I posed a question about reformation the other day, taking it from Chuck DeGroat’s post.

Why isn’t the more beautiful way of Jesus compelling to us?

What is the way forward? Do we want it?

I came across a newsletter from Renovate that reposted a letter from Richard Foster he penned in 2000. What amazing timing. He wrote of ways the Church could see reformation just as we were entering this millennium. Signs of hope… which we’ve ignored since then.

This was his hope:

We are in the beginning stages of a new reformation; a reformation I fully expect to deepen and expand throughout the century we have just begun. The reformation I speak of could be called the “Reformation of the Heart.” 

Just like so many things we do, we begin with hope and then abandon the effort for awhile. Even Luther’s reformations in Germany spun off into actual war for years!

The reformation isn’t theological treatises. It is the way of the heart.

. . . putting on the mind of Christ in such a way that Christ is fully formed in us (Phil. 2:5, Gal. 4:19)

. . . producing in thought, word, and deed the fruit of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and generosity and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23)

. . . inculcating into our daily living the holy habits of prudence and fortitude and temperance and justice

. . . becoming within and without a people of faith, hope, and love.

The way of Jesus has bored us. The way of his beauty has not captured us. But this is the reformation we need.

Who are those who will long for the beauty of Christ to formed in them? Who are those who will long for the flourishing of the Kingdom to be spread all around them? Who are those who will refuse fear and embrace the overwhelming love of God?

This is the way of reform.