tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2559276266012305470.post7502238468249092689..comments2023-05-24T06:06:06.285-07:00Comments on Continue the Conversation: Can Habit Kill Faith?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2559276266012305470.post-44560204091686709232012-03-08T07:24:36.689-08:002012-03-08T07:24:36.689-08:00Oh banter. 'Tis so witty.
Really, the post c...Oh banter. 'Tis so witty.<br /><br />Really, the post came from thoughts I had from that NPR segment, but also some friends of mine that want nothing to do with faith because of the habit, that from their perspectives show no action.<br /><br />Their examples were people rolling into church parking lots the same time, week after week, sitting in the same seat, drinking the same coffee, and never really being moved by what was being discussed or presented.<br /><br />Their story reminds me that when faith becomes habitual, we have the negative connotation of "doing something religiously." The statement is common language, but doesn't suggest action or transformation or resurrection, but routine and cycle.<br /><br />Banter away!<br />-RossRoss Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610849534284616756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2559276266012305470.post-20316648800687275552012-03-07T11:51:41.011-08:002012-03-07T11:51:41.011-08:00I understand where you are going with this, but I ...I understand where you are going with this, but I also have to push back a bit. The fact that you did not realize how you got home, and yet arrived safely, does not make the drive home useless.<br /><br />I read some of Catherine Pickstock's writings recently, and her perspective on the importance of liturgy (and what I would frame in some ways as "holy habits") is thought-provoking. I love this quote from her, "Liturgy is not simply an outward and symbolic honoring of a God whom we know already through internal experience or conceptual reflection. Rather, it is the most important initial way in which we come to know God and the path to which we must constantly return – in excess of the relative poverty of our private emotional experiences and the equal poverty of abstract speculative theology."<br /><br />Just my thoughts, you know I love to banter with you ;-)Katiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09013456276161177979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2559276266012305470.post-62091936108348198432012-03-06T09:12:12.344-08:002012-03-06T09:12:12.344-08:00I think that habit is by itself neutral. One can u...I think that habit is by itself neutral. One can use the habit of a worship format to enter into sacred time despite everything else that might be going on in their lives. They have a habit that is positive. When things get radically altered there is an adjustment, and if it causes discomfort it can go against the ability to enter into worship.<br /><br />By the same token, one can have the habit of just coasting through without thinking. In that case, changes can certainly be a good thing. It can help people to re-evaluate and re-engage. But the need for constant change can be as negative as the need for constancy. It can become a situation where the new, exciting experience becomes the focus instead of the worship.<br /><br />I would hesitate, then, to classify habit in either direction. Even if one prefers a highly structured liturgy, the change you seem to be advocating for is often with the individual. A passage of scripture usually speaks to the same person very differently at different points in their life. Why can this not be the case for a structured worship as well?Andy Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12861769445293786585noreply@blogger.com