“The growing phenomenon of the nones, however, is not evidence of a lack of interest in spiritual life. Many today who previously fell away from their faith—or never had one to begin with—are seeking something faith-like in their life.” (Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, April 25, 2024)
In a recent article in The Atlantic, Arthur C. Brooks says “belief, feeling, and practice are the macronutrients—the necessary elements—of healthy faith” and while all three create a robust faith, practice sustains one in a healthy faith life.
Jesus said this in different wording. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
I’ve addressed practices in a previous blog. Open Door seeks “to live in the way of Jesus by practicing simple weekly rhythms.” My suggestion in that post was that two more practices might be useful at this time in the life of this church: hospitality and stewardship. Hospitality encompasses the invitation to share in the joy of Christian life in this particular community (aka evangelism); stewardship is the regular offering of one’s spiritual and (!) financial resources.
Why revisit practice/s? I wonder if the current Open Door practices need reformed, revisited, re-evaluated. Have the practices become ortho-praxy (right practice)? Follow these practices and you’ll attain a good spirituality.
Many have rejected ortho-doxy (right belief). “Toxic religion” has scarred many, and Open Door was, at its founding, “a church for people to recover from church.” Twenty years ago, this kind of community was a balm for spiritual wounds. But twenty years on, is this kind of church still necessary?
What would it mean if practices were re-imagined for 2024? What new practices might be useful for the future? All human practices can become “deformed” (The Dangers of Christian Practice On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage, and Sin, Laura Winner) because they are… human-made.
As this community looks ahead to calling a new Pastor, may it remember the words of Soren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”