We operate on "Mexico" time

Which is actually a more profound principle than might first seem to be the case.

While on a youth missions trip to Mexico many years ago, several of the sol cafe founders discovered, among many other surprising things, that there's more than one way to "do church." In fact, the Alliance Church in Monterey, Mexico, though a member of the same Christian denomination, ran things in a way that would have completely freaked out many of the churchgoers back home. A small thing, for example, was that church services didn't start at a precisely scheduled time, and in fact any stated time for church to start seemed only useful for identifying the one time people would likely not actually be arriving for church. People wandered in before the appointed time, people wandered in after the appointed time, yet no one was ever "early" or "late".

In other words, we discovered that we didn't necessarily need -- or want -- "church" to be something you boxed into a building or a block of time. That what was important was your presence, not your punctuality. And that how or when we do church was not nearly so important as why.

So we operate on "Mexico" time.

We ask questions like... "how have I been shaped? And how will I be shaped?"

This is only a partial answer to a series of questions, but in general, what are some of the ways in which I believe God has and is shaping me? This is a rather technical sort of post - blah, blah blah yes there is all that most important stuff about people and community, but the reality of those things is hidden perhaps by the language of what I'm trying to relate... and yes a latte tastes like mercy...

Well, speaking of formation, the ways in which I trust God has shaped me are found in what the Anglicans call a "rule of life" - sort of a personal benedictine kind of Christian formation. The center of my spiritual formation, from my end, is the practice of "daily offices" - an old monastic tradition of prayer and Scripture reading at various times of the day. I was introduced to it about 23 years ago.

We are essentially formed by God's choice to live and act in us through his Spirit. This is one way that I believe God has done this with me. I open up the floor for others to join in and tell how they believe/trust/suspect that God shapes and forms them, if they even see that as part of whatever is happening...

The goal? purpose? achievable spiritual commodity outcome of a rule of life is to be shaped by the various ways I/we trust that God wants and intends to shape us. So from my liturgical Anglican spirituality, here is an outline from the Book of Common Prayer:

Every Christian man or woman should from time to time frame for himself a RULE OF LIFE in accordance with the precepts of the Gospel and the faith and order of the Church; wherein he may consider the following:

The regularity of his attendance at public worship and especially at the holy Communion.
The practice of private prayer, Bible-reading, and self-discipline.
Bringing the teaching and example of Christ into his everyday life.
The boldness of his spoken witness to his faith in Christ.
His personal service to the Church and the community.
The offering of money according to his means for the support of the work of the Church at home and overseas.

All that being said, I believe I have also been profoundly shaped by God during times of suffering. I don't think the popular Christian culture deals with that experience very well. I think that needs to change.

symbols are powerful and necessary, but don't confuse them with what they represent

We had a debate once about whether or not we could do communion with white grape juice. Had someone suggest that we should do communion with red wine. Wondered why we don't have the same debates about the bread part of communion -- we've used everything from crackers to hotdog buns to whole French loaves. Interesting discussions, but ultimately the answer was "that's not the point."

In the book of Luke in the Bible, Chapter 22, the story is told of how the symbol of communion came to be: 'And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."'

He didn't say "do this just for the sake of doing it... and don't forget to fight a whole bunch about the right way to do it." The point is remembering the meaning behind the symbol of communion.

That being said, it's a beauty of a symbol.

don't do anything just because "we've always done it that way"

Do things for a reason. Do things for a good reason. If the reason is "we've always done it that way" then our response should be to ask why it has always been done that way, and if that reason still applies. God is eternal, but he isn't standing still. We shouldn't stand still either.

our whole life is an act of prayer

Praying isn't something you do just before meals and at bedtime (although there's nothing wrong with that!) -- our whole life is a conversation with God. Or at least we try. And it makes all the difference.

all of this could be wrong

...

God leads this church, not us

No, really. Christians will usually say God leads their church, but do they actually let him when it comes right down to it? We're trying.

church should not be a barrier to people getting to know God

But for some people it is. We want to remove any barriers we can.

we don't get why the world is so screwed up

Well, sort of we do. But not really. And regardless, we don't like the "screwed-up-ness" very much.

we have more questions than we have answers

But maybe trying to find the answers is more important than having the answers.

our whole life is an act of love

Or at least we try.

our whole life is an act of service

We don't think of "service" as being a project you take on as a volunteer, feeding the poor on Christmas or Thanksgiving. Our whole life, everything we do, is intended to be an act of service. Or at least we try.

our whole life is an act of worship

We don't think of "worship" as being the music you play during a Sunday service. Our whole life, everything we do, is intended to be an act of worship. Or at least we try.

we believe in God (but you don't have to)

The sol cafe is about asking questions, including asking us why we believe in God even if you don't. We might not have an answer, at least not a complete one. But if you want to join in that conversation, you are welcome at the sol cafe.