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Faith Formation

Scrutines of Lent 2019 (2)

Congregational Transformation: Growing Deeply, Broadly, and Widely

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In Paul Hoffman’s words, the catechumenate creates a climate of expectation in the life of a congregation. That climate of expectation blossoms into the longing for personal and congregational transformation that is both deep and wide. It transforms individuals and congregations in deep ways touching on the center of their identities. It transforms in broad and wide-reaching ways, both by incorporating more into the assembly and by the myriad number of encounters that the baptized and the assembly have with strangers in the world.

Growing Deeply

Congregations engaged in faith formation patiently seek to transform the believing of newcomers and oldcomers alike. Believing entails the reorientation of one’s reality and life story toward inclusion into the story of God the Creator in His Son Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit. Believing is a lifelong endeavor of trusting in God’s promise for the whole creation, and the individual as part of it, to bring about the restoration of the creation through his living Word. It encompass the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—within the body of believers.

Those who belong to the believing community transform not only their believing and their belonging, but also their behavior. One of the reasons that the congregations we researched ask that all newcomers walk through their catechumenate—unbaptized, profession of faith, or transfers—is because they want to shape a deep transformation that leads to the newcomer and oldcomer alike living faithfully within this community’s patterns of life.

Measuring the depth of transformation should reflect the ongoing, lifelong apprenticeship of disciples that the catechumenate seeks to foster. Such measures could include:

  • worship attendance and participation in the sacraments
  • the vitality of congregational ministries, ordained, commissioned, and lay
  • the intentionality of personal and congregational evaluation and discernment of the disciple life
  • flexibility of congregational ministries and faith formation to adapt to the congregational context
  • the involvement of laity in the faith formation process
  • commitment to one’s vocations
  • the degree of following the call to live in love by proclaiming Christ to and serving him in others
  • how often a congregation eats together

That is only a partial list. All of those measures could give an indication as to how the faith formation process is deeply transforming a congregation’s life.

Growing Broadly and Widely

The catechumenate’s impact in transforming lives and assemblies also ought to be measured by the number of persons incorporated into the assembly’s life. A well-practiced catechumenate should lead to the incorporation of more outsiders and strangers into life together. Yet even such growth is broader and wider than we might imagine. Personal and corporate encounters with the stranger in inquiry and on the edges of the catechumenate widen the catechumenate’s transformative impact. Such encounters run deep into the world surrounding the congregation as the baptized bear witness to their life together in their workplaces and play spaces, their learning communities and living communities. A community transformed by the catechumenate reaches into the world around it—both individually and corporately—with peace and justice. As Paul Hoffman indicates, “The tasks that one might do to meet the needs of others grow out of who one perceives oneself to be in Christ, and—grace being the gift that keeps on giving—the things that one does further form one as a disciple” (Faith Shaping Ministry, 87). Transformation that spreads far and wide.

In the end, faith formation is not a program, not even a set of processes or practices, but a way of life. Through its life of community and liturgy, teaching and preaching, witness and service God transforms the baptized and the community, deeply and broadly.

Palm Sunday 2019 (2)

Forging a Culture of Expectation for Transformation:   The Impact of the Catechumenate

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A lively catechumenate should lead to congregational growth, at least incrementally if not substantially. That should be an expectation that any congregation has at the beginning of a new catechumenal ministry. As Paul Hoffman says in his book, Faith Forming Faith,

There is a culture of expectation that living together under the cross of Chris creates….The willingness to accept that paradigm shift to a culture of expectation is primary. Before considering beginning the catechumenate in one’s congregation, the best question that a parish should consider is, ‘Are we prepared to welcome and expect that awesome, amazing grace of God that the newly baptized will surely bring us? In other words, will we recognize and welcome the unexpected presence of God’s grace when it appears?’ (Hoffman, Faith Forming Faith, 46-7).

The expectations nurtured by the catechumenate include the following (at minimum): An expectation for new people (mission and growth); an expectation for congregational transformation (lively faith); and an expectation for parish life renewed around the catechumenate.

