The Creative Way Down

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. 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 follows the Infinitum model of Surrender, Generosity, and Mission. This workbook goes along with the second posture in the Creative Way Down: Generosity, and is linked to the Creative Way Down: Generosity course and cohort. The workbook will help you journey through the beatitudes of hungering and thirsting for justice; mercy; and purity of heart, as we learn together from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and from the wisdom of Recovery.