What the Lord Requires: Formation for Global Discipleship Walking Humbly
“Convicted Civility”: the twin dangers: uncivil convictions convictionless civility toward a spirituality of convicted civility
Walking Humbly Some formational requirements: 1. a coram deo foundation Psalm 139: the “whoops” element 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. Pause… then:
Walking Humbly 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Walking Humbly Some formational requirements: 2. a risk-taking search for truth No false-witness-bearing in encountering “the Other”
“Christ likes us to prefer truth to him because, before being Christ, he is truth. If one turns aside from him to go toward the truth, one will not go far before falling into his arms.” Waiting for God (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) Simone Weil
Walking Humbly Some Formational Requirements 3. Reversing the suspicion/charity order
Walking Humbly John Calvin: [I]t is the duty of all magistrates here to guard particularly against giving vent to their passions even in the slightest degree. Rather, if they have to punish, let them not be carried away with headlong anger, or be seized with hatred, or burn with implacable severity. Let them also (as Augustine says) have pity on the common nature in the one whose special fault they are punishing. Or, if they must arm themselves against the enemy, that is, the armed robber, let them not lightly seek occasion to do so; indeed, let them not accept the occasion when offered, unless they are driven to it by extreme necessity.. Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV, XX, 12
Walking Humbly Some Formational Requirements 4. Acknowledging Shared Brokenness
Walking Humbly 5. Cultivating interpersonal “art appreciation”
Tesesa of Lisieux “I set myself to do for this sister just what I should have done for someone I loved most dearly. Every time I met her, I prayed for her and offered God all her virtues and her merits. I was sure this would greatly delight Jesus, for every artist likes to have his works praised and the divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not halt outside the exterior of the sanctuary where He has chosen to dwell but go inside and admire its beauty.” Story of a Soul