On any given day of the week, a scan of my Facebook newsfeed reveals secrets about my friends I might never have guessed on my own. It turns out that several friends closely identify with a variety of Disney Princesses, from the bookworm-ish Belle of “Beauty and the Beast,” to the kind and gentle maternal Snow White, to the adventurous Mulan who is the heroine of her own story. I’ve discovered some of these friends are most likely to enjoy time in Paris, France or Stockholm, Sweden while others are destined to live in New Mexico or New Hampshire. By answering a series of multiple choice questions, usually with nine choices depicted on a grid, each of us can discover our inner superhero, the color of our soul, or even the kind house in which we are meant to live. You can find almost anything out about yourself, including but not limited to:

What classic fictional character are you?

What burger topping describes you best?

Which US city should you live in?

Not only are online quizzes a fun diversionary escapism, they also illustrate something called the “Barnum Effect.” The “Barnum Effect” occurs in most popular internet quizzes designed to reveal results that appear tailored made, but in actuality, are really so vague and general that they apply to a wide spectrum of people responding. (For the record, I self-identify with courageous Merida from “Brave” who longs for a voice in shaping her destiny, I should enjoy time in Aberdeen, Scotland and I’m best suited to live in the New England states. If you know me, it sounds about right, but really, those answers should apply to any East Coast red head who enjoys the cooler seasons and climates and likes to travel to the UK.) Very little, if any, inner truth is revealed. These quizzes actually say nothing about who I am as a child of God, what God has done or is doing in my life, nor what God wants me to do with the gifts and graces I am provided with in order to be a faithful disciple growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

As it turns out, understanding the inner character God created within me and revealing the imago Dei (“image of God”) embossed upon my heart does involve responding to a series of interrelated questions. In his sermon, “The Witness of the Spirit,” John Wesley asked just four questions, but of a different variety than the ones on a pop culture website. His questions included:

What is this “witness of our Spirit”?

What is the “testimony of God’s Spirit”?

And how does he “bear witness with our Spirit that we are the child of God”?

How is this joint testimony of God’s Spirit and our own clearly and solidly distinguished from the prescription of a natural mind and from the deliverance of the devil?

With hard hitting, open-ended questions like these, discerning an answer to discover the path to your inner self involves more than choosing from a bank of multiple choice responses designed by computer-programmed algorithms on popular internet websites.

Lack of multiple choice responses might seem daunting, but it only makes the process of finding the path to our true inner self more rewarding. After all, Christian disciples know what it is they are looking for! With the imago Dei stamped upon the heart of each believer, Christlikeness is the true and valid goal for each and every Christian. The questions help us navigate the journey and our resulting growth in and towards Christlikeness. Each journey towards God’s holiness is as unique and as personal as our age, gender, race, ethnicity, occupation, or status.

To aid in the soul-searching that occurs during this journey, Wesley advocated the use of a small group, what he called bands and classes, made up of other disciples, who covenanted with one another to “watch over each other in love.” True soul searching is done in the company of others; there is no isolating one’s self behind a laptop or in a crowd transfixed to our handheld screens and devices.

Small groups in the Wesleyan tradition seek to help individuals discern an inspired life particular to their individual context. Every disciple committed to share in accountability and spiritual discernment with one another seek to craft an uniquely tailored life that still shares in God’s goodness and demonstrates towards others. Questions such as

Do we love God and our neighbor?

Do we keep his commandments?

How does it appear to you that you are alive? (a classic Wesleyan question familiar to any one who attends annual conferences in the United Methodist Church)

helped early Methodist disciples probe the depths and breadth of their public and private lives to see if they had “holiness of heart and holiness in outward conversation,” double-check that they were producing the fruit of the Spirit, as well as demonstrating love towards God and one another.

The crux of finding the path to our inner true selves and becoming more Christlike is a matter of responding to questions – not just random questions – but ones carefully posed by friends in spiritual conversation and in holy love. I suggest a far more fascinating and revealing quiz would be, “Which Saint Does Your Life Emulate?” Answers are not meant to be computed according to a standardized algorithm, but discerned and deliberated in the company of others. The value of other Christians dedicated to “watching over one another in love” in the process of spiritual discernment is that no one is left to the whims of fleeting emotions or how one feels before their morning coffee. It is then, in the company of other disciples, who are also witnesses to the truth of the Holy Spirit, that we can truly find and navigate the path to our inner self that is found in Christ.

