iNstitute '08

It's taken me a while to get to this post, not for any real reason other than I just hadn't thought to post about it. (Duh!) But I have to say that iNstitute was awesome this year! We had a great Care Group. Now, I know that everyone always says they had a great CG, but this one really was. It was most evident outside of our CG times. Almost every day, when I would see one CG member, I'd see at least half the CG and when I'd look for someone else I'd find the other half of the group. They really hung together and it was wonderful to see!

We had one young woman (Hi, Claire) who came late because of another camp. I worried that she might not fit in because of having missed the first day-and-a-half and that the group would have bonded without her, that she'd never really be a part of the group, but just an appendage to it. BUT! It was as if she'd been there all along. They welcomed her, found a place for her in the skit we were working on, and she was in one of those halves of the group every single time! They were awesome!!

We didn't get into deep philosophical discussions, they didn't get all weepy over each other during our last long CG time, but they were fun to be with for the week. I got to connect with a couple of them during the iNstitute reunion, but had to leave right after our worship time so I didn't get to see most of the others who were there.

So here's a shout-out to you all--you're iNcredible! Stay in touch. I look forward to seeing you all next year. (Except you, Sam. I'll see you at Visitors' Nights and when you can come back as an adult.) And don't forget about other Conference youth events, like CIA in October. Make sure your youth leader knows about it and gets you there. We can have our own mini-reunion.

Keep believing!

Peace, love and grace.

Engagement of the Heart

Jonathan Edwards' Engagement of the Heart says some things that appear to be in opposition. He says "The importance of religion is so great that no halfhearted exercise will suffice....in nothing is lukewarmness so odious." This to me says that if your expression of religion is not completely heart-felt, then it stinks.

In the next paragraph he says, "True religion is a powerful thing. The power of it appears, first, in the inward exercises of the heart (which is the seat of all religion). Therefore, true religion is called 'the power of godliness,' in contrast to the external appearances of it, i.e., the mere 'form'...when grace is at work within us, it sometimes 'burns' within us, as it was for Jesus' disciples."

I'm not sure what he means by "inward exercises of the heart," but it sounds like the practice of spiritual disciplines. If I'm correct in this, do you not need to practice the disciplines in order to form the heart inwardly? None of us is born into the world as practicing Christians. It takes time and training to mold us into followers of Christ.[1] In Mary Kay, we had a phrase that I think fits here--sometimes you have to "fake it 'til you make it."

This is what John Wesley did, as well. He served as a priest for years before he had his famous Aldersgate experience. It wasn't until then that his heart burned within him, yet he had been doing the work and will of God for years. I'd hate to think that the years he spent before his Aldersgate experience were odious to God.

Or perhaps I'm missing something.

Peace, love and grace.

Note
1. I got this phrase from Steven Blair at Institute.