Welcome to the Creative Way Down Surrender Cohort.

This course is focused on the first Infinitum posture, Surrender, as we look at it through the lens of Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes.

Each week of this course, you'll find:

1. A teaching video for you (and your group) to watch
2. A podcast episode to go deeper with Danielle Strickland and Aaron White
3. A study guide for each day of the week.

In this first module, we've provided the full month's study guide below in one large pdf, if you want to work through it that way rather than week by week.

If you find this month helpful, move on to the Infinitum postures of Generosity and Mission! These cohorts are available in the coming months on this platform if you haven't had a chance to register for them yet.

We are with you, and we are praying for you as you go on this journey.

Course weekly outline

SURRENDER, From fighting to being still.

INTRODUCTION WEEK

WEEK 1: ENTERING THE WATER

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

WEEK 2: GETTING OUR FACES WET

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

WEEK 3: STANDING IN THE CURRENT

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

WEEK 4: COMING UP FOR AIR

Reflecting on Surrender

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.– Matt 14:28-29

What if we really followed Jesus?

This is a frightening idea, not least because Jesus’ own life ended with violence and apparent failure. Why would we wish to follow this example? Yet there is something about his life that continues to capture our hearts. Something integral. Something coherent. Something good. Something we want to join in and experience more deeply, even if it disrupts everything else in our lives.

And if we are honest, even if we have been followers of Jesus for a long time, we will likely admit that our experience of a connection to his life can feel shallow. Maybe we have tried some tools for discipleship, accountability, community and spiritual depth. There are some great tools out there, but even the best tools will not build something good if we don’t know what we are meant to be building. And if we are trying to build anything that is not from the Lord, we know it will be a waste of time.

This is precisely what is missing in most of our imaginations: a vision of what we were created for. A sense of what genuine spiritual depth looks like in the world. A glimpse of a life lived in union with Christ And a trustworthy path that helps get us there.

This is part of the genius of the 12 Step Program for Addictions Recovery. It begins with an honest assessment of an unmanageable life and then proceeds to offer a personal and communal journey that will, if taken seriously, help people move into freedom. Every step along the way is reinforced by the living experiences of people who have gone before. The 12 Steps are trustworthy, clear, and provide a vision for how to live in a new way in the world. What’s more, people are encouraged to carry on practicing and going through the steps multiple times, solidifying and deepening the wisdom gained each time. Recovery is understood to be a lifelong process of freedom and connection.

What if such a path were available to those wanting to follow Jesus?

Jesus has given us a path, a way. In Matthew 5:1-12 Jesus gives a series of blessings – The Beatitudes – which describe what we were made for and offer a vision for how we can live holy, healthy, and deeply. The Beatitudes are not a program but rather an invitation to join Jesus, step by step, deeper and deeper, into his divinely human life. This is only made possible because Jesus first journeyed towards us in his incarnation, and because the Spirit is powerfully present in us every day. We walk this path with Jesus only by God’s grace, power and love for us.

The Creative Way Down, based upon Jesus’ Beatitudes, is a resource designed to help us on this path.

It is CREATIVE because Jesus is making us all into a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). This is about a new life, a whole life, a free life, not the half-lives many of us have been living. It is anything but boring.

We recognize that each person’s deepening relationship with Jesus is unique, and each of our journeys may look different. Our individual journeys, however, should still be recognizable to other Jesus-followers, because we are after all travelling together with Jesus. There is a WAY, a discernible path that Jesus gives us to follow, together. (Matt 16:24-26) We don’t just make things up and call it discipleship. We submit ourselves and our communities to the revealed and life-giving way of our Lord.

And this way is the way DOWN. It is the way of diving downwards with Jesus towards surrender, generosity, and living for others. Ultimately, discipleship means participating in Jesus’ self-giving, others-preferring love as we learn the depth of the Father’s love for us. (Phil 2:1-11)

Ephesians 3:17-19 says: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” We want to know the width, length, height and depth of this love, not just in theory, but in our own personal and communal experiences. This is the Creative Way Down.

The Details

We imagine this twelve-week process as a deep-sea dive. The ocean is beautiful, boundless, untameable, powerful, and dangerous. It covers much of our planet and supports teeming life, yet we know so little about it. It is a mystery that draws at our imagination, representing adventure, wonder, fear, romance and newness, but we must be very careful and brave to dare its depths. It is as strange and alien an environment as we can find on earth. We can’t live in it for more than minutes at a time without help. Any exploration, therefore, does not begin at the bottom of the ocean, but in the shallows.

The Creative Way Down likewise begins wherever we are and gradually moves towards the deeper waters, towards immersion in the mysterious, new, dangerous, wondrous and boundless life found in God.

It is divided into three progressive sections, based on the three Infinitum categories of Surrender, Generosity, and Mission. Under each of these headings are three weeks of material, each focusing on one of Jesus’ beatitudes. Each three-week section ends with the fourth week designed for taking a deep breath and reflecting on what you have just been through before you dive back in again. You can do all three sections—and therefore all twelve weeks—back to back, or you can spread them out over a year or years if you like. And you can keep coming back to these sections as often as you like. We can foresee Infinitum Hubs going through this material, or at least part of it, as often as once a year.

Every week begins with an Infinitum group meeting featuring video teaching on how Jesus inhabits each Beatitude, and how he calls us to join him there. The teaching is accompanied by a half-hour podcast conversation on the teaching (which can be listened to in the group or on your own), and accountability questions, prayers, and a new spiritual practice for each week. The rest of the week includes daily teaching, suggested actions, and prayer and scripture guides for individuals. These are designed for morning, mid-day, and evening interaction every day. You can spend as long as you like in these three daily teaching and prayer times but should probably schedule no less than ten minutes for each. There are also suggested movies, books, and playlists to go alongside the weekly teaching.

At the end of each week, there is a debrief in your Infinitum Hub before moving on to the next week’s focus. Working through this path together is especially important. Talk to one another during the week, encourage one another, ask questions, and especially pray for each other. Why? Because the way of discipleship was never meant to be taken alone. We were created for spiritual friendship and kinship community, and this has been misplaced in much of our Church experience.

Discipleship is also not meant to be compartmentalized. It includes the whole of each person, body, soul, and spirit. It includes the way we form community, the way we act politically and economically, the way we treat our neighbours, the way we love. Discipleship radically affects everything and makes it all new. The Creative Way Down should therefore include lots of good music, lots of eating well and eating together, lots of fun, lots of joy. It should also include care and love for your body. Sleep well. Walk. And try to get out in the water. Find a local pool, lake or ocean, and remind yourself what it feels like to be immersed in the water as you immerse yourself in discipleship and prayer.

Remember, Jesus is calling us to join him. He wants us to be with him where he is. It’s time to enter the water.