22^nd August 2017

There was a sense of urgency recently posed by the question “How can Christianity stay strong in the West? This is similar to another important question, “How can we be healthy congregations or faith communities”?

Often the church responds to a statement like this by commissioning a committee to come up with a programme or more recommendations to address the problem. We have to ask ourselves however if this institutional model really goes to the heart of the question? If another management model is not the answer to having a healthy church then we are well overdue in realising that the Christian faith is more than an institution. In fact it is nothing less than a counter cultural movement that offers an alternative way of life. One of the ways it does this is through practising a robust faith and a disciplined spirituality.

Having recently researched the colonial history of one of the three churches that later emerged as the Uniting Church I am under no illusion about the marked differences between the years of Christendom and the church of today engulfed by a post-modern view of life. While we cannot live on the memory of yesterday or think that the future will replicate the past, I have been confronted with the startling reluctance of the church to recall the rich faith and spirituality of its pioneers. In fact it has almost become politically correct within the church itself to think of the past or of our Christian heritage as having little of real value to contribute to the present. The writer of Hebrews had a different view. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7.) While different generations will choose to express core Christian truths in different ways it appears that in the scramble to be relevant and progressive the church of this generation is all to ready to secomb to a trend that rejects history, modifies the gospel and jettisons the past.

Heritage sign posts

It is time to celebrate the ancient creeds and discoveries of the church through the ages, to celebrate them with boldness in worship and to explore/ponder their rich meaning. Downsizing the past not only ignores where we have come from, it also plays down what Christians believe. It lives lightly to core truths of Christian revelation. It also bypasses how the Holy Spirit actually moved within the lives of our fathers in the faith. To overlook this living resource, the motivation, passion and rich spirituality of those who have gone before us leaves the church impoverished. In fact, to ignore the importance of Christian experience and the impact of a living relationship with Christ is to be left with little more than a barren, impersonal, religious code. It is to be left with uncertainty about who we are and what life is about. This in turn leads to a crisis of confidence in our capacity to commend the Christian faith to others in a persuasive way. This predicament and loss of spirituality faced by the church is ironically taking place in a time when our social order appears to be hooked on an empty narcissism and self-reflection and where there is a quest for a real spirituality beyond an institutional form of religion. With increasing accounts of suicide almost becoming an unhealthy alternative, the Christian church faces the challenge of addressing this inner search for something more. Before the church rushes to adopt a new strategy for the 21st Century it urgently needs a spiritual rebirth.

Life has its origin in God himself. King David knew about the source of life when he wrote, “For with you (God) is the fountain of life.” (Psalm 36:9 NASB) Being alive in God involves the spiritual dimension that flows from the One who is the origin, source and sustainer of life. In John’s gospel Jesus cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let the one who believes in me drink.--- out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (John7: 37-38)

It is Christ who creates and renews the church as an empowered community with a dynamic life that declared the presence of God in word and deed. This fresh flow of the Holy Spirit and life-energy can only be known today when in our thirst we are humbly prepared to ask ourselves the question, “What is missing from my life and the life of the church”? As we look in a deeper way into our own hearts, centre our faith on Christ crucified and seriously reflect on the spirituality that empowered our forefathers we may be visited anew from above.

Christian Experience.

In the end, Christian spirituality is not a doctrine or academic study. Jesus centred spirituality is about what is happening in my life and your life. Few of us joined the church because we loved the colour of the walls or the comfort of the pews. We became members because we had an encounter with Jesus Christ and our lives were changed. Christian experience and spirituality is about discovering that God is real in every day life. It is about what God does and what is happening in my life. The way this happens and the way God touches us varies and is different. Some people are changed quickly but this does not mean that all people move from unbelief to belief. It may be a passive, developing sense of God’s grace being real. The Living Christ meets us in different ways but in His Spirit we share newness of life and we find inner peace. Today we need to encourage people to find courage to speak about their Christian experience and to live with mystery without the need to explain it away or solve it.

Renewal of Mind.

Christian spirituality is a heart-mind affair. The discipline of meditating on Scripture has been upheld throughout the centuries but today in many places it is a lost art. Harry Blamires has said, “The Christian mind has succumbed to the secular drift with a degree of weakness and nervousness untouched in Christian history.”

Selwyn Hughes has stated, “Is it any wonder that Christians of our generation don’t think Christianly when the greatest means of accomplishing this; Biblical meditation is hardly mentioned.” (EDJ, Sept-Oct. 1994) Hughes points out many fear that bringing their minds under the authority of Christ is a denial of their rationality and concludes, “Submitting to Christ’s revelation does not mean we stop thinking---it means we think more effectively.”

Another common fear when discipline is mentioned is to think that it means bondage to religious legalism and loss of personal freedom. To the secular mind and way of thinking ‘freedom’ means you are free to do what you like and to develop your own potential, but this is not the way to true freedom.

While it is true that Christian freedom comes from dependence upon God’s free grace alone, it is also different in that it is a freedom with the power to follow Christ and to do what we ought. John Stott says, “Freedom is not freedom from responsibility to God and others in order to live for ourselves, but freedom from ourselves in order to live for God and others.” We are perfectly free to disagree with what God says of course but what looks like freedom is a bondage to that which is not true. Paul writes, “For you were called to freedom brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence.”

In other words the acceptance of God’s gift of life is not the right to do whatever we want. Christian spirituality means an intentional ordered life style. It means taking control of life in a way that is life-giving. It means recognising that a permanent life change has taken place within. It means a permanent walking in the light of an inner experience that continues to shine for Christ. Paul writes about it in this way, “The aim of Christian discipline is the love that springs from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from a sincere faith.” (Moffatt 1 Tim. 1:5)

The end of discipline is spontaneity -“love that springs”. The gift of God’s love and forgiveness changes everything so the object of discipline now contributes to our real freedom. This revealed way of thinking will be new for many today but by first yielding to Christ and by adopting Christian disciplines; building them into our life-style, we function well and reach our full, God given potential.

It is time to learn from the spirituality of our forefathers. It is time to embrace Christ in the daily experiences of life.  It is time to tell the story of this daily encounter with and without apology. It is time to adopt disciplines that order our mind, our worship and service. A spirituality inspired by the Holy Spirit is the way to a healthy church and part of the lifelong process of growth towards sharing in the fullness of Christ.

Rev E. A.(Ted)  Curnow 

tedcurnow.wordpress.com