I am a part of a church book club that meets each month. A member nominates a book for the next gathering. This ensures that most of us read something we would never have picked on our own. And let’s be honest, with many of us torn between children and work, we barely get time to read. Our meeting gives us an excuse to skimp on laundry or stay up late for the worthy goal of discussion. We are pretty amenable; we read new and old books, fiction and nonfiction, a mix of spiritual and secular.

Book Group Discussion: “A Circle of Quiet” by Madeleine L’Engle

I couldn’t remember if Madeleine L’Engle had died.  I did not wish to know before I finished her 1972 journaling memoir, “A Circle of Quiet.” I knew it would change her words for me somehow to know that she is no longer a cohabitant on the planet.

I recall a special moment when I was in second or third grade. Madeleine L’Engle came to speak to us at school in our comfortable library. I remember sitting on my patch of deep blue carpet as Ms. L’Engle – though I think she might insist I call her Madeleine – read animatedly.

She speaks just as animatedly on these pages. Most times my fellow book readers and I forgave the dusty 40 years between us. However, given how much “Madison Avenue” and loveless sex distressed her, we could only imagine the horror with which she would encounter our current “overshare society,” devaluing much of the physical and spiritual mystery she champions.

I believe there was a part of each of us that longed to be seated at Crosswicks, the Connecticut home she owned with her husband, Hugh, and the setting of much of the journal. We wanted to plop down at that Bohemian house in the small town. We agreed that it would be nice to go where the apple pie may be burned, but where there is always laughter and understanding. Hers was that proverbial place where everyone knows your name and cannot help but know all your business. In order to keep her sanity, she takes refuge in solitude. She leads us out of doors where the chaotic swirl of a busy house is balanced by the calm of a hidden pond.

It was the interspersed passages about faith that made us take the most notice. It was amusing to think of her doubting the institution of the church, even as she led her local parish’s feeble choir. It was comforting to hear her criticism of Christians and still count herself among them. It was beautiful to hear her wax on about children’s literature, sensing the deep respect she has for the early years. She does not want evil to be so masked from children that when they are forced to face the downsides of life that they are ill-equipped to cope. She unwraps her own faith to show its vulnerability. This is the same faith that counts doubting and the ability to lay bare one’s weakness among its greatest strengths.

I enjoyed the journey she carved out for my reading group. And yet, I have no immediate desire to pick up her subsequent nonfiction. Perhaps I need to spend more reflective moments around my own pond before I will have the patience and curiosity to sit with L’Engle again. Early on in “A Circle of Quiet,” she describes the busiest years of life as the “tired thirties,” when the demands of child-rearing and vocation-launching consume each hour. It is clear as she writes that she is no longer in the mad dash of that decade.

I realize that every moment spent sitting with L’Engle’s imagination is one in which I am not sitting with my toddler reveling in hers. I am convinced that I do L’Engle the most honor by countering my reading with pure moments knee-deep in the mess of my daughter’s childhood. Perhaps I would do her even more honor by also dusting off my journal. Or, even better…by sharing here.

Upon finishing “A Circle of Quiet,” I did look to see that Madeleine has gone on to greater glory. I mourn her death even as it gives me hope. Over 40 years since she wrote this volume and still, she speaks. I am thankful for my second time on a square patch, pausing, soaking in her animation.

A week before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day my wife and I went to go see the film Selma. This inspirational movie focuses on the non-violent protests of Martin Luther King, Jr., the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and others in the small town of Selma, Alabama. It particularly highlights the march from Selma to Montgomery, a momentous turning point in the Civil Rights movement. The movie made a lasting impression on me for all sorts of reasons, yet one especially stood out above the rest, and can be summarized by the old adage, “actions speak louder than words.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a persuasive, powerful orator. But it wasn’t so much his words that made an impact, though no doubt they were extremely influential. No, what really turned heads, what really got the ball rolling, what pressured President Lyndon B. Johnson (according to the film) to act weren’t so much King’s words, but his actions. He and others embodied the very message that they proclaimed through various acts of non-violent protests.

What if Christians were more intentional in embodying the very message we proclaim? To some, placing more emphasis on “actions” or “works” quickly prompts uneasy “works righteousness” comments. But weren’t we created for good works, as noted in Ephesians 2:10?

Sometimes we live more like dualists, placing priority on cognitive assent (beliefs and doctrines) over praxis. I’m not downplaying the significance of the mind in the Christian life: in fact, I think it’s very essential for transformation through the “renewing of the mind.” Nonetheless, more is involved in transformation than merely thinking all the right things (cf. James K.A. Smith’s “Cultural Liturgies” project).

