The Sacred Center

In my Congregation and Its Ministries class we talked about the book “Rediscovering the Sacred Center” by Howard E. Friend Jr and it blew my mind! It wasn’t a completely new thought, nor a new practice. He explained something I’ve found myself doing over and over. I’m proud to say that it’s my practice, but I’m humbled by the sheer number of mistakes before I got there.

The illustration is like this: God is in the center. There is a true self and a false self. The true self is as God desires us to be—what we are as followers of Christ. That’s the aim, the goal, but we always find ourselves acting as false selves—people guided by ego and fear and perceptions of others. The false self lies and hides and misrepresents God. In moments of conviction we realize that we are living falsely, so through willpower we change our actions and attitudes to align with the true self. It works for a time, but society pulls us back to the false self, our willpower gives out. This cycle repeats itself and will continue to repeat until we approach it the situation differently.

Here’s the focus: instead of pushing toward the true self and striving after what we think God wants us to do or be like, we pull into the center. It’s ingenious! Pulling in to the sacred center makes the eventual move back to the true self authentic. Instead of forcing our to fit our ideal image we wait in God until the true self emerges organically. How else can we become who God intended except through God? The aim is the true self, but instead of setting criteria and willing ourselves to fulfill the requirements, we dwell in God and let our true selves manifest through God authentically. It’s brilliant!

And that’s what I’ve done. Arguably that’s what I do every night, but it’s especially clear when I hit though crashes and have dates with God. When I’m feeling drained and dry and tossed about I retreat to God. “You are God and I am man so I leave it in your hands” is the pulling to the center when God is.

This is how I wish practices evolved. I don’t want people to say, “Prayer is good, so I’m going to pray 5 times a day.” I don’t want someone to say, “A good Christian would read the Bible, so I’m going to read it through in a year.” Those things are great and holy habits and spiritual practices can probably begin that way, but I want it you be different. I want it to be, “God, I desire more conversation with you, so I’m going to try to pray 5 times a day.” Or “God, I want to know more about you, so I’m going to spend more time in your Word.” That’s authentic! Those are God centered practices! And I think those are what God loves.

Imagine a church that lives that way! Just imagine it! My mind gets blown after a few minutes! It makes everything life-giving and flexible and open. It makes way for all sorts of gifts and creativity! It gives everyone responsibility for their own relationship with God. God, I think it’s beautiful. I really do.