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Spiritual discipline. What image does this evoke for you? Religious people who have lost touch with reality? Zealous Christians banding together to deny themselves basic pleasures in order to prove their faith? Remember the story of Babbett’s Feast, where a group of pious old people grunted and grumbled their way through life because they were afraid of desire and passion? We’re going to talk today about the spiritual disciplines and give you a chance to add a discipline to your faith journey during Advent. If we are tempted to think of the spiritual disciplines as the denial of something we enjoy, the taking away of something good, I’d like us to think differently. Let’s think of it as adding something good and positive to our lives. The spiritual disciplines are tools God uses to form and shape us. Jesus was a carpenter when he walked this earth as a human being. He still is a carpenter when it comes to working our souls as if it were a beautiful piece of wood. In fact, perhaps it might help to think of our inner lives as a rough piece of wood. God uses a chisel to cut away some resentment here. God uses a drill to allow some racial prejudice to seep out there. God uses sandpaper to smooth out the roughness in the way we talk with our spouse and children. Spiritual formation is God’s activity in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit making us into the image of God. The spiritual disciplines that we add to our daily lives are our way of cooperating with God’s magnificent work of art…the shaping of the human soul. Another way of looking at this is a city bus system. Let’s imagine that all of the many busses that crisscross a city represent the grace and love of God. Now it would entirely possible for a person to wander through the city and meet up with a bus. It may not take you where you want to go, but at least you could catch a bus. There is another way. A person could get a bus schedule, study it, learn it, and walk to one of many bus stops. No doubt there would be others waiting at the bus stop also. For many people the spiritual life is like the one who wanders the city occasionally hailing a bus. Sometimes we find one when we are ready to get on board. Sometimes we don’t. When we wander through life there are times we find God, and times we don’t. The spiritual disciplines are the bus schedules that help put us in the best position to receive the grace of God. Having a bus schedule doesn’t make you a better person than the one who does not have one. But it does enable you to get on the bus more often. There is a little red and white booklet we have for you after today’s service. It describes 8 spiritual disciplines. Our Faith Emphasis team, which is a part of the Celebrate the Gift campaign, is asking you to prayerfully consider adding one of these disciplines to your life during Advent, the four weeks leading to Christmas. The first Sunday in Advent is December 2. In your worship folder there is an insert which lists the eight disciplines. I want to highlight them for you now. Discipline 1: Worship in church regularly. Not only does this discipline mean that we will be in worship during Advent, but we will take worship seriously. Some of the suggestions in the book are:
Discipline 2: Meditation. The faith discipline of meditation is simply about filling our minds with ideas and images of God. It is a quiet activity where our minds focus on a scripture, an image of art, or perhaps a gorgeous sunset. It is simply taking time to think about God and the many good things that come from God. Discipline 3: Daily Prayer. Do you think you could pray every day of Advent? Not sure how to pray? Try the acronymn, ACTS. A is for Adoration, a way to approach God with love and respect. C is Confession when we clear away the debris that stands between us and God. T is Thanksgiving. S is for Supplication. This is where we pray for others including ourselves. Discipline 4: Fasting. This is a hard one when we have been conditioned into thinking that we need and deserve three meals a day with snacks in between. Fasting goes against the grain of our consumer culture. But a full or partial fast can be a great way to focus on our inner lives. Some people use fasts to help them concentrate in prayer on family or friends. I used to give up an evening meal in order to pray for my family. Like the other disciplines fasting is designed to help us be in touch with the depths of God’s grace and love. From a biological perspective your body needs blood for three main activities, moving, digesting, and thinking. One of the problems with our hurry up culture is that we try to do all three at the same time! But if we go without food while not being physically active, then there is more blood for thinking. People who fast report a clarity of mind and spirit they usually don’t experience. Discipline 5: Hospitality. Hopefully this would not be a new discipline for us. But taking this one on during Advent can help us get into the Christmas spirit. Some of the suggestions in the book include:
Discipline 6: Simplify Our Lifestyle. This one can be a difficult discipline, but a rewarding one as well. Here are some of the suggestions:
Discipline 7: Read the Bible daily. At our Advent Workshop and in worship next Sunday we will have Advent devotional booklets for you. They contain a simple scripture reading and a brief devotional. This Advent you could choose to read your Bible every day. You might even consider writing in an Advent journal your thoughts and feelings about the scripture you read. Discipline 8: Practice Generous Living. Do you see yourself as a generous person? Some ideas for this discipline include:
Eight disciplines. We are challenging all of us: adults, teenagers, children, to consider practicing at least one of these disciplines during Advent. We are also asking each one to complete a commitment card which are available in the booklets after worship today. There is a table in the triangle room after the service today and next Sunday where you can turn in your card. You can also turn it into the office any time before December 1. Do you remember the comedian Yakov Smirnoff? When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk--you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, What a country!" Smirnoff is joking but we make these assumptions about Christian transformation; that people change instantly at salvation. According to this belief, when someone gives his or her life to Christ, there is an immediate, in-depth, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character. We go to church as if we are going to the grocery store: Powdered Christian. Just add water and disciples are born not made. Unfortunately, there is no such powder and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly born. They are slowly formed and shaped the way a skilled sculptor works a piece of wood or stone or clay. The spiritual disciplines are some of the tools with which our heavenly Sculptor creates beauty in the human soul. The key is that we need to cooperate with the Sculptor. We need to surrender to the forming process. We need to let go of our need to be in control and rest in the hands of God. You’ve heard the story about the woman who was carrying a heavy load. A man in a horse-drawn wagon stopped and offered her a ride which she accepted. As they started down the road the driver noticed that the woman was still holding her things in her lap. "Why don’t you set those things down?" he asked. The woman replied, "Oh, that’s okay. I don’t want them to be an extra burden for your horses." Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The grace of God is moving throughout this world. It is moving through our church. That grace is always inviting us to get on board. It is always encouraging us to let down our burdens. It is always enticing us to find rest for our souls. This Advent let us choose to meet God at the bus stop. Let us add a discipline that may just help God shape us into a beautiful work of art. |
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11/18/01 - Cooperating with the Carpenter (Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 11:28-30)
