shape and constitute our identities by forming our most fundamental desires and our most basic attunement to the world. In short, liturgies make us certain kinds of people, and what defines us is what we love. They do this because we are the sorts of animals whose orientation to the world is shaped from the body up more than from the head down. Liturgies aim our love to different ends precisely by training our hearts through our bodies.
All habits and practices are ultimately trying to make us into a certain kind of person. So one of the most important questions we need to ask is: Just what kind of person is this habit or practice trying to produce, and to what end is such a practice aimed?”
Application Questions
1. What is your next step with discipleship in Jesus?
2. To what community has God called you to be on mission?
3. How will you prioritize “life together” here at Oaks Parish?