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 Reading through "Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life"
 
 4/19/2007 11:12:52 PM
User is offlineAlison
5 posts


Reading through "Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life"
 (N/A) Modified By kcstrobel on 4/20/2007 6:16:57 AM)
Welcome to the Metamorpha book thread! We're reading one chapter a week in Kyle's book, doing the curriculum on our own, and coming here to discuss our questions, insights, and lessons learned. Some of us are blogging about the experience, too, using the blogmap ideas in the curriculum. To see a list of all participating blogs, go to alisonstrobel.blogspot.com and look for the Metamorpha link list.

Chapter 1
Our Need: A NewWay of Seeing

I think the thing that struck me most in this chapter came right towards the beginning: the idea that conversion is not the END but the BEGINNING of spiritual formation. Entering into a relationship with God is just the first step on the journey. I know--duh, huh? :) Well, what can I say, I'm dense sometimes. Anyway--what about you? What struck you most in this chapter?

In terms of the curriculum, the question about thinking of 5 beliefs that are rooted in your worldview was the most revealing exercise for me. I think I've always held to the idea that "God helps those who help themselves," even though there's not necessarily any Scriptural support for that concept. (I don't think there is, that is--anyone know for sure?) I was raised with a strong work ethic, and I think maybe that's where it comes from--the idea that you need to work, you need to do your part so that God doesn't think you're sitting back and letting him do all the heavy lifting. And I've always said that I'm not legalistic, but when I really think about it, I think I am: when I don't do a quiet time, or a week goes by without me cracking open my Bible, or I skip church, I feel like God's counting demerits to my account and I'm going to have to work really hard to make up for it. What about you: what question in the curriculum really stood out to you?
 4/20/2007 2:15:24 PM
User is offlinekcstrobel
50 posts


Re: Reading through "Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life"
 (N/A)

Hello all! Thanks to my sister Alison for starting this discussion. If you are interested, my book Metamorpha: Jesus As A Way Of Life has hit the shelves, and the free study guide takes you through the book and through various sections of Metamorpha.com. If you want to find out more, or download the study guide, go to www.JesusAsAWayOfLife.com.

This is a way we are trying to utilize the resources on Metamorpha.com for individual and group formation. I hope and pray that you find it to be a blessing.

In His faithfulness,

kyle strobel 
 4/24/2007 11:13:46 AM
User is offlineangelina
2 posts


"We have been saved that we may live the kingdom life now"???
 (N/A) Modified By angelina on 4/24/2007 3:15:00 AM)
Thanks for getting this started Alison! Reading through the book on my own has been great, but I definitely would like to get some discussions going. I found the first set of questions fairly difficult to answer, and I found it especially difficult to PRAY through them. So I think I might answer first, and then go back and pray, and then maybe answer again.

A statement in the Introduction struck me..."We have been saved that we may live the kingdom life now." What does that look like??

I understood the discussion about worldview in chapter 1; however, when I turned to the discussion questions and tried to describe my own worldview I had a tough time. Looking at how I spend my time, I realized when I am really stressed out, I tend to exercise instead of pray. So I figure maybe part of my worldview is that exercise relieves stress better than God??
 5/16/2007 8:32:59 PM
User is offlineAlison
5 posts


Re: "We have been saved that we may live the kingdom life now"???
 (N/A)
Good question, Angelina--what _does_ it look like to live the kingdom life now? I'm not really sure, either--hopefully reading through Meteamorpha will help me figure that out. :) And yeah, trying to describe my own worldview was hard, too. In some ways it seemed obvious--I believe in God, in Jesus, in the Bible, so those things are the foundation of my worldview, right? But if it were true that they were foundational, I think the way I live would be very different. I realized that, for example, I have always considered the Christian life one of "must-do's"--MUST go to church, MUST have a quiet time, MUST be part of a Bible study, etc. and whenever I didn't do those thing I felt like I must be a failure as a Christian. Thing is, when I DID do those things, I didn't feel like I was any better of a Christian than when I didn't! That's part of what I'm trying to "deprogram" myself from thinking as I read through Metamorpha. Not because those things aren't important, but they are not the end in and of themselves; they're supposed to be vehicles for the informers to do their job. It's funny, I'm very legalistic in my mind, even though I wasn't raised in a legalistic setting. Wonder where the heck I got that??
 5/16/2007 8:53:45 PM
User is offlineAlison
5 posts


Re: Reading through "Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life"
 (N/A)
Chapter 2
Our Hope: Embracing Metamorpha

Again, I was struck by something right at the beginning of this chapter: "Merely doing church in a new way or deconstructing all of the structures that we think are hindering us will not help us get closer to God." I get really frustrated when whatever church I happen to be attending puts so much time and energy into trying to think up new ways to do the service. It just compounds that whole emphasis-on-the-program mindset that completely eclipses the whole point of church: fellowship and teaching. I crave a home church where we just all get together and share a meal and share our struggles and victories and study the Word and pray together. Do we HAVE to have a stage? and a band? and padded folding chairs? and a big building? Heck, the first century church didn't even have pastors half the time--just letters! Not that I'm one of those "we should be like the first century church" folks, though I do think they were on to something. Honestly, though, it feels as though all these extras have been tacked on and deemed necessities when all they really do is clutter the church's mission: to grow the believer and preach the gospel.

The other thing that stuck out to me was something I mentioned in my reply to Angelina's post on living the kingdom life now. Page 34: "Life is filled with doing "Christian" things but never really growing into a deeper love for and union with Christ." I can't tell you how guilty I've felt in the past for not doing a daily quiet time/journaling time, and how "bad" I feel when I don't go to church once a week. And yet, the times in my life when I did those things religiously (ha ha) I didn't feel any closer to God than I did when I didn't do them. I think now I long for a deeper relationship with Christ more than I ever have, and while longing for it and having it aren't at all the same, at least the passion is there that wasn't necessarily there before. That's a start, right? And Kyle echoed this desire of mine in the last page of the chapter when he wrote, "The life of metamorpha starts with  an understanding that the Christian life is  developmental and progressive--a life with a person and not a life committed to a system." AMEN! Whenever I try to institute those "systems" of journaling and weekly Bible study or church, I feel like they just become items on a list to check off. They do nothing for me, spiritually, and I end up falling back into my legalistic mindset where I feel okay when I do them and guilty when I don't. It doesn't feel like that when the Bibe study or church is doing a good job of deepening my relationship with Christ--the problem is that I haven't been in a church or study like that in years. :(

On to the curriculum...
It was interesting to me to think about which informer I was most comfortable with, because I think I assumed they all played an equal part in my relationship with Christ, but once I started really thinking about it I realized that wasn't true at all. I definitely favor the Word over community or the Spirit. I think the concept of the Spirit is hard for me to really grasp. I mean, the Father and Jesus are hard enough, and I can at least conjure a face of sorts for them, and a gender. But the Spirit...what the heck is it?! I would rank community second, because I definitely grasp how that works, but  when I think of community in terms of my church I don't feel like it (the community, that is) is doing all that much for me. My community of friends, on the other hand, is definitely influential for me, but even though we're all Christians we don't normally discuss spiritual issues. We ask for prayer from each other, but we don't really talk theology or doctrine or even the Bible. If i could get my friend-community to do what my church-community is supposed to do (or vice-versa) I'd be set.

So how about you: what struck you in chapter 2? How about the curriculum?
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