o    How does the presence, or absence, of a religious background influence the “beginning” of one’s spiritual journey?

o    What role might others play in the “start” of one’s spiritual journey?

o    Does God appear, or talk, to people today?

⇒    Beginning (today); what characterizes the initial stage(s) of the spiritual life?

• Note: As we look at this question, we’ll be exploring the idea of prevenient grace; that the Holy Spirit works within us to bring us to God before we are even aware of it. (This is a term used in the Methodist Church in place of John Wesley’s original term preventing grace – Wesley used prevent to refer to the work of grace prior to the event of one’s conversion; today our association with “prevent” is “to keep from occurring,” which is the opposite of Wesley’s meaning, hence the term prevenient.)
• We’ll also touch on the notion of justifying grace, a term that refers to the working of the Holy Spirit in a Christian that gives them a self-awareness of their sin but also the experience and assurance that through Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
  

⇒    Experiencing (next week); what goes on during one’s spiritual journey? Where do we turn for guidance? How are we challenged and/or guided forward in our journey? What walls and/or obstacles might we encounter?

• Note: As we look at this portion of our spiritual journey, we’ll be exploring the idea of discipleship, the Christian term for being a follower of Jesus Christ. At its root, discipleship is about being willing to humble oneself to learn from another, in this case Jesus.

⇒    Perfecting (3rd week): what is the ultimate “end” of the Christian journey? Where are we going?

• Note: This week’s message will touch on the work of sanctifying grace, the work of the Holy Spirit transforming us to be more like Jesus Christ.

• When asked to describe the stages of a spiritual journey, members of our WPT spent the majority of time identifying and sharing ways people (and especially they themselves) come to faith; but not much time actually talking about living in faith. I wonder: was it just this particular group, or do we have a tendency only to think about the “beginnings” of a spiritual journey?

• When/how does a spiritual journey begin?

• Consider Dorothy: When did her journey begin: When she stepped onto the yellow brick road? Or when the house landed on the wicked witch of the east? Or when the tornado took her away? Or when she had negative interactions with her family?
• Consider Paul: Did his spiritual journey as a Christian begin when he was baptized? Or when Ananias prayed and his sight was restored? Or when he was struck blind on the road – encounter with Jesus? Or when he set forth to Damascus? Or when he began persecuting “the Way”? Or when he was raised as in the faith?
  

• Both conversations with others and the context of Acts wherein we find Saul’s story show us that spiritual journeys begin a variety of ways. Saul’s is just one among several stories of radical conversions (Acts 8 shares the stories of Simon the sorcerer and an Ethopian, Acts 9 tells of some who become followers after the resurrection of Tabitha; Acts 10 tells of the conversion of Cornelius).
• Each story of conversion is different; there is no “template” or correct way for a spiritual journey to begin. Unique to each individual and their encounter with Jesus!
  

• William Willimon writes, “Different people come to Jesus along different routes, a truth which is self-evident when we note that this conversion is set within the larger context of a number of other conversions, none of which is the norm for every Christian except as every conversion is the result of an encounter with a gracious and loving God who does not leave us to our own devices.” (Interpretation: Acts, 80)

• Although we might look at the Damascus Road experience as the “beginning” of Paul’s spiritual journey as a Christian, Paul already had an extensive religious background… We, too, can come to a “beginning” in our spiritual journey even though we’ve had a religious background.

• Paul’s letters make it clear he was raised a Hebrew and a Pharisee and was very “zealous” in following his faith… See Galatians 1:11-24 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (in the Study Guide) for examples.
• We often hear the stories of “dramatic” conversions (such as Paul’s; indeed, as Willimon points out, Paul’s Damascus Road experience is held by many to be “paradigmatic” of religious conversion); but many people don’t experience the radical, sudden conversion. Rather, they walk with Jesus all their lives; yet even they experience moments that deepen their journey…

• Paul had plans and a direction, but Christ intervened…  The beginning of a Christian spiritual journey is ultimately not something we plan or initiate, it is God’s initiative (i.e. prevenient grace).

• Going to California on vacation, my wife and I made plans, consulted a map, packed for the weather, etc. That’s how we generally approach journeys; we want to be in control.
• Paul had his plans going in to Damascus; he had gotten permission to seek out members of “the Way” and bring them back… but God changed Paul’s plans and replaced them with His own…
• (The disciples on the road to Emmaus had already been following Jesus, but in their new encounter with him their journey changed dramatically!)
  

–>Tangential Question: Does God appear, or speak, to people today?

As United Methodists, we do believe that God inspires and “speaks” to us today. We believe that as Scripture is read – or proclaimed – the Holy Spirit works within us to help us discern a message from God. We also believe that God “speaks” to us through Christian tradition, our experience (of the holy and of life), and through the use of our reason. But what about actual encounters where people suggest they “see” or “hear” God? Although we don’t discount such experiences, they are not commonly related.

The following texts, from C. Peter Wagner’s commentary on Acts entitled Acts of the Holy Spirit,  show one modern evangelical theologian’s approach to answering this question. You’re invited to consider and/or discuss them:


Jack Hayford is one who has experienced seeing the tangible light of God. In the early days of his pastorate in The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California, he had been struggling with a lethargic congregation and a plateaued membership of about 100 people. Then one Saturday, Jack went into the sanctuary alone and saw it filled with a silvery mist. He says, “No earthly dust had the glowing quality that this mist possessed as it filled the whole room, even where the sunlight was not shining.” God had filled the sanctuary with His glory and a church growth phenomenon began that has reached nearly 10,000 congregants at this writing….

It is easy to assume that after Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, He has not made, nor does make, such visible appearances. Some theologians say as much when they discuss Paul’s apostolic credentials. But, as a matter of fact, appearances of Jesus Himself, like the light of God’s glory, are being reported with some regularity today, particularly in the two-thirds world. It may be that we in the Western world are visited by Jesus less frequently or that our state of mind, including the state of mind in Christian circles, is such that we are not prepared to lend credibility to such reports and, therefore, those who may see Jesus would be reluctant to tell others….
    (Wagner, Acts of the Holy Spirit, 185-6, 186-7)

Relatively few Christian workers in Western nations have been called into ministry through visions or dreams, as was the apostle Paul. I was not called that way. Nonetheless, our call is no less authentic than if we had been. But elsewhere things are different.

For example, Edward Murphy reports that a survey of West African Bible school students shows that dreams or visions were the most common way God had called them into ministry. The group surveyed was remarkable in that they represented an African church established by Western missionaries serving with a mission that was overtly noncharismatic and did not encourage power ministries. The missionaries there would not have been called through visions or dreams. Summing it up, Murphy says, “While this means of divine communication may not be as relevant in Western society, it is apparently very relevant in West African society… God accommodates Himself to human cultures as He seeks to communicate Himself to them.”
    (Wagner, Acts of the Holy Spirit, 188)

Because power ministries are increasing so rapidly today, it is becoming more common to hear Christian leaders justify decisions or actions by saying, “God told me to.” The obvious potential of abusing this modus operandi is so great that many are questioning whether it has any place at all as a part of respectable Christian behavior. Some refer to it as “extrabiblical revelation” and argue that all of God’s revelation is contained in the canon of Scripture and that God does not engage in “present-day revelatory activity.” This is why, according to this point of view, Paul and others living before the biblical canon was closed needed to hear directly from God more than we do today.

Recognizing that hearing from God can be, and at times is, abused, we should nevertheless agree that it has substantial biblical precedence in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Pastor Jack Hayford has described it vividly: “As I say, ‘God spoke to me,’ I am being even more specific than referencing to general revelation or to private inner impressions. I reserve these words intentionally for the rare, special occasions when, in my spirit, I have had the Lord speak directly to me. I do not mean, ‘I felt impressed’ or ‘I sensed somehow.’ Instead, I mean that at a given moment, almost always when I least expected it, the Lord spoke words to me. Those words have been so distinct that I am virtually able to say, ‘And I quote.’”

Jack Hayford has gained such wide respect in Christian circles that few would see him as irresponsible or abusive in the use of the phrase “God told me to.” At no time would Hayford, or any other responsible Christian, equate the words they hear from the Lord with Scripture. The incident in Acts 9 where Paul heard God’s voice was later inscripturated by Luke, but this carries no implication that God has limited His direct communication to people or events recorded in the Bible. The Bible simply gives us examples of how God’s nature is displayed through His actions.
    (Wagner, 190)

• The role of others, part 1: Others may witness to a change, but uninvolved / unaware of the import

• His companions saw the light and “heard” a voice, but not the words; they did not see Jesus as Paul apparently did
• In our situations and spiritual journeys, people may be aware that “something” has happened to us, and may even have been present at some of the defining moments, but they weren’t participants in it and/or didn’t fully understand the depth and importance of the event…
  

• Saul’s attitude was changed… the beginning of a Christian spiritual journey is marked by a new attitude: one marked with humility, a willingness to learn, being “like a child”

• Paul is led into town; humbled like a child
• William Willimon calls this “a journey from self-confident independence toward child-like dependence.”
  

• The role of others, part 2: others help us understand, clarify, affirm our spiritual beginnings

• Jesus gave more detail in Ananias’ vision than Saul’s!
• Who is Ananias to you? Who has helped you along in your spiritual journey; to get started and/or make sense of the “beginning” stages…
• Who might you be Ananias to? Who might you be able to help make sense of and/or a beginning in their own spiritual journey?
  

• As I perused some online resources, I saw several references to the book The Critical Journey, which explores six stages of faith that people move through, including a “wall” we must overcome.

• In his analysis, Willimon draws on the work of Hans Mol to illustrate 4 steps within “the conversion process” (Willimon, Interpretation: Acts, p. 79-80):

1. Detachment from former patterns of identity
2. A time of meaningless and anomie
3. A dramatic transition from darkness to light, from chaos to meaning
4. The faith community supports and accepts the initiate into their life together.