Wednesday Morning
Cultivating Spirituality
Introduction
The stereotype of a minister is that we are deeply spiritual. When I was in seminary and doing field education at a church in Massachusetts, the youth thought that ministers only liked religious art. One Christmas, I received a Jesus praying at Gethsemane velvet painting. We sold it at the next yard sale. During my generation, I receive countless Durer’s Praying Hands. We don’t just read Christian books or do we necessarily pray all the time.
Cultivating spirituality in a minister is no different from cultivating spirituality for you. The beginning of spirituality is the truth that God gives righteousness to each one of us. We are put right with God in Christ. However, if we think that there’s no role for us in our spiritual development; that would only lead to idleness. We become passive and inactive. Spiritual disciplines are things we can do that can lead to a blessed life. It’s like having a hoe in hand, we cultivate spirituality through the things that we can do.
Since God is omniscience—God is ever-present then God can be seen in everything in the world. It’s often up to us to see God in our daily lives. These may be the beauty of the sunset, the softness of baby skin, the laughter in a family reunion, the freshness of the morning, and the cherry tomatoes that grow in our garden. Everything is holy, nothing is profane (Peter’s vision—Acts 10).
Life Span Development Chart
These characteristics are generalities; they are not predictors. There are exceptions to these descriptions. Where do you find yourself on the chart—at or near the bottom? Are those descriptions accurate to your life? What area would you cultivate to deepen spirituality?
You can use this chart to understand your children and grandchildren!
Foster’s Celebration of Discipline
He offers 12 disciplines that we can do to cultivate spirituality.
Review all 12 disciplines briefly.
1. Meditation—Reinhold Niebuhr said, “Theology/meditation is to hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” I take my Chronicle with me during the day; read it, and pray for the world.
2. Prayer—In prayer, we think what God wants for us. Knowing this, we are open to change. Prayer is something we learn how to do. Adoniram Judson prayed 7 times a day. The question is: how can an immaterial reality like prayer affect the material world? We practice “decisive prayer” claiming to know God’s will for us.
3. Fasting—Abstaining of food for spiritual purposes is the purpose of fasting. Jesus did not command his disciples to fast but he fasted and expected his disciples to fast. In our affluent society, fasting involves a far larger sacrifice than the giving of money. We rather eat. When we fast, we center on God and this reveals the things that control us. Food does not sustain us. God sustains us. It’s not so much abstaining from food as much as feasting on the word of God.
4. Study—When we study, we are set free. Study involves 4 steps: repetition, concentration, comprehension, and reflection. We study the Bible in classes at church and on our own. Besides printed books, there are “non-verbal books” like “reading” the things around us, events, actions, the natural order. All of these wonderful things are worth studying.
5. Simplicity—This is an inward reality that leads to an outward lifestyle. The Bible teaches us to declutter from our possessions and seek the kingdom of God and righteousness first. Simplicity is not forced poverty or asceticism. But being in an affluent society, we tend to avoid simplicity because it challenges the very core of what we think is success and fulfillment.
6. Solitude—For the most part, we have lost the discipline of learning to be silent and quiet. We always have the TV on to keep us company. It is a state of mind and heart that it is a place. It’s a time to hear the divine Whisper better.
7. Submission—The ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way and say it’s done. We learn to drop the matter and forget it. We recognize and respect others instead of having it our way. Jesus lived a life of submission on the cross. Our happiness is not dependent upon getting what we want.
8. Service—The towel is the sign of service. True service rather than self-righteous service comes with the divine Other deep inside, contented in hiddenness, is a lifestyle. When we serve, we bring out humility into life. When we choose to be a servant rather than acting like a servant, we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated.
9. Confession—Confession and forgiveness are realities that transform us. It is a means of healing and transforming the inner spirit. God gives the grace and we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. Confession is difficult because we cannot bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. As followers of Christ, we have been given authority to receive the confession of sins and to forgive them in his name.
10. Worship—Worship is the human response to the divine response. The forms are not the worship; they only lead us into the worship. The object of worship is God—“You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Mt. 4:10).
11. Guidance—Individual guidance yielding to corporate guidance to lead to the Spirit together. When a people genuinely gathered in God’s name his will could be discerned. Not human totalitarianism or anarchy and not even democracy where the majority rules but to live on the basis of Spirit-rule—Spirit-directed unity. This is true interdependence. In the Quakers tradition, this would be “meetings for clearness.” (Deacons and church membership). This is not merely agreement but rather that we have heard the voice of God/mind of Christ.
12. Celebration—Jesus enters the world as Good News to all people and leaves this world giving joy to his disciples. In the OT in the year of Jubilee, the restructuring of social arrangements cannot help but to bring celebration. Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong (church anniversary). Joy is the motor that keeps everything running in life—ancient Israel had annual festivals to celebrate the goodness of God. The only thing to produce genuine joy is obedience—trust and obey. Joy is the end result of our disciplines—an inner change leads to genuine joy.
We will not have a carefree indifference to things until we trust in God. Some forms are singing, dancing, noise making, laughter, creativity (arts and music), fantasy and imagination.
Read the summary of the 12 disciplines on page 201.
Small Groups
Take the 12 disciplines and circle those you think you are doing well; box those you feel you can grow in; and underline those you would like to learn more about.
Share in groups of 3-4.
Closing Thoughts