In America, we are feeling the ground rumble as the long-awaited train called Election Day nears the station. You’ll be pleased, I hope, to hear this email has nothing to do with it. 

That’s not because what happens next week isn’t important; it is. But it isn’t all-important. And that distinction brings a little comfort to my rattled soul.

At Renovaré we take special pleasure in bringing good stuff from the past forward into the present. So rather than talk about current events, I want to share with you a pastoral letter written by Richard Foster fourteen years ago. It was helpful then. It’s helpful today. It will still be helpful next week and next year, come what may. 

In the letter, Richard lays out the principles and characteristics of Spiritual Formation based congregations — truths that transcend particular styles or programs.

Being a person who can prefer systems and words (things you can control) over interacting with free-willed human beings, I can get fixated on finding the ​“right” way to do something. This includes finding the ​“best” form of church. 

I once asked Richard, a Quaker, if he’d thought about converting to another denomination. (I was hoping, I suppose, for half an hour of lively dialogue. Instead, the exchange lasted thirty seconds and has stuck with me for years.) 

“No,” he chuckled, ​“why?” 

I sputtered something about the beauty of different forms.

“They’re all vessels, Brian. God is the treasure.” 

And that was that. 

He wasn’t saying that form doesn’t matter. We should engage in vigorous conversations about what it looks like to gather as believers, especially in this strange pandemic age, and experiment with forms and practices. Form is important. But learning to love God and others — that’s all-important.