I've just finished reading Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus. Here are some key thoughts that stood out to me from the book (I can't give you page numbers, because McManus breaks the book up by theme (cravings, destiny and meaning), then writes as journal entries - not sure how one would reference that in an essay!):
"God calls us out of the life we have known and calls us into a life we have never imagined""It's important to fully live each moment, but equally important to make sure that we do not live only for this moment."
"When you give up on hope, you become paralyzed in the present and begin to live in the past"
"Spirituality is more identified with tradition and ritual than it is with a future and a hope. Too often discipleship equals standardization"
"While religions have historically tried to make us the same, Jesus calls us to be different"
"Clearly we can't know everything ... Genius might be less how much you know and more the ability to know the right things."
And finally a quote from Cheng Yi which I think sums up my blog... "To exert thought is like digging a well. At first there is only muddy water. Later on, after one has done some drawing, clear water will come out. One's thoughts are always muddy at first. After a long while they will naturally be nicely clear"
I'm interested in McManus' quote that suggests that spirituality is more backward than forward looking. In another of his books ("an unstoppable force"), McManus says, "Stories contain within them the essence of ethos. You can either talk to people about God's power or tell them the stories that unwrap the power of God." (p122) and he uses many stories (Biblical and other) to explain the way in which God renews the church.
ReplyDeleteI think that good spirituality is very closely related to the stories of our own journeys with Jesus. It does look back (that's the only place we can clearly see God's activity), but only so that we can be ready for the next installment of grace, that we might well miss if we are not focused properly.
Christ-like spirituality will always prepare us for God's presence in our future; and Jesus will call us into discipleship in a way that affirms our own uniqueness. After all, there was no real "consistency" within the first disciples - they were all different, and they all served Jesus (and later on the early church) differently.