In the year I graduated from high school (1978), Richard Foster, a Quaker lecturer and writer published his book Celebration of Discipline. I have joined throngs of Christians over the years who have worked to apply Foster’s reflections on the life of faith in their daily walk with Jesus. These “disciplines” may serve as a roadmap to the journey of discipleship. The first chapter of this work begins:
Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.
The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life [Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance, Celebration] call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm. They urge us to be the answer to a hollow world….
A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is to provide the right conditions 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 way of sowing to the Spirit. ~Celebration of Discipline, chapter 1, The Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation.)
Prayer
God of my life, let me spend this week opening the door to the depths of the Spirit. Amen.