A funny thing happened after worship on Sunday. My preaching method basically requires me to actively “forget” all the preparation for the previous week to create a clean slate for next week’s preparation. But occasionally I get pulled right back into what I’ve just preached. If you missed it, this past SundayI talked about reconnecting with hope by finding a spiritual practice that really works for you, maybe as part of Lent this year. Lent starts exactly a month from this past Sunday. So, you’ve got time to get ready.
And then I hopped on social media for a bit--no, that doesn’t count as a spiritual discipline, but occasionally it leads me to a new one or back to an old one--and a colleague confessed in a semi-private group that they were feeling really disconnected from God and looking to the rest of us for what spiritual practices or disciplines we use to sustain ourselves.
My colleagues chimed in with some great suggestions. Some were focused on a daily prayer regimen: spiritual calisthenics, if you will. Someone suggested one of my old standbys, the Moravian Daily Texts. Others suggested other prayer patterns, which are as countless as the stars in the sky. If you’re looking to deepen your prayer life with a new practice, I might suggest you reach out to Sister Jennie, who is far more gifted in this realm than me.
Others suggested finding a way to get outdoors, no matter the weather, giving yourself time to think, reflect and pray. But my favorite suggestion was to call up an old friend and just listen to them. This is rooted in one of the most meaningful spiritual practices, championed by many including Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer: place-sharing, or sharing the burdens of others. Oddly, bearing another’s burdens in trust and confidentiality can lighten our own load, even if we don’t take the time to “unload” on others.
Whole books have been written to try to establish definitive lists of “Christian spiritual practices.” Studying scripture, reading classics of the faith and practicing generosity by giving without the expectation of receiving are practices that seem to be found on nearly every list, together with prayer (conversation with God) and place-sharing (conversation with others).
The point of spiritual disciplines, of course, is not to try to score spiritual “bonus points.” That will always and everywhere eventually lead to a dead end. The point is always to lead us back to the one true source of all genuine trust, hope and love. With the beginning of Lent about a month away, you have time to try a few new ones, or re-discover an old one, before committing to at least one between now and our Easter celebrations.
Pastor Jon
