Is there a methodology to spiritual formation?
Is this an odd way of approaching this subject? I could ask “What is your preferred method celebrating your anniversary?” or “What is your preferred method of loving your children or or your siblings or your parents or your spouse?”
You’d be able to tell me something that can be indentified as a method. The method, however, is not the thing itself. Relationships are not sustained by a methodology.
Or are they?
The initial post stopped right there.
I had my reasons for stopping there. I wanted to think more about the idea before I wrote everything out. I wanted to let it simmer under the lid for a while. It’s easy to jump to conclusions, to take this side or that and not think about how intertwined they are.
This is a great discussion question. I might use it in a small group study on spiritual disciplines. It’s also the kind of question that prompts people to think I split hairs too much. “You don’t really think about this that much, do you?”
I still believe there’s a value to thinking about things. The thinking, however, must be done in community. It’s no fun to think this way all by myself: I’m too prone to making unilateral errors. But thinking can somtimes be painful.
