Mystery and Change
Reading Luke’s Step Three, we see how Luke’s spiritual life looks different than when he was younger. Reflect on your own experience with mystery and change while still holding some connection with your past through your family or hometown.
Faith That Is Afraid of Others Is No Faith At All
Luke’s Step Three leads us to wonder how faith might look like mystery and all that can’t be understood without the dissonance of hypocrisy. Thomas Merton’s words about faith here show us that the greatest problem with Christianity is not those who “no longer believe” but those who “believe” but have warped the faith and tradition until it is everything Jesus came to dismantle.
Changing our Faith Talk to Mirror Our Experience
We wonder in Luke’s Step Three how our spiritual lives might continue, even when “faith” is something we’re no longer interested in because of seeing how poorly some have lived it out. Anne Lammott’s voice in her speaking and writing helps expand our notion of discussing spirituality and theology. Rather than feeling constrained by the ideas and images of God from childhood, Anne brings close all the faith talk so that it is relatable and relevant to our real lives.
Incremental Change Whose Impact Exceeds Expectations
Mary and Elizabeth represent women who swim along with the tide of a system while privately growing a future that allows love to dismantle oppressive systems and topple toxic religious institutions. Change doesn’t always happen in grand, sweeping moments; sometimes, it grows slowly, day by day, before others see it in our lives (Luke 1:46b-55)
Music, Questions, and Intuition
Reading Luke’s Step Two, we see how church music, open-ended questions, and intuition helped save his life. Reflect on your own experience with these powerful tools for transformation.
Power of Congregational Singing
As we see in Luke’s story, music has transformative powers for those who make it and those who receive it. John O’Donohue once said, “Music is what language would love to be if it could.” Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has multiple blogs sharing how music in church is its most radical offering.
To What God Are We Turning
Repentance is not about conforming to some prescribed norm; instead, it is about turning away from religious leaders’ attempts to control or quiet our questions. John is inviting people to turn toward a God of mystery and transcendence—the kind of God you can’t understand. (Luke 3:7-18)
The Power of Music
Music plays such a central role in Luke’s Step Two. The power of making music and sharing it with others carries Luke through challenging seasons, sustaining his spirit when he is unsure how to move forward. Maria Popova’s exploration of John Berger’s writing points us toward the magic and mystery of music.
Cognitive Dissonance as Mental Discomfort
Luke’s story reveals how much cognitive dissonance weighed on him until he eventually had to walk away from all religion so he could find some peace. Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson’s writing highlights all that we do to reduce cognitive dissonance and the effects when we can’t.
Seeing a Future that Seemed Impossible
As kids, swimming with the tide feels required since doing anything else could result in rejection from the adults in your life. Zechariah’s questioning of the angel about Elizabeth bearing a son was his own form of protection. He couldn’t imagine that kind of swimming against the tide, whether physically (Elizabeth getting on in years) or realistically (they’d never been able to conceive before, why now?) (Luke 1:68-79).
Swimming With the Tide
In Luke’s Step One, we read that he learned to swim with the tide to stay alive within the system as a child. We all live within a specific context and learn through observations as children. Reflect on the worldview and community that raised you.
Paying Attention to Intuition
Luke’s Step One shows us how he worked hard to swim with the tide for all those years, yet it proved more and more difficult as the years passed. On her journey leaving church, Barbara Brown Taylor describes this same gnawing, persistent intuition that kept raising its voice within her, demanding some attention.
Growing Up Men
We read in Luke’s background how the actions and attitudes of the church leaders left him confused and ready to exit the church whenever he could manage to do so. David French explores this irony that there is always a debate within Christianity between orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right conduct). Why is there even the notion that they could be distinct? Frank explores the church's future should Christians continue to act in ways that contradict their beliefs.
Hypocrisy and Foolishness
From Luke’s background, we can see how he struggled with cognitive dissonance when church leaders preached one thing but behaved altogether differently. Think back on your own experience, calling to mind the moments you felt seen and the moments you felt confused.