As I dive more into the Gospels, and even in the epistles of the New Testament, I realize that the call to discipleship involves at the bare minimum the summons to presence and practice (see especially Mark 3:13-15 and Suzanne Watts Henderson’s “Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark”). We’re called to be with Jesus and practice what he does. As inhabitants of the Crucified Lord, we are to be imitators, who reenact Jesus’ ways.

But we are usually quick to pinpoint the launching pad of discipleship with conversion, especially when one can articulate the (soterian) gospel. Everything leads up to this decision, this cognitive assent. Everything prior was merely preparatory. You hear the testimonies in churches all the time: “I grew up in the church, but was only going through the motions: I was there every Sunday and Wednesday, participated in a small group, read my Bible from time to time, went on mission trips, but then I got it when I realized…” It’s as if going to church, participating in a small group, reading one’s Bible, and participating on mission trips weren’t viewed as legitimate, because this person couldn’t lucidly vocalize what most believers deem a confession of faith.

But what if there are pre-converted disciples (see Alan Hirsch’s “Disciplism”)? What if the journey of discipleship doesn’t begin with a confession of faith, but with drawing near to Jesus (via the Church) and participating in his mission? (Consider Wesley’s missionary trip to Georgia before his Aldersgate experience.)

In Mark 3, Jesus called the 12 disciples (later known as the apostles) to be with him and practice what he was doing: preach the gospel (words) and cast out demons (deeds). Had the disciples, at that point, fully gotten it? No. In fact, the real “confession of faith” moment isn’t announced by Peter (the representative) until chapter eight in Caesarea Philippi. Even at this point, Peter and the disciples’ “aha!” moment is short-lived, to put it lightly. (“Get behind me, Satan!” Yikes!) Did they cease being called “disciples?” No! Did they cease following Jesus and doing what he was commanding? No!

In the church today, we delay calling folks “disciples” until they have been converted. Maybe we are too enamored with quick-fix solutions?Maybe we demand instantly gratifying results? Maybe we need to expand our vision of discipleship.

What happens when we expand our vision of discipleship?

1) Evangelism is seen within the context of discipleship, rather than the reverse. This approach is relationally driven, and more fully reflects Jesus’ model. We embody what we believe and show people what it means to follow this Jesus who we proclaim as crucified and risen Lord of the cosmos.

2) If we are going to show people what it means to follow Jesus, we need to know what he was up to. What was he doing? Why? We need to dive deeper into understanding what he was actually doing and why in order to creatively reenact his ways in the 21st century in our respective subcultures.

3) We must adopt a mentality of radical mercy and radical patience. Will there be shortcomings from these pre-converted disciples? You better believe it!

4) Jesus was on the go! Yes, people sought him out, but he also didn’t wait for people to come to him (Mark 1:38). The church has to go out to the marginalized borders of society if we are going to reach others.

What might things look like if we focused more on embodying our beliefs in word and deeds? I think Jesus is more concerned with daily decisions, rather than a one-off articulation of faith (though articulating what one believes is extremely important).

As followers of Jesus we are empowered to embody his ways and bring others along on the Way of Discipleship, which is the Way of the Lord. When we discover how to symbolically reenact his ways, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, we will see heads turns, more decisions being made, and more actions taking place.

When was the last time that you confessed any known sins you had committed to another person, or group of people? When I discuss the value of confessing sin, people often seem uncomfortable with a practice that seems too “Roman Catholic.” Did you know that confessing sin was a very important practice that was at the heart of the early Methodist revival? Did you know the band meeting was the most concrete way Wesley put his understanding of sanctification and entire sanctification into practice?

Early Methodists were known for their organization and multiple layers of meetings and groups. In England, early Methodists gathered together in annual conferences, quarterly conferences, society meetings, class meetings, band meetings, love feasts, prayer meetings, select societies (or select bands), and even penitent bands. Historians have often noted the importance of conferencing for early Methodism.

Methodists gathered together because they were convinced that growth in holiness was most likely to happen in community, by “watching over one another in love.” Early on in his ministry, Wesley believed community was so important to the pursuit of holiness that he criticized the isolated individual’s pursuit of holiness as similar to pursuing holiness through the practice of idolatry. He wrote:

Directly opposite to this is the gospel of Christ. Solitary religion is not to be found there. ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness. (John Wesley, “Preface”; in “Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739”)

This is the one passage where Wesley uses the phrase “social holiness,” which has so often been misused in contemporary Methodism. The best example of what Wesley meant by social holiness was the early Methodist band meeting.

