Have you ever driven home from some familiar place and have little to no memory of actually turning the wheel or pushing the gas? It is almost like muscle memory alone got us home. Well, while that might feel like an isolated incident, social scientists say that most of our decisions fall into this category. Very few of our actions throughout the day arise from intentional discernment. Instead, they happen subconsciously, driven by habit, practice, and reflex.
That might sound like an indicting statement for those of us who donāt want to āgo through the motionsā of life, but I also see it as a reminder of how important that means the habits, routines, and practices in our lives are. It encourages us to assess whether our moments of reflex align with our desire to follow Jesus. After all, even if we are perfectly faithful with every conscious decision we make, the majority of our actions will still be driven by how we unconsciously see the world.*
It is with this in mind that we are excited for our summer series called āTethered: A Summer with the Lectionary.ā The Lectionary is a group of assigned scriptures that churches around the world use to guide their weekly worship. By engaging these texts through reading, prayer, song, and teaching, followers of Jesus get in the habit of listening, seeing, and speaking about the world through the lens of Godās story. It is not a mindless Christianity; it is a Christianity that desires our very core be turned to Godās Kingdom coming. As Geoff Dyer puts it, it is to take seriously that our ādeepest desire is manifested by our daily life and habits.ā
This summer, both in Sunday worship and during the week, you are invited to bathe yourself in Godās word, to form new patterns and renew old ones, and to take advantage of the extra margin of summer to allow the Spirit to shape us. Each Monday, we will send out a text that will contain both the scriptures and prompts to engage them (see details on back of OOS). The following Sunday, we will use those scriptures to guide our communal worship. And, on occasion, you will have opportunity to engage in conversation about the readings on social media or read a reflection on the scriptures from a fellow member in the weekly email.
In all this, our prayer is to take seriously that God is in the business of making us into the people we are created to be. The Lord wants us to be His people. We donāt pretend to know how engaging scripture will work, but we know when we open it, God speaks. And, like arriving at our destination unable to recall every turn, our hope is we will be surprised by grace when we notice our lives have come to a place that subconsciously chooses love, grace, and peace.
Grace and peace,
Drew
*If you are looking for a summer read on this topic as it pertains to faith, check out āYou Are What You Loveā by James K.A. Smith.