Most people love to receive gifts. The more I journey with Holy Habits and the more stories I hear of other people’s adventures, the more I see this way of forming disciples of Jesus as a gift: a gift of God to us through his servant Luke. In Acts 2:42–47, the good doctor has gifted us a picture of how wholesome disciples of Jesus and Christian communities are formed: disciples and communities that engage with and bless the cultures and contexts of which they are part.
Personally, I love to receive unexpected gifts. I love both the surprise and recognising the care, thought, effort and love that has gone into choosing the gift. Holy Habits has been an unexpected gift, one that emerged slowly from a fairly lengthy gestation process and one to which many, many people have contributed. If you are journeying with Holy Habits or choose to do so, I hope you will be blessed with many surprises on the way.
I hope, too, that you might be able to contribute to the further flourishing of Holy Habits. A word Luke uses repeatedly in Acts 2:42–47 is ‘all’. As mentioned above, many people have contributed to the materials that have been developed to help others explore this holy way of life (including the Birmingham Methodist Circuit and their ecumenical partners, who were the first group of churches to intentionally explore this). The vision behind this website is that it should be a place where all the believers can be together (to paraphrase Acts 2:44). So if you have a story of blessing from exploring Holy Habits, or a picture, or a resource that you would like to and are able to share, please do email it to me at holyhabits@btinternet.com. Likewise, if you have a question or constructive critique or thought piece, we could post as a blog. Do get in touch.
One final thought about gifts. Once a gift has been given, it is up to the recipient to decide what they will do with it. I recently received a Lego kit. What usually happens with such kits is that first time around, the kit is built by carefully, flowing the instructions. Then the instructions are put on one side, creativity is released and all sorts of imaginative models are produced. With Holy Habits, guidance based on experience is available as to how this way of life can be explored. But every context is different, and so Holy Habits flourishes most fulsomely when the godly gifts of creativity and imagination are released. If you are journeying with or choose to journey with Holy Habits, let me encourage you to be creative, imaginative and above all open to the life-giving power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Andrew Roberts