In discussing the early Methodist approach to small group formation, people often confuse the class meeting and the band meeting. The class meeting was required for everyone who was Methodist and it often included women and men in one group. There were typically seven to 12 Methodists in a class meeting (though they were sometimes much larger). The basic question of the class meeting was: “How does your soul prosper?”

The band meeting was optional, though highly encouraged, for all Methodists who had experienced justification by faith and the new birth. Bands had about five people in them and were divided by gender and marital status. There were several prerequisites for joining a band meeting. Once you joined a group, five questions were asked at every weekly meeting:

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2. What temptations have you met with?

3. How was you delivered?

4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret? (John Wesley, “Rules of the Band Societies”)

The band meeting was a place of deep vulnerability and intimacy. It was a place where Christians were completely honest with each other about the ways in which they knew they had fallen short of who God was calling and enabling them to be in Christ. When Methodists discussed the rules or organization of band meetings, they nearly always started by stating that they gathered together in bands in order to be faithful to James 5:16, which reads: “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

The purpose of band meetings was not to shame one another or heap guilt and condemnation on one another. On the contrary, in telling each other the truth about their lives, particularly where they had fallen short, Methodists brought each other to the bottomless wells of God’s amazing grace. They sought to drench one another in God’s healing grace so that they could experience freedom from all that kept them from complete freedom in Christ.

Might this be a practice that God is calling members of the Wesleyan/Methodist family to retrieve? Confession of sin is a means of grace in multiple ways. Confession is a concrete act of repentance. As a result, it is a gracious act that paves the way for a new experience of one’s forgiveness and restoration as a beloved child of God. Confessing sin also expresses a belief in and desire for ongoing growth in holiness. One purges what is not of God to be freed from it, and in order to be further filled with the life of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the past, revival and renewal within Methodist communities tended to be preceded by humble, forthright confession of sin. This practice is not common in many contemporary Wesleyan/Methodist communities. This fact may say more about the extent of our current desire to hide, to cover up, and to avoid deep intimacy with brothers and sisters in Christ than it says about the ongoing relevance of such a practice today.

May the Triune God enable contemporary Wesleyan/Methodist churches to boldly reclaim this practice. And in so doing, may we find genuine repentance for any sin that lingers in our lives, a new experience of the Father’s audacious and neverending love for us through what has already been accomplished for us in Christ, and a freedom and desire by the Holy Spirit to entirely love God and neighbor, to the exclusion of sin.

In the context of the Christian faith, a disciple is not only one who subscribes to the teachings of Jesus and seeks to spread them, but one who seeks to relive Jesus’ life in the world. Discipline for the Christian is the way we train ourselves or allow the Spirit to train us to be like Jesus, to appropriate his spirit and to cultivate the power to live his life in the world.

So discipleship means discipline. We have to work at being Christian. The purpose of discipline for Christians is spiritual growth and ultimately our total transformation. Study is an important way of “abiding” in the teaching of Jesus and using the tools Scripture provides to rightly discern the truth. We want cultivated in us the deep desire to rightly divide the truth.

Renewing and Abiding

Paul sounds the mandate for those who would be disciples:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

We are what we think. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. So study is a necessary discipline for spiritual growth.

Moreover, consider the relationship between transformation and abiding. The word “abide” appears frequently in John’s Gospel, particularly in Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches (John 15). In that setting, it is often translated “remain” (“remain in me”…that is, “stay with me”).

In John 8:31, the word is translated “hold to” (“hold to my teaching” in the NIV), “continue in” (“continue in my word” NRSV), and “remain faithful to” (“remain faithful to my teachings” NLT).

What might these various renderings mean for the way we discipline ourselves through study?

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Unfortunately and shamefully, study is not often high on the priority of most Christians. For some, there is even a suspicion of learning, and to be “smart” and to be Christian are incongruent.

A story from John Wesley’s life chides us here. He received a letter once from a pious brother who declared, “the Lord has directed me to write you that while you know Greek and Hebrew, he can do without your learning.” Mr. Wesley replied appropriately, ”Your letter received, and I may say in reply that your letter was superfluous as I already know that the Lord could do without my learning. I wish to say to you that while the Lord does not direct me to tell you, yet I feel impelled to tell you on my own responsibility, that the Lord does not need your ignorance either.”

Jesus made it clear that knowledge is essential, absolutely essential: knowledge of the truth. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Some in the crowds that were following Jesus believed in him. But Jesus dealt with the issue of how deeply they were committed. Would they break loose from the crowd and cast their lot with this one who was claiming to be “the way”? Could they handle the pressure of their leaders who felt that this itinerate preacher was threatening their religion and way of life?

