an orbital centered-set spirituality?

Something i have been pondering for some time…

  Having been in ministry for a long time, and seeing lots of models of sanctification in teaching and in operation... it seems that people really don't change all that much. ok, i said it. maybe it's because of my evangelical cessationist, heavily "not-yet" upbringing that i lean this way. But it seems that spiritual transform is often, slow, non-linear, two steps forward one step back kinda process. we make progress in one area, other areas falter. I get my lust life in check, and my anger seems to get the upper hand. I find myself loving those I previously thought it was ok to ignore, but at the same time still harbor elitist and judgmental attitudes. Egads, what a wreck I am sometimes!

So i wonder...is the straight line trajectory model of center set a realistic graphical representation of spiritual transformation? The center set model vs. bounded set has become vineyard orthodoxy. Lots of place on the web explain this, so I will defer. However, the basic graphic for a centered set looks something like the following:

                                                               

With the basic idea being, the center is defining as the goal, the highest good, as you will. For the sake of simplicity we shall call this “jesus”. The arrows represent people, seekers, persons in the world. The key idea is that is doesn’t matter where a person is in proximity to the center, what matters is the trajectory. Thus, a person far from the center, say person A, but who is directed exactly towards the center, is in a better place than someone who is in close proximity to the center, (person X) but whose trajectory is away from the center. Get it? If confused, take a look at the contrast with a bounded set model.

now, when it comes to describing doctrinal/confessional issues the model works just fine. However, use of the CS model in the vineyard especially, has been expanded- hence questions like "what does a center set spirituality look like?" have been raised. Here is the rub as it seems to me- and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a person that just thinks too much, or if there is something about the model that needs to be altered.

At least in terms of spiritual transformation (sanctification...maybe...depending on one's confessional tradition)  that is, who really knows EXACTLY WHAT the center demands of us? Isn't the walk of faith often composed of trying things out, believing at the time, that this is what god was asking us to do? In the spirit of Peterson’s  “a long obedience in the same direction” doesn’t the walk of faith take us to places where we would rather not go? Places where the guide himself seems lost, or, perhaps, not forthcoming with adequate directions?

What i am proposing is this: rather than a linear trajectory where either I am pointing directly towards the center OR NOT, what if we change the visual representation to be more like an orbit, or a vortex. I realize this may be quibbling, but i think it's more reflective of the provisional and conditional nature of our knowledge, loving and acting.  I am rarely in direct trajectory towards the center. The center does, however, have a certain pull, a gravitas, that I sometimes give in to, sometimes resist, and sometimes am unaware of.  Am I moving towards the center? Usually, but more in a spiral pattern, or a vortex. Perhaps my graphic would look something like this:

                                                                               

 

SO at times, I coming nearer to the center, and at other times, I’m fading away a bit, while my OVERALL trajectory is being pulled to the center by the weight, the love of jesus.

What do you think?