The Church - Our Context for Transformation

Often the most important element of transformation is our environment

Welcome to the Third Week of Lent!

Today we kick off a new series, exploring the Church as the context Jesus established for our transformation.

I - Carrying the Peace

I recently had the opportunity to attend a service of the Anglican Church for a class I’m taking on Christian Worship. Some might call the worship of this particular community “High Church,” and it was - candles, choirs, and ritual made the experience truly resplendent. However, the most profound moment for me came, not in the service itself, but in the 30 or 40 seconds after the music stopped.

A deep silence settled over the room as the glory of the setting sun flooded through the windows, bathing the whole room in a heavenly glow. In that short half minute, I settled into a beautiful kind of peace that could only come from the Holy Spirit.

I left the Chapel and walked to the next thing on my calendar, but for a little while after, that abiding sense of peace stuck with me. It was as though God had given me a candle with a tiny flame and I was desperate not to let it be extinguished.

II - The Importance of Environment

Just like how a candle is easily blown out by a gust of wind, it can be difficult to maintain a sense of closeness and connection to God amidst the hurry and exhaustion of everyday life. This is why all throughout Christian history, people have been trying to find ways to “keep the faith,” as in keep it alive and vibrant in an often chaotic and tumultuous world.

In recent years, there’s been a resurgence of interest in the spiritual disciplines - habits and practices that build up our spiritual resilience and capacity to remain in Christ no matter the circumstances.

I’m all for these spiritual disciplines - they’ve had a deep impact on my life in recent years - but if we’re not careful, the spiritual disciplines can become just another way to optimize my life for health and happiness (in other words, the Christian equivalent of cold plunging, productivity hacking, and fad diets).

Spiritual disciplines on their own are like trying to prevent the candle from going out by shielding it with your body - it might work for a little while, but eventually you need to get out of the wind.

We in the modern West are too quick to put our faith in individual willpower and routine. We forget that most of the time, the important element in our ability to change isn’t habit or strength - it’s environment.

III - Context Over Commandment

Tellingly, Jesus rarely recommended specific practices and disciplines for His followers.* When He did, they were usually not radically different to what they were already expected to do as faithful Jews (pray, fast, give alms etc.)

I find it fascinating that rather than acting like a spiritual gym coach, handing out exercises and demanding perfection, He spent much more of His time on building a community. Some of the most important commandments He emphasized focused not on discipline but love:

• “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” - John 13:34, RSV

• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” - Matthew 22:37-39, RSV

Jesus was wisely preparing His followers according to a fundamental principle of the human person - our environments play a key role in our transformation. Thus, instead of spending most of His time instituting new commandments, He seemed to place a higher emphasis on forming a new context.

IV - The Church as Our Context for Change

You could sum up all of the spiritual life in two movements: kenosis (self emptying) and theosis (Divine indwelling).

Kenosis is the act of removing from ourselves anything that prevents us from experiencing life in its fullness as God intended. It’s often described as “self-emptying”, but more fully it’s emptying ourselves of the things that make us less of ourselves, in order to be what God created us to be.

With this space, we can make room for the Holy Spirit to dwell in us through theosis. By allowing Him to transform us we may participate in the exchange of love constantly occurring in the inner life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Saint Athanasius famously wrote “God became man so that man might become God.” The entire goal of the spiritual life is to so deeply participate in God’s inner life that we experience union with Him - that we become Him in a sense. The pathway He has laid out for us to enter into this union is the Church. As Paul writes in the Epistle to the Ephesians:

• “He has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.” - Ephesians 1:22-23, RSV

If the whole point is to become Christ, than Scripture asserts quite literally that we must participate in the Church, which is His body! The context or environment Jesus established for His followers to be transformed, to experience kenosis and theosis, is the Church.

In other words: To experience transformation is to become like Christ, and to become like Christ is to empty the self and participate in the life of the Church.

As we will see next week though, the Church is more than a human institution - it’s the family of God.

Recommended Reading

There’s a lot of ideas in this article but if you want a deep dive, I’ve found Cardinal Avery Dulles’ incredible work on ecclesiology, “Models of the Church,” to be really helpful. It’s definitely a more academic read but if you can get into it, it’s very worthwhile.

Christianity Today also did a great piece on balancing the need for a Rule of Life (spiritual disciplines) with the need to be a part of a Church. I thought they made a great case for the importance of the Church alongside spiritual disciplines: You Don’t Need a Rule of Life.

Lastly, I can’t go without recommending the John Mark Comer Teachings Podcast for such a simple and accessible exploration of Christian discipleship and transformation. He has a different view of ecclesiology than I do but his work on what constitutes transformation in the spiritual life is excellent.

Pause to Pray

Take a second to stop and pray with us with these words from Catherine Henry:

Father, through Your Son and Holy Spirit, I pray today for a true emptying of self. Lord, with Your gentle touch, clear away the clutter within my heart. Make my heart like Mary's womb—open, barren, and ready to receive Your grace. Holy Spirit, I offer You this space to dwell within me, that I may be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Amen.

Thanks for joining us! We’ll be back next week to explore a framework for how to experience the Church.

*Jesus did issue commandments and institute specific practices. The goal here is not to diminish the importance of those disciplines, but to emphasize that they must be connected to the context of life in the Church.