He makes clear the terms of discipleship for those who believed him. They must not only hear what he was teaching, they must “abide” in his word if they were to be a part of his company (John 8:31).

To Jesus’ word we add Paul’s word to Timothy, “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).

Paul is specifically addressing Timothy in his vocation, urging him to distinguish himself from the false teachers by being a teacher of the truth. Yet his word has general application to us. The phrase that is relevant to our discipline of study is “rightly dividing the word of truth.”

William Barclay in his commentary, The Letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, provides unusual insight into this phrase by examining the Greek word for “rightly divide.” It is the word orthotomein, which literally means to cut rightly. It has many pictures in it. The Greeks themselves used the word, or the phrase, in three different connections: for driving a straight road across country; for plowing a straight furrow across a field; and for the work of a mason in cutting and squaring a stone so that it fit into its correct place in the structure of the building.

When we rightly divide, we rightly handle the word of truth, driving a straight road through the truth and refusing to be lured down pleasant but irrelevant bypaths. We plow a straight furrow across the field of truth. We take each section of the truth, and fit it into its correct position, as a mason does a stone, allowing no part to usurp an undue place or an undue emphasis, and so to knock the whole structure of truth out of balance (Barclay, 198-99).

What Scripture Provides

In practicing the discipline of study, we seek and hopefully find the truth, which makes us free.

• Teaching It is true that Christianity is not founded on a book but on a living person. Before we had a New Testament, we had Christians and the Christian church. But not much time passed before it was necessary for these first Christians to present this living person, Jesus, by writing his story – the Gospels. So, the fact now is that we get our firsthand account of Jesus and his teaching from the New Testament. There is no place else to get it. The Bible is irreplaceable for teaching us who Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are, what they have done, and what they are calling us to be.

• Reproof  We normally think of reproof as finding fault and criticizing. Here it means conviction. Scripture convicts us, confronting and convincing us of our sin and error, but also bringing us face to face with the pursuing grace of God, the forgiving love of Christ, and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

• Correction We considered earlier Jesus’ claim about knowing the truth and the truth setting us free. The correcting work of Scripture is the testing of truth. We must always use our minds, dedicating them to the pursuit of truth; and truth is truth wherever we find it. The point here is that we are to test all theology, all ethical teaching, all moral codes by the Bible’s teaching. The key to this testing lies in the teaching of Jesus Christ as the Scriptures present it to us. That means that isolated teachings of the Bible must be tested by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. In him the divine Yes has been spoken.

• Training in righteousness This is the end of it all, training in righteousness, and for what purpose? “That everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:18).

We study the Bible that we may live a godly life now, doing the will of God, being used by God for the salvation of others.

We Are What We Think

In Romans 12:1-2 Paul calls us to be renewed by the renewing of our minds. In Philippians 4:8-9, he urges us to meditate on those virtues, that is, on what we want to become. Paul might even say, “we are what we think.”

The body of evidence to confirm this assertion is growing daily. Yet we each have to learn this lesson for ourselves: we are what we think. Sour dispositions create not only sick souls but also sick bodies. Feelings of worthlessness, bitter resentment, and self-pity diminish us to fragments. A possessive nature, self-indulgence, self-protectiveness, and self-centeredness shrivel the soul, create dysfunctions within us, distort perception, blur perspective, and prevent the healing we need.

The opposite of this is also true. Those who fill their minds with positive affirmations, who concentrate on the noble virtues that make life meaningful, set the stage for healing and make possible the wholeness that is God’s design for all. Two thousand years before psychologists were teaching this truth, Paul discovered its power. “Meditate on these things,”he said – things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report. We are what we think.

The discipline of study is important because how we use the dynamic power of our thinking determines whether it is Christian or not. Much of our culture reflects a perversion of this power. The “power of positive thinking” is supposed to make us millionaires, yet all too often it also turns us into self-serving people bent on satisfying all our desires. Thus we have a consumer economy of indulgence and waste. It is not arrogant, I think, for Paul, as he calls people to meditate on the great virtues, to add, “the things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9, NKJV). You cannot separate what Paul said from the style of his life and his passionate commitment to Christ as Lord of his life. Christians can use the “power of positive thinking” with integrity by keeping in mind where we are to center our thinking. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who…emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant…humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:5, 7-8, NKJV).

The disciplines we pursue are aimed at letting the mind of Christ grow in us. Jesus spoke of having ears but not hearing, eyes but not seeing. Seeing clearly and understanding the significance of what we study is why we practice study as a spiritual discipline.