Expectation for New People

               The catechumenate nurtures the expectation that hospitality toward and committed attention to those exploring faith in God through Christ is at the center of congregational life. The catechumenate forms the mission of the church and the mission of the church fills the catechumenate with purpose and energy. Expecting new people constantly to be exploring the faith is an outcome of practicing the catechumenate as a fundamental expression of the church’s mission. As Diana Macalintal indicates,

Once the focus of baptism shifts from membership in the church to mission in Christ, other things change too. We start to see baptism more like a verb than a noun….Living the Christian way of faith requires, then, a daily discernment of how God is calling us to respond by faith to our baptism. How am I responding to God’s gift and living out the mission this gift gives me? And how do we teach others to respond by faith and take on the mission of Christ in the world? (Macalintal, Your Parish is the Curriculum, 17-18)

When such a missional response is forged, then we will expect a constant stream of new people.

Expectation for Congregational Transformation

At the center of the mission of the faith formation process is the baptismal paradigm of dying and rising, found throughout Scripture but voiced compellingly by Paul in Romans 6. Planting newcomers at the center of congregational life embeds the dying and rising pattern as the central way of understanding the shape of a congregation’s life. This process is about congregational transformation, not some program for welcoming new members. And this simply flows from our watershed baptismal event because from that day on the people of God in Christ are never not in formation until our baptism is completed in our death. We are constantly dying and rising, both as individuals and as congregations. Through the dying and rising pattern of the catechumenate, a congregation is called to be, and becomes, in Diana Macalintal’s words, a “place of lively faith” (Macalintal, 23).

Expectation for Renewed Parish Life

A place of lively faith will be a place that expects all aspects of its life to be renewed. A baptismal catechumenate at the center of parish life will encourage searching questions about the rest of the parish’s life. As Paul Hoffman contends,

In this bold new vision of living in the ancient Christians’ pattern of faith formation, we must see our life in church as fully immersed in the wonder of baptism. I propose that we rethink parish life in such a way that all we do is shaped by a reappropriation of our most basic and formative paradigm—the death and resurrection of Jesus, to which each of us is joined in our baptism (Hoffman, Faith Shaping Ministry, 3).

A lively catechumenate embeds the expectation that everything the parish is and does will orbit around the making of new Christians through the waters of baptism.

Hope-filled Expectations: The Fruits of a well-practiced, Spirit-anointed Catechumenate.

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Community Building over Meals

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Slow Walking Series

Ritual scholars remind us of the universal experience and meaning of shared meals—that they do more than nourish the body with the food. By their corporate nature, the meals build community; the feast celebrates an important event, present or historical; the food and drink can take on symbolic meaning, whether it’s a champagne toast by the best man or the favorite dessert served at a loved one’s funeral lunch. Phillippe Rouillard, a Benedictine monk and theologian of sacramental theology, wrote, “The meal taken in common seals belonging to a same group. It implies an idea of communion and sharing … and the fact of inviting someone to eat with one is perceived as an efficacious sign of integration and communion” (“From Human Meal to Christian Eucharist,” in Living Bread, Saving Cup, 133). The early months of the Pandemic, when large gatherings with food and drink were dangerous places we were told we must avoid, instilled in us the need of shared meals, both ordinary and extraordinary, to be fully human.

Recognizing the intrinsic value of meals, some resources on adult catechumenate models encourage the practice. “Simple refreshments available as people are gathering will provide a welcoming environment, even just one or two beverage option and a tray filled with small pieces of fruit” (Go Make Disciples, 82, emphasis added). Describing the full meal that his parish practiced in their adult faith formation process, Paul Hoffman offers three values of a shared meal: “Our goal with the meal is to help people feel welcome, offer them a place to belong, and create a space in which relationships with other Christians can begin to form and take shape” (Faith Forming Faith, 9).

Of course, meals play a major role throughout Scripture, especially in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus “ate with tax collectors and sinners” and responded to that criticism with the parable of the Lost Son, who was welcomed home by his father with a feast of the fatted calf. To serve food at adult faith formation gatherings, whether “simple refreshments” or a full meal, recognizes the power of a shared meal and the potential sign that it may be “a foretaste of the feast to come.”

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Image:  The miracle of the five loaves and two fish

By Lucas Cranach the Elder – Wuselig, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85228885

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

Redeemer Post-Baptism Neophytes and Newly Confirmed 2019

The Formation—NOT the Information—Highway

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The faith formation process (catechumenate) is a journey, a lifelong journey toward the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). It is a journey on the formation highway, not the information highway. We best leave that to Silicon Valley. Not that there is no place in faith formation for information. As we observed last week regarding the benefits of a church tour, “These goals for the seekers illustrate the dual purpose of information and formation within the catechumenal process . . . By walking through the worship space, touching the furnishings, and pointing out specifics, the tour leader’s imparting of information will be more effective than a classroom lecture.” But information serves formation. The goal and telos of the faith formation process is the transformation of those seeking relationship with God the Creator and His Son Jesus Christ.

