Shortly after finishing undergrad, I took a position running the confirmation program at a mainline church in the Northeastern United States. The church was (and is, praise God!) a healthy one: growing, committed to a generous orthodoxy, with a faithful pastor skilled at preaching and teaching. Brimming with enthusiasm for the Christian vocation for justice-seeking in the world, I was so excited to build a confirmation experience that connected the basics of Christian doctrine and practice (which of course the students would already have) to the urgent needs of the world. And then I actually began running the program. I soon discovered that before we could talk about what following Jesus meant for thinking about race or class, we had to talk about who Jesus was and why in the world anyone would follow him in the first place. My students were confused by the notion of the divinity of Jesus, didn’t know the Lord’s Prayer, had precious little exposure to the stories of the Bible, and seemed to think that Christianity was mostly about trying to be a good person. And these were students who had been fairly-regular churchgoers their whole lives, with parents who were professed Christians! Now, I ended up having great fun getting to dig in on the basics of the Christian faith with these students. And, yes, I was able to connect the basics to the question of Christian witness in the world upon which I originally intended to focus; it was truly a tremendous privilege to see Jesus and Christianity start to click for some of them. But it remains the case that a lifetime in the church and in Christian families simply had not been particularly effective at forming them to be disciples of Jesus.
Thank you for these Reflections, Ben. I'm going to engage in what looks like self-promotion here, and which probably is self-promotion to some extent, but I do so out of a passion to see Episcopalian congregations recover both their spiritual vitality and, frankly, their excitement about the spiritual treasure that is their liturgical tradition. In 2008, I wrote a book called "Sacramental Life: spiritual formation through the Book of Common Prayer," published by IVP. It focuses on the liturgies of baptism, Holy Eucharist, marriage, and burial, leading out the spiritual Direction that these liturgies and their related components such as the collects and the prayers of the people provide to those who attend to them thoughtfully and engage them intentionally. The book is organized into 45 relatively short chapters Each of which concludes with spiritual exercises. It could provide the basis for small group study and engagement in local congregations and contribute to nurturing greater energy for spiritual practices.
Thank you for these Reflections, Ben. I'm going to engage in what looks like self-promotion here, and which probably is self-promotion to some extent, but I do so out of a passion to see Episcopalian congregations recover both their spiritual vitality and, frankly, their excitement about the spiritual treasure that is their liturgical tradition. In 2008, I wrote a book called "Sacramental Life: spiritual formation through the Book of Common Prayer," published by IVP. It focuses on the liturgies of baptism, Holy Eucharist, marriage, and burial, leading out the spiritual Direction that these liturgies and their related components such as the collects and the prayers of the people provide to those who attend to them thoughtfully and engage them intentionally. The book is organized into 45 relatively short chapters Each of which concludes with spiritual exercises. It could provide the basis for small group study and engagement in local congregations and contribute to nurturing greater energy for spiritual practices.