Finishing Re-Imagined

Today I finished Doug Pagitt's book "Church Re-Imagined". The book proved a great way to start my journey into approaches toward spiritual formation that will dominate the second half of my sabbatical (yes, second half - I reached the midpoint last Wednesday, but who's counting?). I am still struggling mightily with one aspect of emerging cultures: the die-hard creedal approach of most of the national leadership of the movement. Before I began my studies, I wondered why there were so few members of my own denomination (United Church of Christ) involved in the movement. Given the non-creedal approach of much of our denomination, I can now see why there has been a lack of participation. I do hope that this issue (creedal vs non-creedal) doesn't become a barrier that keeps those of us from free-thinking Christian traditions out. We shall see. In my reading today, I explored spiritual formation through the five lens of Pagitt's book: (1) dialogue, (2) hospitality, (3) belief, (4) creativity, and (5) service. I really liked Pagitt's use of dialogue as a means of spiritual formation. I only had two concerns about the way he developed his thoughts. One on hand he talks about the importance of engaging all of the voices in the community, then he switched gears and wrote: "There have even been occasions when people have used the discussion to take us to task for issues, all of which are not even legitmate [emphasis added]" (125). I get nervous anytime someone unilaterally deems another's interests/concerns as "not legitimate". My question: by whose standard? Doug's or the community's. Another thing I found interesting in the section was that there was only one mention of dissension within the community. It was mentioned in passing in just one of the journal entries on page 146. It would have been interesting if Doug would have shared how they worked through the dissension as this could have been of particular help in understanding the benefits of dialogue in spiritual formation. Doug's chapter on belief as a component of spiritual formation gave me hope there might be some space for those of us who are non-creedal in our faith formation. In response to how the community deals with the possibility of heretical thoughts in their midst, instead of appealing to a creed, Pagitt wrote, instead "we commit ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the belief that with that guidance will come discernment and the ability to recognize truth" (123). Later, he adds "belief is formed when information finds a partner with people's hopes, experiences, ideas, and thoughts" (159). Finally, I appreciated Doug's treatment of creativity as a means/expression of spiritual formation. In particular, I loved the way he theologically framed the importance of creativity. He wrote that God "has been re-creating all things through the redeeming work of Jesus the Messiah." He goes on to add, "God is constantly creating anew. And God also invites us to be re-created and to join the work of God as co-(re)creators" (185). Doug's thoughts on creativity culminated with the inspiring observation that "the beauty of creativity as a means of spiritual formation is that even our 'failures' breed hope" (191). Pagitt finished the book with a wonderful challenge for us all; he noted that in order to pursue spiritual formation, faith communities need to commit themselves to become "theological communities" (217). I couldn't agree more! In the coming days, I will be reading 2 more of Doug's books (Preaching Re-Imagined and BodyPrayer). I look forward to these experiences. In the meantime, I'm going to follow Eugene Peterson's advice and take two days off over the weekend for my sabbath within my sabbatical. I'll be spending 2 days in Scottsbluff, NE with Andrea, one of my closest friends from my days in Spokane. May God's grace and peace be with you 'til next time...