The affirmation that the catechumenate is about personal transformation rather than solely the imparting of information is fundamental for slow walking out of an adult instruction class toward a faith formation process. Even our language of adult information betrays our understanding of what we are doing. Three characteristics are crucial toward making this shift from information to formation: 1) Faith formation facilitates conversion; 2) Faith formation centers on relationships; 3) Faith formation incorporates into community.

Faith formation facilitates conversion

               Faith formation doesn’t just inform about the Christian faith. It moves a person into a new way of life. As Welcome to Christ: An Introduction to the Catechumenate indicates, “Let us take seriously the matter of repentance and conversion. In the journey of the catechumenate, those preparing for Holy Baptism are in the process of becoming Christians….At its heart, the catechumenal process is a repenting of all that keeps us from being so joined [to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ], and a journey of conversion to a new life…Catechumens are turning from their former life and turning toward new life in Christ….[This] conversion involves the whole person—intellect, emotions, spirit, actions and more” (22-23). It is not just information about, but formation in this new life.

Faith formation centers on relationships

               Information dumping doesn’t further the building of relationships. Yet, in a faith formation process in which building relationships in the Body of Christ is a primary goal, information assumes a servant role. As Paul Hoffman says of the catechumenate, “Foundationally, it means a way of being with one another and with our God that is dialogical, relational, and drawn from the deep wells of the participants’ real-life experiences and interactions with the Holy Scriptures” (Faith Forming Faith, 33). We have to break away from the notion that our educational processes with adults (and youth too, for that matter) focus on content. They shouldn’t, unless we want them to whither on the vine. They should focus on transformation—of everyone involved.

Faith formation incorporates into community.

               Transforming everyone brings us to community. Faith formation seeks to graft into the Christian community those who encounter Christ in the community’s life and are transformed. In this journey the transformation happens both ways. As Welcome to Christ notes, “The realization grows that as the community helps to shape the identity of the catechumens, so the catechumens also shape the identity of the community. Its mission and ministry are shaped by this calling….For the community, the presence of catechumens is transformative, life-giving, and redemptive in the sense that the catechumens lead the baptized back to the place of their origin. In the water and word of Holy Baptism—as well as in the daily practice of worship, prayer, scripture, and ministry—we are the body of Christ, bearing gifts of healing and compassion for our world” (23).

The journey to life in Christ is abundantly rich. Conceiving of it as adult information robs it of this richness. It is not an information highway but a transformative journey that gives shape to the rest of one’s life and to the coming kingdom of God into which we are invited.

Lent 1- Rite of Election (92)

A Ritual Journey: A Period of Intense Preparation

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As we prepare to enter into the season of Lent we return to our ritual journey through faith formation focusing on the third period in the catechumenate: The Period of Intense Preparation (Go Make Disciples) or The Period of Purification and Enlightenment (RCIA). The turn, out of the period of the catechumenate into intense preparation, usually (but not exclusively) during Lent, focuses the catechumens (now the Elect) on spiritual preparation for baptism and incorporation into the body of Christ. This period usually begins on the First Sunday in Lent and culminates at the rites of initiation at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.

Go Make Disciples (p. 108) summarizes the period with the following descriptors:

  • Issue: Readiness to renounce self-centeredness and evil and to commit to Christ and his direction in daily life
  • Process: Conversion. Candidates bring all of their attitudes, wounds, yearnings, and commitments into the Light of Christ
  • Focus: Encountering Jesus and accepting his call to belong to the reign of God
  • Sponsor’s and Congregation’s Roles: Standing with and praying for the candidates in the light of Christ; being transparent about our own need for continual conversion.

It is a period that seeks to purify desires and enlighten the elect toward the shape of the life of faith. Catechetical instruction in this period is intended to feed and support spiritual preparation. As Ronald Lewinski indicates in An Introduction to the RCIA,

The catechumens reflect on their faith and religious experience in a more intense manner. They take all that they have heard and seen, learned, prayed and shared, and they ponder it all in the depths of their hearts. Lent supports this process of interiorizing, giving it shape and direction through the Scriptures, prayers, and traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting, performing works of mercy, charity, and penance [confession and absolution for a Lutheran], and being committed to personal sacrifice (53).

