Integrating Life and Faith

There are some fundamental assumptions on which the Craighead methodology is built.  Derived from the work of Ignatius of Loyola, they deal with our understanding of who God is and what life is all about.  These include the conviction that human life has meaning, that the world is filled with the spirit of God, that God calls each one of us to share in a great enterprise and that following Christ means taking action in the world.  Taken together, these four principles illuminate the intentions behind our work.

 

First, human life has meaning.  This is a profound statement, especially in a world where so many drift with a sense of ennui and often feel as if life has no meaning for them, or worse, no meaning at all.  Ignatius argues that we have been created purposefully and lovingly by God and that abundant life begins with acknowledging this reality.  Ignatius argues further that we are created with the express intention of building God’s kingdom by knowing, loving and serving God and other people.  This is ‘the meaning of life,’ lived in and for God and God’s creation.  Without this first and most important understanding, life never fully gains its reason for being.  As Ignatius asked, ‘What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his immortal soul?’  In other words, if we succumb to the illusion that life is meaningless, we are well and truly lost.

 

Second, the world is filled with the Spirit of God.  Far too many argue these days that there is no evidence for God and so turn away from a life of faith.  The arguments to justify these beliefs are manifold, conflicting and often despairing.  Ignatius argued, in line with the prophets, that if we seek God, we will find God present.  While the fulness of God’s self-revelation is withheld from us, there is certainly enough light in the darkness to lead us to further inquiry.  There is goodness working in the midst of even the worst evils of the world.  As Jesus taught, the kingdom of heaven is like yeast, leavening the whole lump.  By this he meant that God is always at work even and especially in those places where it seems God is most absent.

 

Third, God calls each one of us to share in a great enterprise.  Just as God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work and till the ground, giving them purpose and meaningful work, so God calls each one of his creatures, you and me, to engage in a work of great significance, God’s work of establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth.  This is not as complex as it might seem.  Effectively, it involves only one thing: centring our lives on Jesus Christ.  This involves a profound conversion of one’s heart, loving Jesus in a personal and ongoing relationship and declaring him King of the whole of creation.  The work of centring our lives on Christ means joining him in his suffering love for the world.  It means learning to ache where God’s heart aches for the world.

 

Fourth, following Christ means a life of both devotion and action.  It is one thing to engage in deep introspection, fasting and prayer and other acts of religious devotion, but Christ leads us out into the world, often into unfamiliar and sometimes unwelcoming places.  Jesus spent his life between two poles: inner devotion and outer service.  He routinely prayed, sometimes through the whole night, but only to begin again his ministry of preaching, teaching, healing and demonstrating God’s love encountering the lives of real and often suffering people.  This is called a mysticism of action in the world.  Faith must have practical consequences in our own lives and in the lives of others.  Without that engagement, it becomes what it is often criticised as being, a fairy tale or the result of an overactive imagination.  Christ is real and must of needs be seen as real in the life and work of his children, you and me.

 

Our original course, the Integration of Life and Faith (ILF), covers these and other ideas in far more detail, inviting participants to purposefully, joyfully engage in God’s ongoing work in the world.

 

To find out more, please see our current course offerings here.