The Apprentices

Apropos of "a blog discussion... on the way we learn and the way we are “formed” as disciples" I came across various articles one of which very much echoed the way that my thinking has been going for about 12 years, no longer in that when training for ordination I wrote a dissertation where this was one of the main motifs.

Zander: As I've tried to help people think about apprenticeship to Jesus and the spiritual disciplines, they sometimes accuse me of promoting a works salvation.
Willard: In most churches we're not only saved by grace, we're paralyzed by it. We're afraid to do anything that might be a "work." The funny thing is we will preach to people for an hour that they can't do anything to be saved, and then sing to them for a half an hour trying to get them to do something. This is confusing. People need to see that action is a receptacle for grace, not a substitute for it. Grace is God acting in our lives to do things we can't do on our own. Grace is not opposed to effort; it's opposed to earning.

That image of 'recepcicle for grace' is very helpful. I think that Willard is right about us being paralysed by the doctrine, too. Good article.
The Apprentices - LeadershipJournal.net: Filed in: formation, spirituality, disciplines, grace, leadership, Christian