Over and over again in his letters to the early Christians, Paul insisted that the power to live the Christian life faithfully came by studying God’s word. In fact, on 19 different occasions in his letters Paul says to the faithful, if you want God to truly resurrect the power of Christ in your own heart, it begins with knowing God’s word. That’s why God gave us his word, so that the more we know of it, the closer we will be drawn into understanding God’s will.

We study Scripture because it informs us about God’s presence in our lives and it warns us when our will and God’s will are moving in different directions. Ultimately, when we study God’s word we are nurturing our souls to be closer to God, to have God’s image restored in us, and to be like Jesus.

Dystopian young adult fiction is not my preferred genre for leisure reading. For one thing, novels set in a stark world, often portrayed as a police state, in which humanity is regularly repressed and coerced is a sure prescription (in my book!) for disturbed sleep and not sweet dreams. However, having recently committed to helping a middle schooler with a literature project, I’ve fallen headlong into Victoria Roth’s Divergent trilogy. As a discerning adult of a certain age whose tastes for fiction run more along the lines of spy thrillers and good old-fashioned murder mysteries, I am alternately fascinated and distressed by the predominance of this burgeoning genre. Yet, at the same time, I’ve grown a little more understanding of why this genre has captivated the imaginations of today’s youth and young adults. Rather than diagnose the sociological factors contributing to the proliferation of this genre, I offer these observations from the perspective of one whose more serious reading includes the writings of John Wesley and works on how Christians are formed theologically.

Value and Benefits of Community

The world into which “Divergent”’s main protagonist, Beatrice/Tris, is born, is run by five different factions. The worst thing that can occur to a citizen is to be declared “factionless.” Though Beatrice/Tris often acts as a “Lone Ranger” figure, she continually longs for and is most at ease when surrounded by a community in which she is a member and knows acceptance, nurture and even challenge.

Desire to belong is not just teen angst seeking to be part of the “in crowd,” this is a fundamental human instinct. Wesley understood that and organized the lives of early Methodists into societies, classes and bands in which Christians could support one another in their pursuit of following Christ. It was in these groups that members could not only find refuge from the world but uphold one another as they sought God’s intentions in their own lives and context.

Problematic Compartmentalization

The five factions are separate entities and except for the higher echelons of leadership only associate with their own. “Faction before Family” is the mantra drummed into the heads of citizens from the time they are children. Though born into a biological family and raised within a particular faction, if an adolescent were to choose a faction different from the one in which they were raised, they have little to no contact with their families from that point forward – they are labeled for life.

It is human nature to want to assign labels and assign categories to which we can locate persons as a way of understanding. Throughout Christian history, different sects of believers have earned names for the particular and distinctive ways they practice Christian faith. These categories can become harmful and problematic when they lose sight of the holistic nature of Christian faith; to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Wesley often referred to Christian discipleship as having the “mind that was in Christ” and “walking in the way Christ walked.” To engage in outward actions of mercy and compassion without attending to nurturing one’s relationship with God and other believers depletes interior resources even in the most earnest of persons. Likewise, to be in love with God without demonstrating that love to our neighbor truncates our faith.

Defying Societal Expectations

Each 16-year-old will discover the faction for which they have the aptitude during a serum-induced exam on the eve of their Choosing Ceremony. As a result of this test, Beatrice/Tris defies the expected norm of testing for one faction and displays the aptitude for at least three of the five factions. She is labeled “Divergent” and urged to conceal this fact from others – even those she loves – because it is dangerous. Throughout the course of the trilogy, she discovers others who have the capacity to think and act beyond the parameters set upon them by society.

At some point, most Christians seeking to follow Jesus realize that their discipleship asks them to defy stereotypes that confine and segment their selves into neatly ordered boxes. Wesley was labeled an “antinomian” by some of his detractors for disregarding the law, defying Anglican norms and declaring the world to be his parish. Alternatively, he was labeled a legalist and called a “Papist” by those who considered the rules that governed the methodical living of his followers to be constraining. Despite this contradiction, Wesley is credited for holding a dialectic in tension, balancing each as he he sought a third alternative. For good reason, contemporary authors refer to Wesley as a “rational enthusiast” or a “radical conservative” for his ability defy expectations and hold together what society would otherwise compartmentalize. Our discipleship is at its fullest when we love God with all our heart, all our mind, all of our souls and with all the strength of our will.

