Whoooooaaaa.... we're halfway there
WHOOOOAAAA-OH!
livin on a prayer!
Not only great in the Rockband
experience between readings and assignments, but no greater singing
prophet of the 80s than bon jovi could've given us this gem of truth.
Halfway through the semester and we're looking to be in good shape.
We're still hunting for and of course praying for balance in the
force of our lives: schoolwork, workwork, playtime and praytime.
To focus on the schoolwork, this week
we highlight Spiritual Formation with Martha Giltinan. A quick aside
concerning Martha (as it is inevitable): We were warned about her
more than any other professor as someone who is difficult to follow
and “a little over-the-top”. She's a Drama Queen
Empress and “little over-the-top” is far too insufficient,
however, she has offered some of the richest in-class experiences
we've had in some time and she approaches the material from such a
sense of pastoral conviction that this class is one of the highlights
of the week. She doesn't strike me as one who would offer benefits
for brown-nosing, so I'm very comfortable lauding her... I'm also
comfortable going on record as saying that when I first heard her
launch into soliloquy I thought she sounded like a cross between
Bullwinkle J Moose and Billy Sunday (what higher praise is there for
a first impression?)
Spiritual Formation classes I've
(Greg) had in the past have been very basic, “let's read some
Dallas Willard” and learn about spiritual disciplines and talk
about all those things we want to do for our growth in the Lord but
certainly don't have time to do. Good stuff, but always the same
stuff. I don't believe we've cracked open any Dallas Willard yet,
but the disciplines and the quest for virtue hasn't changed all that
much... now we're just reading everyone who likely influenced the
Willard. This is great news! We don't have to try and be inventive
or creative about fasting, lectio divina, Sabbath rest, the practice
of the presence of God, etc because learning how to grow in
Christ-likeness and abiding with God through the continual and active
presence of the Spirit isn't new either... the people of God have
been getting it wrong (and getting it right) for centuries!!!
Blessed be the Name!
So, from this class we've learned to
envelop ourselves in the great cloud of witnesses that we might learn
a lesson or two and go and do likewise, trusting that God will draw
us close and conform us to the image of his Son as we walk on that
way of becoming like Jesus (status viatoris
for the Pieper fans out there). We're going to forget to read our
Bibles somedays and we're gonna forget about the blessing of fasting
and just be cranky; but all glory to Him who loves us and calls us
His own and nurtures us with His Spirit that sometimes we will get it
right (whatever that means in this crazy world of spiritual
formation) and we will mature and grow in the knowledge and love of
the Lord. Since I opened with a hymn, I figure it's good to close
with one as well:
