Restoration Rhythms
At St Pete’s, we are invited to Come and Be Restored in Christ. But what does this mean, and how does it happen?
Restoration Rhythms
This webpage is offered to help us explore these questions by inviting us to develop a personalized set of Restoration Rhythms, or spiritual disciplines. Our set of Rhythms is called our Rule of Life, which is simply a way of being intentional about keeping Jesus at the centre of our life.
But before we explain what Restoration Rhythms are, we need to be absolutely clear about an essential truth: the Gospel is not a set of practices to adopt or a list of things to do. It is the announcement of what God has done through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is not good advice. It is Good News!
We can look at our Restoration in Christ according to two dimensions: Reconciliation and Transformation.
Before we can be transformed by God, we must be reconciled to Him. Through faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, we receive the righteousness of Christ, and we are reconciled to a Holy God:
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19).
But once we are united to God in Christ, He doesn’t leave us as we are. He begins the lifelong process of transforming us into Christlikeness by the Holy Spirit:
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).
Both our reconciliation and our transformation are not earned or achieved by us; they are acts of God for us and in us.
If this is true, what is the purpose of embracing Restoration Rhythms, or spiritual disciplines?
If salvation is all of God, why should we adopt active practices? We offer two reasons:
Restoration Rhythms continually place before us the reality of our reconciliation with God. Though Jesus died once for all, we must continually “lay hold” of this truth and be renewed by it. For example:
When we read Scripture, the Gospel is preached to us afresh, today.
When we receive Holy Communion, we receive Christ’s sacrifice in the present moment and proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
When we confess our sins, the Spirit consoles us with the truth of our forgiveness, and so on.
Secure in our reconciliation with God, Restoration Rhythms are also tools we can offer the Holy Spirit to transform us into the likeness of Christ. Prayer, fasting, giving, and all the other rhythms listed below don’t merit God’s love, forgiveness, or favour. These are already ours in Jesus! But undertaken in the right spirit, our rhythms can be used by God to make us more like Jesus and to share His restoring love with others.
How Do I Craft a Restoration Rhythm?
1. Start with what you are already doing
Before adding anything new, take a moment to notice the rhythms you are already practicing.
Are you already part of a Community Group?
Do you attend Holy Communion each week?
Do you practice Sabbath?
Are there other practices that are already helping you make space for God?
Start there. Add these practices to your Restoration Rhythm first. This helps you recognize how God is already at work in your life.
Serve
When you serve the church on Sunday’s, you’re being formed in the ways of Jesus. Because Jesus came into the world to serve. So when you serve here, no matter what you’re doing, it prepares you to go into your week and into the city, as one willing to walk in the ways of Jesus.