Valuing and Cultivating Virtue 

Beatrice/Tris chooses to transfer factions even though there is much about her parent’s faction she cherishes. When she transfers, she meets Tobias/Four, another transfer who is also Divergent. Tobias/Four seeks to emulate and champion the qualities once championed by his adopted faction; bravery, courage and guardianship. Furthermore, he finds value and admires the virtues inherent in each of the factions, seeking to do what he can to cultivate himself as a well-rounded person.

In a similar vein, Christian disciples understand themselves to be recipients of the Holy Spirit and endowed with God-given gifts and talents they use for Kingdom purposes. Yet all Christians, regardless of gifting, are called to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Wesley understood earnest Christians to be growing in these qualities. Regardless of social status, gender, educational level or ethnicity, Wesley and the people called Methodists radically included every person who expressed a desire “to flee the wrath to come” and encourage them in a faithful walk with Christ that they might bear fruit for more harvesting.

Purposeful Living

Beatrice/Tris and Tobias/Four work with others to not just free themselves from the present regime of factions but to unseat them in an effort to build a new society. They recoil when they discover their allies simply plan on substituting one totalitarian regime for another. Eventually, in league with other Divergents, they work to establish an integrated society in which all members are valued, fully included and experience human free will rather than government or scientific manipulation and coercion.

Disciples following Christ seek to live new lives free of bondage to sin and death. Christians just don’t seek any new identity, but one that is firmly established and grounded in the Lordship of Christ, the one human who is perfect, pleasing and good in the eyes of God. The ultimate goal of the Christian disciple is to live as God intended in ever increasing love for God and for neighbor. Wesley was adamant that humanity should continually strive to emulate Christ in all they did, which consequently had an effect on British society. As a result of seeking Christ, many persons were liberated from addictions. As Christians sought to share the love of Christ with others, schools were established and many families were gradually lifted out of poverty. Transformation of society occurred because disciples sought to be transformed and renewed in the image of God.

Final Thoughts and Takeaway 

Though I found the Divergent trilogy (and its prequel “Four”) to be quite the page-turner, my nightstand reading is not about to be overtaken by dystopian young adult literature. I did find relevant themes for Christian living which helped redeem the genre as a whole. Regardless of your purpose for reading, whether to develop a sermon illustration, study the art of narrative, find a way to relate to a younger family member or neighbor, or just reading for plain enjoyment, Christians should not avoid similar novels on general principle. Though a central Christ-figure is nearly always missing, a recurrent theme runs throughout this genre: that humanity is subjected to its own perversions but seeks the goodness it was originally created to express. And when considered in the light of Christianity, this theme hits close to home and is profoundly relevant for Christian disciples who seek to be in this world but not of this world.

“When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not!”
-Yoda, “The Empire Strikes Back”

For followers of Jesus Christ, aging comes as a season of compelling and vital new purpose.

Just what if there is extraordinary promise hidden in the age of doctors’ appointments, retirement, loss of loved ones and colleagues as well as physical challenges? What if aging doesn’t make you disposable, but rather indispensible? What if you ask Father, Son and Holy Spirit to sweep away the voices that call into question your relevance, your purpose and your gifts? What if you asked for grace to believe that God has a purpose for you, here, now?

There is great power in aging. The body may feel feeble; the soul may feel sapped of strength; but the accumulation of years is an extraordinary gift that can produce unimaginable impact – if wielded well. People often miss the power of their own age.

Sometimes we do not prepare ourselves for aging; we are uncomfortable, perhaps, thinking about the unknown, or fearing it. We fear a picture of aging that we paint for ourselves in which we look unrecognizable in the mirror, face an obsolete existence and are marginalized from the “real action” of living. But that great inspirer of John Wesley, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, counsels us: “let us prepare our minds against changes, always expecting them, that we be not surprised when they come.” Curiously, this excellent advice comes in the middle of his discussion on contentedness.

Let’s look at some lives that found profound purpose when they had reached profound age. These simple people found keeping covenant as an indispensable aspect of aging with purpose, on purpose. What priceless value there is in keeping covenant!

If you have a moment, read Genesis 17. Have you ever noticed that other than a general sketch of his extended family, where they settled, and whom he married, we do not get any stories of Abraham’s childhood or young adult years? Of all the great stories and colorful experiences that the book of Genesis tells us about Abraham, all that action picks up when he moves away in response to God’s promise at the age of 75.

God invites Abram into covenant by promising descendents – descendents that would outnumber the stars. This nation would inherit land; they would be blessed, and be a blessing, if they, too, chose to keep covenant with God; and from this nation would sprout the Messiah.

But for now, Abram is old, and he and Sarai have no children or grandchildren.

