Spiritual Formation

How about that: two posts in two days! I think this is a first. Just wanted to share some thoughts about something I just read.

Today I kind of organized my and Sarah's bookshelf. We've got classics, both old and contemporary, in the upper left. My extensive fantasy/sci-fi collection fills the rest of the top shelf. The middle shelf is Christian reading and study, and pretty much the right half is all Bibles of various translation and focus. Sarah's collected quite a few over the years! And the bottom shelf has duplicate copies we've acquired, blank and filled notebooks of Sarah's, and devotional-type reading.

One of the Bibles we have is the NIV 'Spiritual Formation' Bible in which I just read part of the intro. Even in this moment as I look over the words and the Scripture it points to, I can feel the work God is doing in me. Which essentially is what spiritual formation is. Billy (of the 'billy williams' link to the right) first really introduced spiritual formation to me. The idea and the language used to describe it really speaks deeply to me, as do any commentaries or books about the epic scope of God's story and our part in it.

Here's an extensive quote from the introduction: 'What is Spiritual Formation? Human beings are creatures of the future. Unlike other inhabitants of creation whose lives are fixed within the boundaries of genetics and instinct, human existence is open-ended, laced with mystery, like moist clay in a potter's hand. We are works in progress, shaped by the constant rhythms of nature and the unexpected turns of history. Sometimes elated and sometimes burdened by our unfinished condition, we live our days conscious that "what we will be has not yet been made known" (1 John 3:2). A sense of our true identity is always just beyond our grasp, always awaiting us, it seems, just around the next bend in the road.

'As nature and history interact with a human existence that is incomplete, pliable and rich with significant potential, personal formation occurs. Human beings are formed by the sculpting of will, intellect and emotion into a distinct way of being in the world. Such formation of personal character will assume a wide range of expression depending on our location geographically, socially, economically and culturally. Family values, social conventions, culturual assumptions, the great turning points of an epoch, the painful secrets of a heart -- these and many other factors combine to form or deform the direction, depth and boundaries of our lives. Formation is therefore a fundamental characteristic of human life. It is happening whether or not we are aware of it, and its effect may as often inhibit as promote the development of healthy, fulfilled humanity.

'For people of Biblical faith, nautre and history of themselves are not the final sources of personal formation. Rather, they are means through which the God who formed all things molds human beings into the contours of their truest destiny, the unfettered praise of God (see Isaiah 43:21). To be shaped by God's gracious design is a particular expression of personal formation -- spiritual formation.'

And I could go on. I'll probably share more in later posts. It's an excellent essay. And I haven't even gotten to Jesus Christ, the 'human being fully alive, fully open to God's work in the world.' Until next time...