iCrucified

The Jesus Way Conference – part 3

Recovering the lost content of discipleship… (End of Day 2…evening report)

Well, as promised, I bring you a report from the rest of my day.

It seems that my stay here has gained momentum with each passing general session and/or workshop. I’m not entirely sure what to attribute that to, but feel safe to say that it is probably a combination of factors…not the least of which is God is speaking. Let me tell you about this afternoon’s workshop.

Led by Mindy Caliguire, president and founder of Soul Care, this workshop was titled “Spiritual Friendship: Relationships and Discipleship.” The session itself had some great information, but what set my heart and mind to reeling (which I have not recovered from yet) was a word Mindy used; “soul cracking.” Okay, this requires a little setup. Mindy described the journey of the soul. She said every person is on a soul journey whether they accept Christ Jesus as King of their soul or not…we (all humans) are on a soul journey. She went on to add that as we travel this journey, we encounter cracks in our soul and when these cracks occur/appear is when Christ breaks in with the desire to do life transformation. I probably didn’t describe that right and may have even mistakenly phrased it, but I think that is what I heard. It is definitely what set my mind and heart afire. Here’s where my mind has went…remember the word; “soul cracking.” When we interact with people stuff happens. The purpose of many of the spiritual disciplines is built around community, relationships, interacting with people. In due course of some of these relationships, and interaction with these disciplines, soul cracking occurs. Specifically, when I think of disciplines like confession, fasting, submission, serving, solitude, etc.; I begin to understand how these soul cracks can (and do) occur. And, we don’t like that…soul cracking; we don’t like making ourselves vulnerable to people…exposing our weaknesses, frailties, and failures. However, it’s in these fissures of the soul where Christ-like transformation occurs; without soul cracks we are most inclined to remain self-centered, petty, shallow, and untransformed. Oh man. I’m still processing some very raw thoughts. I’m sure my heart and mind will still be sorting through these ideas and metaphors.

Next…an incredible session with Rob Gelinas who shared with us a talk about “Holiness: Isaiah in Jerusalem and The Jesus Way.” Rob began with the familiar text from Isaiah 6 “In the year King Uziah died, I saw the Lord…” Somewhere along the line I heard a passage from Leviticus and God’s call to us to “Be Holy as I am Holy.” I also heard words from John’s Gospel (12:41). I know it sounds like I may not have been paying attention, but I assure I was. What was happening was I was listening in stereo…the “left” channel was Rob Gelinas and the “right” channel was the Holy Spirit. What follows is the dialogue that was happening in my heart-head-soul (some of it is Rob, some of it is Jesus, and some of it is me):

Isaiah 6 – opening text. When God calls us to be “holy” He is not calling us to rituals that will constrain and restrict us…He is calling us to freedom. God-Jesus calls us to be Holy…Yes, Jesus is calling us to be Holy. He calls us to be like himself. Be Holy, Like Jesus. Be Holy as (like) I am Holy.

Jesus is the picture of holiness that we are called to be like. Be Holy. Humble yourself. Be Holy. Take up your cross. Be Holy. Walk as Jesus walked. Be Holy. (John 12:41)

Jesus is Holiness. I am called…invited…to be like Jesus; to be a traveler on the Jesus way. Be Holy as I am Holy…Be like me; Jesus says.

…till Christ is formed in you. (Galatians 4:19)

Scripture Refs I jotted down as my mind was racing and my heart rate around 190bpm: (Revelation 4:8, 11; 5:12-13; Colossians 1:15-17; Revelation 15:3-4; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7)

Richard Foster closed out the sessions for the day with a talk on “Words: Moses and The Jesus Way.” This too was a masterful exposition about the significance of words and THE WORD.

“The opening page of our Scriptures presents us with God speaking words: saying the entire creation and us into being. ‘And God said. And God said. And God said.’ Everywhere and always as Christians follow Jesus we use words that were first used by God in bringing us and the world around us into being. Our language is derivative (as everything about us is!) from the language of God.” Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way.

Something that is still echoing in my heart from Richard; “Words matter. We are what we think about; We need to love God all the way down to our nouns, verbs, and adjectives.”

Debar Yahweh – The Word of God Spoken… “Let the Word go forth” Amen

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