God establishes a covenant, full to the brim with promises, marks it by giving Abram and Sarai new names to reflect the coming reality of these promises, and commands Abraham to keep the covenant. Keeping the covenant, of course, doesn’t mean to avoid losing it, as you keep a receipt in your wallet. Keeping covenant is illustrated by the newly-reformed Ebenezer Scrooge’s promise to “keep Christmas” – to preserve, to maintain, to fulfill, to be faithful to.

Happily, we can skim ahead and see that Sarah gives birth to Isaac. Abraham did not get to skim ahead. Abraham kept covenant by acting on faith in a reality that was not yet: painfully so! He circumcised all the men of his household; he himself was circumcised before Sarah ever felt the fluttering of a baby in her womb; before he held his newborn son in his arms. He believed God’s promise that there was yet purpose in his age, and he acted on faith in God before he ever witnessed the screaming infant-proof.

This covenant between God and Abraham was vital, not just for Abraham’s self-interest in his desire to have a child, to have grandkids; this covenant was for the redemption of the world. And every generation had to decide for itself whether it would keep covenant with God, and we read those stories over and over again in the Old Testament.

How are you like Abraham? How are you like Sarah?

Keeping covenant may sometimes look a lot like Richard Foster’s A Celebration of Discipline: fulfilling and maintaining the practices of our faith in life together. But keeping covenant has a richer dimension when it’s in the context of seasoned age, in the same way that marriage has a richer dimension at a 50th wedding anniversary. By the time you are “aged,” your faith has weathered many years; and because of the accumulated experiences of a lifetime, or the challenging experiences associated with aging itself, you may find your faith tired, or tested, or perhaps a bit brittle and cynical.

That is why, above and beyond the practice of personal faith, keeping covenant matters so much as you age: because there is the temptation not to. And your faithful keeping of the covenant, even through years of struggle, or deep loss, or physical pain, does not go unnoticed.

And now let’s look at a lesser-known pair of aged covenant-keepers: Lois and Eunice, found in 2 Timothy 1:3-7.

Paul’s words at the beginning of his letter to the young pastor Timothy are fascinating: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” While the writer of Hebrews reminds us that “we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,” Paul reminds Timothy of the covenant keepers in his own immediate family tree – Grandma Lois and Mama Eunice. Keeping faith – the kind that was “accounted” to Abraham for righteousness; the kind that inspired the hall of faith in Hebrews 11; keeping this covenant with God by faith made a difference in Timothy’s life. Because of those women Paul called out by name, Timothy witnessed the faith of covenant-keepers. And when Timothy decided also to keep faith, he ministered to bodies of believers in the early church. And to encourage him in ministry, Paul wrote to him, and we have these letters to inspire, guide and encourage our own faith today. That’s right: Grandma Lois’ faithfulness in keeping covenant got a shout-out in the Bible.

Your children, your children’s children, or your nieces and nephews – they witness the ways you keep covenant with God and with the church.

There is a kind woman named Eleanor who lives in the Midwest. She quietly keeps covenant – living a life infused with prayer and a gentle love of Scripture. And when she was in her 70’s, she decided to become a youth group sponsor. That’s right! She stayed up with the youth at all-night lock-ins. She went spelunking in caves with them on their camping trip. Instead of being with the adults during Wednesday night services, she sat and met with the youth group, occasionally offering comment or reflection. Her life uncovered one of the secrets of aging with purpose: keeping covenant. And in a time in which technology moves at lightning pace, the church is called to practice counter-cultural values of celebrating the value of ordinary, everyday covenant keepers, especially those seasoned with age.

So how can you renew your vision of yourself as a valued, valuable covenant-keeper?

Let’s consider engaging in what may seem a rather surprising suggestion. In order to refresh and renew your sense of purpose in aging; in order to reflect on your own role as a covenant keeper, and the value of simply not giving up; in order to embrace God’s covenant with you; in order to remind yourself regularly of God’s promises – what if you celebrated Holy Communion weekly?

It is in the ritual of the Lord’s Supper, after all, that God’s offer of covenant through Jesus Christ is acted out, regularly receiving the promise of the new covenant: “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’” (Luke 22:20). As Bishop Jeremy Taylor described long ago: “it is sufficient to thee that Christ shall be present to thy soul as an instrument of grace, as a pledge of the resurrection, as the earnest [guarantee] of glory and immortality, and a means of many blessings, even all such as are necessary for thee, and are in order to thy salvation.”

And remember this wisdom that Taylor wrote and Wesley read: “for that life is not best which is longest: and when they are descended into the grave it shall not be inquired how long they have lived, but how well.”

May you keep the covenant well.