Central to this spiritual preparation are the questions of faith and, through it, entry into the rule and reign of God. These questions are at the heart of the baptismal liturgy:

  • Do you desire to be baptized?
  • Do you renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways?
  • Do you believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

This period prepares the elect to answer these questions with clarity and conviction.

There are a number of liturgical rites (as outlined by the RCIA) that facilitate this spiritual self-examination. These include:

  • The Rite of Election on the First Sunday in Lent
  • The Scrutiny Rites including Exorcisms on the Third through Fifth Sundays in Lent
  • The Presentations of the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer to the Elect, usually at weekeday celebrations of the Word following the First and Third Scrutinies
  • Penitential Rites for those already baptized who are preparing for Confirmation or Affirmation of Faith
  • Preparatory Rites on Holy Saturday which may include The Recitation of the Creed, the Ephphetha Rite (Opening of the Ears and Mouth for hearing and confessing the Word), and the Choosing of a Baptismal Name

Over the weeks of Lent I will lead you into these rites and how they shape the journey through the period of purification and enlightenment. Through these rites, as Lewinski observes, the Elect serve as “the primary symbol for Lent. We see in them what we ought to see happening in ourselves: a conversion that leaves us with a hunger for Eucharist and a thirst for building God’s kingdom” (54).

Baptsim with water splashing

Water Everywhere: God’s Gift for Transforming Life

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Paul Galbreath titles the 5th chapter of Leading through the Water very simply “Water.” In a sense the entire book, and the catechumenate, drives to the water and finds its center, source, and power in the Word-drenched water. In this chapter Galbreath walks through the history of baptismal water and then seeks to learn from the past by drawing some implications for our present practice. Historical interpretation; practical reflection.

Galbreath’s brief historical survey courses through the biblical narrative until the fourth century. He notes that water doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God and is his gift in creation. We use water because God gives it to us. As the most essential part of God’s creation, it is at the center of human and creaturely life. Not surprisingly, then, water figures prominently in God’s story through Israel and in his Son Jesus Christ. While one might quibble with his interpretation of the sources for and the historical development of baptism in the early church, there can be no denying that, as he says, “baptism…quickly became an act that defined the community” (79). Yet, it defined the community within the contours of life within specific Christian gatherings in distinct cultural contexts. While there were constancies in baptismal practice within the Christian movement, those practices reflected the distinctive features of local communities, often mirroring secular bathing patterns and other associated practices. Within a common core such as application of water in the name of the Triune God, diverse ritual practices associated with baptism arose regionally. For example, the Triune Name could be invoked through creedal questions reflecting local baptismal creeds or spoken as a formula of baptism (ie. “I baptize you in the Name of….”). This reflected ongoing adaptation and development in relationship to each local cultural context.

As Galbreath notes, in our own reflection on our baptismal practice at the center of church life and faith formation, we can draw from this wealth of biblical and historical resources to renew our baptismal theology and practice. He provides four areas of focus arising from the modern liturgical renewal movement that are worthy of consideration. First, baptism is best conceived as a congregational act. As he contends, “Recovering the primary role of the congregation as those who welcome, nurture, and support those who seek baptism is a primary goal of worship renewal” (85). Faith formation practices form the congregation to be the primary agent for transformation through the catechumenate. Second, the design of architectural space for baptism aims to situate it within the movement of the biblical narrative. For this Galbreath provides a compelling depiction of a Nicaraguan immersion font. Third, the transformative power of the water attached to the Word and the claims God makes on his children through baptism call for the use of ample amounts of water in baptism. Along with the use of a plenitude of water goes the recovery of a full panoply of biblical images for baptism, his fourth area of focus. (To develop that baptismal imagery more fully I’d recommend Maxwell Johnson’s book, Images of Baptism). These images include not only the forgiveness of sins, but death and resurrection, new birth, anointing with the seal of the Spirit, incorporation into the body of Christ, clothing, and others.

Through such reflective transformation of our baptismal practices faith formation can achieve more fully what it is intended to achieve: “a way of living into the hope of God’s promises for our lives and for our world” (90).