To open ourselves to holiness and to learn the habits of heaven

Competence builds commitment and confidence

In reading today’s story on the Episcopal Parish Network I noticed again and again the call for more attention to formation. The former Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes is having its annual conference in Houston. It sounds like a wonderful and useful gathering.

I loved a phrase from Rose Hudson-Wilkin, suffragan bishop of Dover in the Diocese of Canterbury. In speaking of the chief challenges we face she said, “the lack of confident Christians.” As people are sent out from the Eucharist into families, friendships, work and civic life – do they feel confident about what it is to be a Christian in those places?

First a side note, we may underestimate what’s going on with people because we have a bias about being able to articulate why we do what we do. Yet we also know someplace in us, that living the Christian life is more about character and habits than our ability to offer clear and eloquent statements about the life. (Though it is helpful if at least a few people in a parish have such gifts).  And it is very helpful if parishioners understand, even if they can’t put it into words, what living the Christian life looks like and how they are already doing it.

I think the conference touched on the primacy of character and habits in their exploration of Bishop Curry’s gifts in communicating God’s love. They offered a string of words to describe his gift – joyful, humble, openhearted, courageous, and love. A friend said, “His legacy is love. It’s pure and simple. His legacy is love … He listens to people, he understands people, and they understand that about him; when you are in his presence, you feel a spirit, a gentle kind spirit, a loving spirit.” That’s ancient stuff. It sounds a lot like what we see in St. Paul’s letters - in Ephesians we are to grow into the full stature of Christ; that the graces and practices necessary for that growth are humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance born of love, eagerness to maintain unity in the bond of peace, truthfulness mediated in love, mutual kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness; and in Galatians that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It’s a mix of skills and stance.

We become able to live the life with confidence not because we can talk about it, but because to the extent we have become light, and salt, and love then we are light, and salt and love in daily life. It’s an organic process. We catch it as well as learn it. Hopeful, at least in part, through our life of worship and formation in the parish church.

Having now acknowledged the work of the Holy Spirit in that organic process let’s look at a few other ways in which the Spirit works. And in these it helps for parish leaders to know a bit about how people grow and change. And it may offer us some guidance as to how to create effective formation efforts.

In Finding God in All Things, Sister Michelle and I offer three theories that relate to how commitment is shaped in people. I’ll mention each briefly -- and you can buy the book for a fuller description (smile!).

Chris Argyris’s Intervention Theory describes how internal commitment is built upon valid and useful information and free choice. So, for example, how to we learn to be better at listening? What kind of training and guidance do we need?

Edgar Schein’s theory about survival anxiety and learning anxiety tells us that a primary way in which people develop a sustainable process of personal and institutional change is by learning the competencies needed to be effective in the new situation. So, don’t keep exhorting people to listen. Help them see how to focus and be present. How to set aside distractions. How to talk less. How to paraphrase.

And the theory of critical mass tells us how developing people with a high level of commitment and competence at the center will have an impact on the whole system. It’s the truth that “power from the center pervades the whole” to use Martin Thornton’s words. Help the apostolic Christians of the parish learn to listen and it will over time impact others. Shape a climate and corporate competence by using basic listening processes in parish meetings and classes.

From Finding God in All Things - “Our understanding is that competence and commitment are interdependent. It takes some degree of commitment to a calling, institution, or cause to invest ourselves in learning new behaviors and attitudes. And, as a general rule of thumb, as our competence grows, we get more committed.”

So if you want confidence in living the Christian life and you want commitment to doing that:

First, consider how the Holy Spirit is forming people through the life of the parish in our worship and life as a community. Is there anything we can do to get out of the way? Anything to open ourselves to holiness?

And second, to the extent it is possible, can we help people develop what Charles Williams called the “habits of heaven?’’ -- forgive us as we are forgiven, losing life to find life, sacrifice, forgiveness, reconciliation and substitution. Or just use Saint Paul’s lists mentioned above. The competencies of holiness.

This abides,

Robert

The Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln