Throughout the gospel accounts, Jesus
tells us that good works are an essential demonstration of faith.
Good
trees cannot bear bad fruit, and every
branch that is connected to the True Vine will bear fruit. We
know that bearing
fruit involves a process of pruning, transforming all those
things that get in the way of our faithfulness to God's leading. In
ways both small and dramatic, our lives must change substantially
before we are ready to bear
fruit worthy of repentance.
But what does this process look like?
As a people who trust in the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit,
we face a tension in our faith: On the one hand, we are responsible
to act in ways that bear the fruit of repentance and righteousness.
Yet at the same time we recognize that we can accomplish nothing
lasting without the grace and inspiration of the Spirit. We
are called to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth, but we
are ultimately incapable of inaugurating this Kingdom through our own
efforts.
As Quakers, our emphasis has long been
on the quietistic, passive side of faith. By stripping away our own
thoughts, ambitions, rituals and programs, we have sought to be
radically open to the moment-by-moment inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. We embrace a religious culture that downplays human
understanding, effort and planning. Sometimes, we border on fatalism:
"If it is meant to happen, God will make it happen; there is
nothing we can do except to wait on God."
Of course, it is possible to go too far
in the other direction. The excesses of the church growth
movement give a good example of how human metrics of success can skew
our discernment. It can be easy to identify what "success"
looks like - whether growth in membership, fund-raising, entertaining
worship services or popularity - and to ignore the gentle nudgings of
the Spirit to act in ways that seem "unsuccessful." We
humans have a long track record of preferring our own wisdom to God's
direction.
Seeing these two extremes - quietism on
the one side, and a sort of technocratic human wisdom on the other -
how can we as Christian communities chart a balanced course? How can
we maintain openness and awareness of the continued leading of the
Spirit while at the same time acting on the guidance that we have
already received? What is the role of our human faculty of reason? Is
there such a thing as Spirit-led strategic planning?
We as Quakers are acutely aware of the
dangers of placing too much stock in human reasoning. So often, the
Spirit acts in ways that surprise us and confound our limited
understandings. We know that we need to stay open to the
moment-by-moment guidance of Christ in our midst. Yet the Spirit calls us
into work that spans years, decades and even generations. God draws
us into labor that requires long-range planning and evaluation.
As creations of God, we are finite,
limited beings. We cannot see the big picture, and we must rely on
God's grace and hidden power to guide us into lives of faithfulness.
Yet God also purposefully created our human faculties of reason. God
leads us, yes; but God clearly expects us to do our own share of the
heavy lifting. God has given us all manner of gifts - including the
ability to do strategic, long-term planning - so that we might be the
tangible presence of Jesus in the world.
What are the implications of this in
your life? Do you tend to lean quietistic, or technocratic? How about
your local community - which way does it lean? How might we find a
balance together, neither ignoring the inward promptings of the Holy
Spirit nor abdicating our own responsibility to ensure that we are
bearing fruit worthy of repentance?
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