For the next 21 days, let's commit to feeding yourself spiritually by reading and reflecting on a passage of Scripture each day using the S.O.A.P. method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer). Keep a brief daily note of what you learn and how you might apply it, and at the end of the 21 days, share your biggest takeaway with someone else.
.jpg)
- Romans & Hebrews → Assurance of God’s love and endurance of faith.
- 1 Peter & 1 Timothy → Identity as God’s people; mercy reshaping sinners.
- Galatians & John → Life in the Spirit; abiding in love as relational flow.
- Matthew → Jesus’ gentle yoke as rest, not burden.
Across the first seven devotionals, a pattern emerges:
- Traditional lens → Sacramental, communal, with a strong pull toward hierarchy and purification.
- Evangelical lens → Urgent, personal, evidential - discipleship as proof of salvation.
- Process lens → Relational, healing, co-creative - reframing discipleship as partnership with God’s gentle lure into renewal.
Review of last 7 days...
SOAP 8/21 - Nothing Can Separate Us (Romans 8:31–39)
- Focus: Assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
-
Traditional: Sacramental union with Christ; assurance in intercession and communion.
-
Evangelical: Personal assurance and confidence in salvation, leading to bold discipleship.
-
Process: God’s persuasive love as enduring relational presence; nothing in "relational becoming" can sever God’s companionship.
SOAP 9/21 - Run with Endurance (Hebrews 12:1–3)
- Focus: Endurance in the race of faith, modeled by Jesus.
-
Traditional: Ascetic perseverance shaped by the communion of saints.
-
Evangelical: Perseverance as proof of genuine faith and discipleship.
-
Process: Endurance not as self-striving but as co-creative resilience with God’s lure...
SOAP 10/21 - Chosen Replicants (1 Peter 2:9–12)
- Focus: Identity as God’s chosen people called to witness.
-
Traditional: Baptismal identity as a priestly, sacramental community.
-
Evangelical: Proclamation and holy conduct as evidence of belonging.
-
Process: Chosenness as vocation, not exclusivity; embodying God's light through relational service into one's communities.
SOAP 11/21 - Mercy for the Worst (1 Timothy 1:15–17)
- Focus: Christ came to save sinners, as exemplified in Paul.
-
Traditional: Penitential humility; liturgical confession of sin and mercy.
-
Evangelical: A gospel summary; conversion and assurance for even the “foremost” sinner.
-
Process: Mercy as patient persuasion of God's abiding love into our very convictions; that personal transformation is always relational, never coercive.
SOAP 12/21 - Walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:13–25)
- Focus: Freedom shaped by love; fruit of the Spirit vs. works of the flesh.
-
Traditional: Virtue cultivated through sacrament and communal discipline.
-
Evangelical: Flesh vs. Spirit as battleground; fruit as proof of salvation.
-
Process: Fruit as the natural blossoming when aligned with God’s will ("lure"); that true discipleship and mentorship is always measured in loving relational growth - never self-hatred, acts of self-harm, or religious beat-downs of one's beautiful spirit.
SOAP 13/21 - Abide in Love (John 15:4–11)
- Focus: Vine and branches — life and fruit through abiding in Christ.
-
Traditional: Abiding through sacramental union; warning against separation.
-
Evangelical: Personal intimacy with Jesus; fruit as test of true faith.
-
Process: Abiding in the Spirit brings relational resonance between our spirit with God's; from this relationship the fruit of love emerges as the flow of received divine love into us and through us; there is no place for religious fears long imputed and sustained by the inner religious man learned over millenia's of mortal failure, personal striving for divinity, or from the teachings of the errant church in its catechisms, preachings, and inauthentic acts.
SOAP 14/21 - Rest for the Weary (Matthew 11:28–30)
- Focus: Jesus’ gentle yoke as rest for the soul.
-
Traditional: Rest in Christ through prayer and sacramental union.
-
Evangelical: Conversional surrender; laying burdens on Jesus for salvation.
-
Process: God's yoke is the gentle partnership given and received between God and man; Spirit discipleship then is reframed as restful, relational co-journeying. An adventure that is at once, transforming, renewing, grace-filled, and thrilling.
Summary
"Grace, Love, Renewal: A 21-Day Journey in Three Voices" perfectly captures both the devotional heart and the comparative framework of the past seven days:
Assurance → Romans & Hebrews
Identity → 1 Peter & 1 Timothy
Life in the Spirit → Galatians & John
Rest in Christ → Matthew
Across days 8–14, the voices deepen:
- Traditionalism - calls believers into sacramental fidelity and virtuous perseverance.
- Evangelicalism - presses for personal assurance and holiness as evidence of true faith, often slipping into legalistic proofs.
- Process theology - resists fear-based obedience, offering a healing vision of discipleship as relational rest, communal vocation, and Spirit-shaped fruitfulness.
Process Theological Observation (Days 1–7)
In this week’s texts, Traditional and Evangelical voices again risk casting discipleship as burden.
-
Endurance becomes ascetic striving: Hebrews’ call to “run with endurance” is often interpreted as a near-monastic battle against the self, where holiness is achieved through constant self-denial. While perseverance is essential, the emphasis can slip into seeing faith as a grim contest rather than a shared journey of grace.
-
Chosenness becomes hierarchy: In 1 Peter, the beautiful imagery of “a royal priesthood, a holy nation” is easily turned into a system of separation — clergy above laity in Traditionalism, or “the saved” vs. “the lost” in Evangelicalism. What should be vocation becomes a boundary line of power and exclusion.
-
Holiness becomes constant self-proof: In Galatians and John, holiness is framed (in some Evangelical readings) as fruit that must continually demonstrate one’s salvation. Faith becomes a cycle of self-examination, doubt, and performance — discipleship reduced to anxious proof of belonging rather than resting in God’s presence.
This pattern of "personal striving, clergy v laity hierarchy, and continuing demonstrations of Spirit infilling" transforms discipleship into religion as labor. Faith becomes a weight to carry, not a gift to live. The very language meant to liberate (“endurance,” “chosenness,” “fruit,” “yoke”) gets misused and distorted into spiritual exhaustion.
---
Process theology breaks this cycle by returning to Christ’s own words: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Where Traditionalism and Evangelicalism often cast discipleship as heavy toiling, hard discipline, and religious exertion, process thought insists that faith, rightly understood, is not meant to crush one's Spirit-living but to enliven.
-
Endurance is not grim self-denial but co-creative resilience — learning to run the race not alone, but with God pacing alongside, luring us toward harmony in each step.
-
Chosenness is not hierarchy or exclusion but shared vocation — to live as priests of reconciliation, embodying light not for ourselves alone but for the healing of community and creation.
-
Holiness is not anxious self-proof but the fruit of relational flow — virtues like love, joy, and peace blossoming naturally when our lives resonate with God’s Spirit.
In this view, salvation is neither a coerced submission to divine power nor an escape from earthly existence. Instead, it is the re-syncing of the human spirit with the healing rhythm of God's abiding love. That is, God’s persuasive presence which works within our minds, hearts, and souls, to transfigure suffering, redeem wounds, and birth new possibilities.
Thus the Spirit’s work is not to weigh us down with labor, fear, or self-loathing, but to lift us into joy, rest, and renewal. Each act of faith becomes participation in the creative advance of God’s love, until all creation is gathered into wholeness and made new in God’s abiding presence.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment