Please have your boarding passes ready . . . The journey has a beginning

Book 2, Chapter 2

-Part 1-

        Continued …

“This foundation being laid, the soul has nothing to do save to pass all its life in rejoicing that God is God.” ~Caussade (Page 55.)

In the following few sections we will be looking at a person’s spirituality from the standpoint of phases of growth or levels of development. However, because these are discussed one at a time, it must be kept always in mind that these divisions are not closed off from one another. A believer may be very mature and well-made in one aspect of his life with God, and quite unripened in another. Also, humility and poverty of spirit must be kept in mind whenever the reader is considering himself in light of the descriptions of these supposed levels or stages.

The separate consideration of these steps of growth is a means by which the spiritual life may be taught and discussed. In our real life, these gradations are not sealed off from one another.

William of St. Thierry pointed this out in his discussion of the three stages of growth: “It should be noted that when we speak [1] of carnal or animal perception, [2] of rational knowledge or [3] of spiritual wisdom, we have in mind both a single man [who possesses characteristics of all three], and three kinds of men … each with the characteristics of one of these states.” (The Golden Epistle, Section 35, Paragraph 140)

Still, I believe it is helpful to articulate the spiritual journey by talking about its beginning, its route and its destination.

Because our natural orientation is toward things below it is not always easy to understand or relate to things from above. Nor is it easy to integrate some of the advanced thoughts from spiritual masters. My soul might be ripe for one sentence and unready for the next. I suppose most of us try to take away what we can from our reading and leave the rest for another time. That’s how I do it.

Spiritual writing is not a replacement for the work of the Spirit, but is one of the agents through which the Spirit often chooses to enact the transformation, the growth and the progress of a disciple.

The nature of spiritual writing is to inform as a teacher, form as a coach, and draw the reader to God as a spiritual director. Each of these three aspects are accomplished only by the work of the Holy Spirit, who Himself teaches, coaches and draws the disciple further along, more deeply along, more genuinely or actually along the follower’s journey with God.

To be taught, coached and drawn to God – these three match the three categories into which some spiritual masters have placed God’s people. That is, beginners, intermediates (those making progress) and the proficient. Such is the three-phased description of John of the Cross. William of St. Thierry worded his three phases of spiritual growth as animal, rational and spiritual man.

In the Bible itself, there seems more often to be a two-fold description of the faithful: The young and the older; the infant (the milk-drinkers) and the mature (the meat-eaters); the child and the adult. When we think of the spiritual life as a journey, then there will be a beginning and a destination. Between the two, there may be any number of gradations representing progress or movement or advancement. Any number of words could be employed to describe the points between the start and the destination, or the developmental stages between the child and the adult.

When it comes to reading, whether it is the Scriptures or books on Christian spirituality, the ultimate goal is to allow the encounter with the words to draw the reader to God. In the case of beginners, this occurs with some difficulty. Those new to the faith or newly interested in their faith rightly become students and will want to be informed. Books are studied by novices for content.

The young in the faith also carry around a certain amount of pride for what they are learning. Never was this so clear to me as it was in Bible college, where it was encumbered upon me to live in a dormitory named “Skitch Hall.” A freshman that year, who lived in another dorm, which some of us had nicknamed “The Firetrap,” introduced himself to me with his name, a firm handshake, inescapable eye contact and this between-you-and-me comment as if made by the mustache-twisting villain in a melodrama: “I am something of an expert on the Bible.”

I had never heard anyone announce themselves like that before – much less someone who had just turned 18. I should have said, “This is Bible college. Who isn’t?” Instead, I puzzled.

During my years at this preacher school, humility was neither taught nor caught. We were embroiled in an unspoken, rule-less competition to see who could appear the most spiritual, amass the most knowledge, and look as if we would be supremely adept pastors or missionaries when the time came. Humility would have to wait. I would have to become an expert, and start telling people so, in order to survive. I was threatened by my classmate’s braggadocio, such that I quietly accepted his superiority. Nowadays I realize it was the comment of a brash toddler.

There is nothing wrong with this initial “student” phase of investigation or discovery. (Well, except for the fore-mentioned nagging pride.) It is important to have good information in order to live and think in truth. Good spirituality does not come from bad theology. So it is thoroughly appropriate for beginners to become accustomed to the truth of the word of God and the teachings of the faith. Such a good root system will produce good fruit.

We must maintain a sense of balance when we are discussing the younger or less experienced among us. It is not acceptable to berate the beginner. Jesus pointed out that heaven rejoices over the recovery of one soul (Luke 15:7). God makes all of His blessings entirely available and entirely present to the beginner (Ephesians 1:3).There is absolutely no shame in a person taking their first steps in a lifelong walk with God. There is no disgrace in starting. Nor, for that matter, in starting late.

Years ago as a young pastor, I stood next to a hospital bed and helped a man start his life with God. He was trembling with physical weakness such that the bed was tremulous to the touch. “I have never been a religious man,” he said to me, “but I would like to do something about that now.” In that afternoon, he responded to God in faith. His family and I waited with him at the hospital for one week after that, when he died while he and his son were looking at one another. I have no doubt that God did a complete work in this man’s heart, and that he lacked nothing when he died.

From Christ’s first invitation for the disciples to “follow Me,” up until the church as it exists now at this moment on this day, the call has been clear: “Join us.” Once he answers this call, the beginner belongs. He is a member of the community of faith, the company of the committed, the beloved of God. The beginner is no less a part of the Body of Christ than any other believer; no less valuable to God or to other members; and no less loved by God or His people. Every ship must have its maiden voyage; every sailor his first crossing.