Activity: Building a Bridge to Maturity

Objective(s): illustrate the wide range of means that we individually and together use to mature in Christ

Time: 5 minutes for thinking and writing, 5 minutes for building, 10 minutes to debrief

Materials: a large number of wooden blocks (in a box perhaps, larger blocks are better), blank labels that can be “stuck” to the blocks, a track (like a Hot Wheels track or some other board that can be somewhat attached to the blocks), a vehicle to ride on the track, and perhaps tape to attach the track to the blocks

After an initial discussion of the means of grace (practices, community, trials, expressions of the Holy Spirit’s work), pass out the labels to the students. Instruct the students that they are aiming for maturity or increase in likeness to Christ and the gospel. Then have them write on the labels the means of grace that have been most valuable for them to that end (or for a group if you are exploring corporate formation). Let them feel free to use as many labels as they want in the five minutes assigned for thinking and writing. Then show the students your box of building blocks. Have each student come up, get however many blocks they need, and affix one label per block. Tell the students that you will now show how the body of Christ—together employing the means of grace—builds a bridge to maturity. Get the group together to pile blocks with like names on top of each other. The tallest piles are at one end and the shortest piles are at another, all with labels showing. Then bring out the track, attach the track to the block piles making its way from the top of the tallest pile across to the end, and then bring out the car and run it along the track. Use of the various means of grace enables the car to get from one place to the other. Then explore the different means used or not used and develop the analogy further (again, as with all analogies, this one will have its weaknesses, and that itself can teach us).

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Assignment Set 1

The Art of Putting Things Right: A Brief Guide to (Making) Confession

Do you want to live a life that is completely free and fully open to God, yourself, and others? I think that this kind of a life is possible. And I am beginning to think that the practice of confession just may be one key to making it possible.

These days we do not talk much about confession, and we talk even less about “making” confession. Some wish to avoid an antiquated obsession with sin. Others rest in the forgiving work of Christ on the cross and feel little need to make a big deal about confession. There are also other, perhaps more sinister, reasons we avoid confession. Much too often we choose to live parts of our lives in secret, subtly hiding bits of ourselves from others and from God. The consequence? We lose the chance to freely be ourselves—the mix of bad and good that we really are—openly before God and others. We fail to live in truth, for truth is not merely a philosophical category but a way of being present (similar to what we might call “sincerity”). What a tragedy!

Confession, not only to God but also to others, has been practiced since the New Testament. Sin, and the confession of sin, was not merely about “me and Jesus” but about the Christian community. The apostle Paul urges the Corinthian church to deal strictly with a man persisting in immoral behavior, for “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough” (1 Cor. 5:6). “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed,” writes the apostle James (James 5:16). In Scripture, putting things right involves sorrow or contrition before God, reconciliation with the Christian community (which is harmed even by our minor sins), and repentance within ourselves demonstrating an intention toward change.

The practice of confession varied through the centuries. In the first centuries of the church, people would come to the front of the church and make open declaration of their grievous sins or those that affected the congregation. Many Christian sanctuaries were arranged such that those who were repenting for serious sin would be located in a certain part of the sanctuary. In monastic circles, nuns and monks would carefully recount or “manifest” not only their sins but their thoughts and feelings so that through the process of spiritual direction the Christian could wisely determine a strategy for positive change. The Celtic Christians developed penitential manuals for the use of priests and such. These manuals would suggest actions that might best facilitate successful repentance on the part of people coming to them confessing various kinds of sins. Roman Catholic tradition stressed the sacramental function of confession as a preparation for Communion, making things right with God. Protestant Reformers such as Luther and Cranmer strongly emphasized the forgiveness offered through Christ but also encouraged the practice of regular confession as a means of the grace of Christ making us new week by week. Seasons of confession, both public and private, have been important elements of major revivals in the history of the church. Perhaps this practice is due for a revival today.

But how do we begin? We begin by being honest. We mention when we are hurt, even though we “shouldn’t” be hurt. This is a confession. It is a frank admission of who we are, weak as we may be. In the course of casual conversation we simply reveal ourselves honestly, even though it may not look “right” to other Christians. This is confession. Some groups talk about “spiritual breathing,” a habit of breathing out the sinful thought or action to God whenever we notice it, and breathing in the filling of the Holy Spirit as a means of replacing the bad with the good. This is confession. We muster the courage to say “I’m sorry” to another when it is needed. The best confession is not really a “practice” but the natural outflow of a sincere Christian faith lived honestly before God, self, and others.

And yet I think there is also a place for a semiformal discipline of confession—again, not merely to God but also to one another. And so here I will outline one way of “making confession.”

First, we pause and listen. Where are things “not right”? It may be some vice that caught us once again. It may be a nagging worry that reveals our lack of trust. It may be some breach of honor between ourselves and another. Some people choose to reflect on the whole of their lives, making a list of these “not rights” so they can formally confess before God and another and finally get it over with. Other confessions arise out of a momentary and powerful conviction. Some have a few Scripture verses to guide their reflection. Others use their rule of life or some other document. There are many ways to do this. However the circumstances, the initial step is simply to wait, to listen, and then to agree with the Spirit. Part of that agreement may be to write something down on paper: “Yes, I thought this, I felt this, I did this, I failed to do this.”

Next, we visit someone else. We make an appointment with a trusted friend, a spiritual director, a pastor, a priest, or a confessor. Then we simply “get it out.” We admit our conviction. We read our list. We acknowledge our weakness, our negligence, our own deliberate rebellion. You may also talk about why something may have happened or what can be done to avoid things in the future. You may inquire about the need for further confession or restitution if, in this meeting, you conclude that others could be sufficiently affected. Mostly though, you just confess what needs to be confessed, you pray together, and you receive forgiveness from God and another person. And it is important that you sincerely receive that forgiveness. That is part of the freedom thing.

Finally, you leave with a new mind-set. You leave intending to change. You may have thought about strategies (“Next time I walk to work, I will avoid walking by that donut store”). Then again, you may just leave knowing that God loves you even though you keep messing up. Regardless, both you and God know that you intend on changing. And that is enough. You are free to be yourself because you have been yourself openly before God and at least one other human being.

Even just one confession visit can be life changing. But I can affirm from my experience that a habit, an ongoing practice of confession with a spiritual director or some other accountability partner, can be a powerful force. My commitment to reveal myself regularly to another prevents me from any subtle corners of hiding. And I am free, totally free, to be my crazy, fallen self as I live my life day in and day out. Perhaps you have something to confess?

Your assignment is simply to “make confession” once. You must follow each step of the process.

• Examination. You can think about a lifetime, a recent season of life, a week, or perhaps even a day (though it has to be significant enough to make a worthy confession). Make sure to identify which you choose in your report. The most important thing is that this is a meaningful experiment in worship for you—giving greater reverence to God by getting things right with God, self, and others.
• Confession appointment. You will need to choose a “confessor,” make an appointment in advance, and then show up for this meeting and make your confession. You must communicate in the meeting what was discovered in the examination stage. Simply admit, as per the outline above. See where this conversation leads, but the important thing is simply to have the conversation.
• Forgiveness and repentance. Either as a direct result of the meeting or some time after, consider your own sense of forgiveness and repentance. What kind of a sense of being accepted by God is present? What sense of an intention toward change or even a plan to change do you have?

Afterward, write a report about your experience. You don’t need to tell me your deepest, darkest sins. What you do need to tell me, however, is your experience of the practice. Describe what you did and how you experienced the exercise. (For example: “I thought this was going to be really lame, but then part way through I remembered something kind of small. And then when I got to thinking about it, I realized that this small thing was actually characteristic of some really big lack-of-trust problem I have with God.”) Tell me about your meeting. (For example: “I met with a trusted friend, and she did not know what to do and felt a little awkward. But we just did the thing and . . .”) Tell me about what happened afterward. (For example: “All I left with was a prayer that I knew I needed to believe in—though it was hard—and I went home, thought about what I should do next, and wrote down a few ideas.”) Finally, give me a sense of how this was an experience of Christian spiritual formation for you in light of your readings this week and the materials you have covered in the course. Draw from these material in order to give a review of this as a practice of Christian spiritual formation both for you personally and for others more generally.

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Assignment Set 2

1. Academic—Is It Mean to Encourage Means?

Over the centuries, Christians have taken different views regarding the use of means for spiritual growth. Some groups—like the Encratites and the Quietists—were labeled heretics because they felt that they did not need certain means of grace in order to grow in maturity. While Methodists emphasized the role of means, others, such as traditional Lutherans or the Keswick movement, have stressed either simple trust in God’s acceptance made available through the Word and sacraments or simple faith in God’s promises. Explore this debate further. Google “Lutheran means of grace,” “Methodist means of grace,” “Quietism,” and so on. Study these movements and see if you can compare what the differences are between one group and another. Provide a brief summary of the views of at least two different groups and then evaluate them according to your own perspectives and what you have learned thus far from the class.

2. Personal—My Portrait: Means

This is an opportunity to review your own means of grace, those vehicles through which God has regularly formed you and perhaps those vehicles that, for you, just don’t seem to work. Take a look, for example, at the table of contents from Adele Calhoun’s first edition of the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, which can give you a survey of a number of spiritual disciplines. There are some she has not mentioned, and I bet you can think of even more (listening to music is a valuable discipline for me).

Your assignment is simply to review this list, to think about your relationships (community) and your interaction with the Holy Spirit and with the trials of life, and to write an annotated list of a few of the chief means of grace in your life. List the means (e.g., listening to music) and then describe why you think it serves as a means of grace for you (it triggers my emotions, reminds me of people to pray for, reminds me of the truth in an artistic way, etc.). You need not list every discipline. You can include key relationships and trials as means. Simply explore them as means the way the chapter does.

3. Spiritual Practice—A Rule of Life

One means that many have used to bring together many intentions into a practical guide for life is what some people call a “rule of life.” Others have used “resolutions,” “promises,” or “covenants” to communicate much the same. I have provided a number of resources introducing this practice on my website. Just go to http://spiritualityshoppe.org/resources-for-christian-living/ and scroll down until you see the section labeled “Rules of Life Resources.” There you will find videos, essays, sample rules from various people, and so on. Ultimately your assignment is simply to complete the handout “My Spiritual Agenda: A Brief Guide to Designing a Rule of Life” (see http://spiritualityshoppe.org/my-spiritual-agenda-a-brief-guide-to-designing-a-rule-of-life/). Just give it a try and see what you think.

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