May 2013 Celebrating Inward Spiritual Disciplines

We are starting a 3 month celebration of discipline: In May we will be celebrating the inward disciplines of meditation, fasting, prayer and study; In June we will be celebrating the outward disciplines of service, simplicity, submission and solitude; and In July we will be celebrating the corporate disciplines of confession, guidance, worship and celebration

I hope and pray that we will be able to celebrate increased depth which we find in ourselves and each other; celebrate release from any superficiality and shallow living we have; and celebrate liberation from any elements of stifling slavery to self-interest and fear we have. You’ll notice that I’m stressing the celebratory aspect of discipline. This is because things like fasting, submission, meditation, study, simplicity, prayer, service and solitude don’t usually cause us to whoop with delight. For many of us these disciplines are things that we feel we ought to do (but don’t do as much as we ought to do). I would suggest that if we undertake any of these disciplines purely because we ought to do them, we are likely to continue to fail. However, if we view these disciplines as means by which God’s (amazing) grace can work in our lives, and celebrate that grace, we are unlikely to fail. These ideas are not original to me – they come from a book called “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster: The apostle Paul said, “he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8). A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is to provide the right condition for the growing of grain. He puts the seed in the ground where the natural forces take over and up comes the grain. That is the way with the Spiritual Disciplines – they are a away of sowing to the Spirit. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God’s means of grace. I hope and pray that grace will flourish in us as we meditate, fast, pray and study. It has been a pleasure to look at the first four Spiritual Disciplines during May. One of the things that we have learnt is how interlinked these disciplines are. Meditation, Fasting, Prayer and Study are all directed to our personal relationship with God. The way they all work together might be as follows: I start with some situation that is troubling or concerning me. I think (meditate) about it. I then think about what I know about God which will impact on the situation. This may take the form of bringing to mind and meditating on what I already know or reading an already known passage of scripture. It may also take the form of studying scripture to find out what scripture says on the subject. This meditation may lead me either to focus on my spiritual needs (which may lead me to put to one side my physical needs), or to focus on the needs of others (which will lead me to put to one side my own needs), both of which may cause me to stop eating (fasting). I then pray that God’s kingdom may come and that his will be done.