Valentine’s Day and Spiritual Discipline

Today is Valentine’s Day.  This day comes with certain expectations of people who are involved in a romantic relationship.  Flowers, roses, chocolates, jewelry, a night out.  I’ve always felt a bit uneasy about having Hallmark tell us when we should express our love for a significant other.  It bothers me that Hallmark also gives us a script for how we express our love.  At the same time, I recognize that we probably need these nudges.  We need to be reminded to say the things we really feel.  Perhaps we even need to be reminded of how we feel.  Sometimes we need words not our own that we can sign our name to.  

As followers of Jesus, spiritual disciplines can function much like Valentine’s Day.  Sure, we should be talking with God throughout the day.  “Pray on all occasions.”  But we typically need reminders to talk with God.  Sometimes we even need words to pray that, while not our own, help us express how we feel.  A spiritual discipline like prayer or Bible reading or fasting can feel perfunctory.  But setting aside time for God is a reminder that God is always with us.  So when you pick up roses or grab a card from the rack, remember your God who is the definition of love.  Write him into your calendar.  He longs to spend time with you no matter what it takes to get you there.

Spiritual Discipline: Solitude

Last week in this space I wrote about the claim that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.  That may or may not be true.  But it is undoubtedly the loudest time of the year.  We are bombarded with music everywhere we go.  Christmas music gets turned up louder than any other time of the year.  There are more people in the stores, more voices announcing the “deals of the year,” more cars on the road, honking their horns at the person looking at their phone while the light turns green.  The lights come out this time of year too.  Have you driven through the village of Spring Lake after dark?

In the midst of all of this, a person needs a break.  We need quiet to hear the most important, but softer voices in our lives.  We need a little darkness so that we can see the brightest light of the Christmas season.  And the spiritual discipline of solitude helps us do that.  Solitude helps us listen to what’s most important and focus on what is of greatest value.  As you consider taking some time in quiet solitude this month, here’s one way to get started.  Pick a day and leave the radio and the TV off.  You’ll be surprised at what comes into focus and what you hear when you give yourself a little extra time and space.

Spiritual Discipline - Worship

Back in the 1980s, this thing started in churches called “The Worship Wars.”  It was a battle between church members who wanted a more modern, contemporary form of worship and church members who preferred (strongly) to stay with the hymns they grew up singing.  Lines were formed and the war began.  Many people left their congregation to join another that used worship music more in line with their desires.  It was messy.  It was painful.  And it completely missed the point.

Worship is so much more than a style of singing.  It is the orientation of a person’s life.  Worship can happen with hands raised or holding a hymnal.  But it can also happen while we drive, mow the lawn, join a Zoom call, or write up an estimate.  It can happen while we chase kids, walk the dog, or put away laundry.  Whenever we stop and become mindful that God is the Lord of the universe, that he is great and loving and sovereign, we are worshiping.  This month we are practicing the spiritual discipline of worship.  We want to encourage you to be intentional about doing this outside of a Sunday service.  Here’s a simple way to start: share with another person one way you saw the power or goodness of God in your day.  That will be an act of worship.

Shaping Our Minds and Hearts for Service

During the month of June, we are practicing the spiritual discipline of service.  As with other months and other disciplines, we’re suggesting a different way to practice it each week.  Last week we asked you to practice the discipline of service by doing a “hidden” act of service - something that very few, if any, people would know you did.  We hope you’ll continue to do this as you have the opportunity.  But this week we’re encouraging you to reflect on the nature of service itself.

We believe that the Bible has the power to change us.  When we read it and meditate on it, the Holy Spirit works on our hearts and minds.  And so we would like you to reflect on the most startling example of service in the Bible - John 13:1-17.  Take a few days this week and read through this passage of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.  Place yourself there in the story and wonder what it must have felt like.  Why did Jesus do that?  What does it say to you about becoming more like Jesus?  Read it with your family or your spouse at dinner a couple of nights this week.  Let this amazing demonstration of service shape your own heart and mind.

Celebration of Discipline

Last month we were encouraged to celebrate recreation, relationships, creation and our vocations. It was easy to see celebration as a discipline to be celebrated. It was evident in the smiles on our church family in the video of people enjoying recreation and hobbies. Now that it is almost time to get the boat out of storage, we are being asked to practice simplicity and question our stuff? Is that something to be celebrated? 

Richard Foster’s book is titled Celebration of Discipline. How do the disciplines of simplicity, fasting, meditation and others fit with celebration? The answer is joy!!! As we seek first the kingdom of God and pursue life with Jesus as our treasure, we experience God’s goodness. Joy is finding God’s goodness. As we practice spiritual disciplines as well as engage with VBS, GEMS, children’s ministries, youth ministry, and all of our other programs, we have the opportunity to find deeper joy in our relationship with Jesus. We find good news of great joy. It is all worth celebrating!

The Discipline of Simplicity

Every year at this time we talk about “spring cleaning.”  We sort through our possessions and determine which are worth keeping and which are no longer earning their space in our homes.  The result is a barrage of garage sales and donations to Once & Again or Dibs! or Goodwill.  I’ve wondered sometimes why we don’t do summer cleaning or fall cleaning or winter cleaning.  There’s something about spring that leads us toward a fresh start.  There are things that will no longer be helpful in what is to come.  So it ends up in the trash, on a table in our front yards, or in the donation bin.

This is the principle behind the discipline of simplicity.  We let go of the things that are no longer helping us to move forward.  We sort out things that distract us.  This month we will be doing some spring cleaning in our souls to help us focus on our relationship with God.  What we discover is that when we have less we actually have more.  More peace, more passion, more joy, more of God.  This month we’ll invite you to try some practices that will create a little more space in your life - space for God. The first is to commit to memory Matthew 6:19-21.  Let these words of Jesus rest upon your heart and inform your approach.

The Discipline of Celebration

There are a few things that every culture in the world holds in common.  Relationships, cuisine, and ritual are a part of every culture and civilization.  Here’s one more: celebration.  In every people group you will find some form of celebration.  We see it in birthday parties, weddings, and graduations in our own culture.  Jesus himself celebrated regularly.  How convenient that celebration also happens to be one of the 12 classis spiritual disciplines.  We experienced it yesterday as we celebrated the resurrection.  Every worship service is designed to have elements of celebration.

Throughout the month of April, we will be practicing the discipline of celebration. We’re starting by encouraging you to celebrate recreation. What do you do to rest or have fun? What are your hobbies? What helps you get away from it all and recreate? This week, make an intentional effort to recreate. Celebrate the hobbies and pastimes that give you life. We’d also like you to take a selfie picture (or have someone take your picture) while doing your recreation. Send it to office@ferrysburgchurch.com. We’ll share with the church the ways we recreate.

Spiritual Discipline of Fasting

We’re on the third month of practicing spiritual disciplines as a church family. This month, we’re focusing on fasting and its importance. Yesterday, Pastor Nate challenged us to fast for 24 hours. For some of us, this seems like an insurmountable task. We’ve simply become accustomed to eating. If you feel led to participate in the 24-hour fast this week, something I’d like to encourage you with is Romans 12. In Romans 12:1, Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” When Paul writes “present your bodies,” this is connected to the idea of a living sacrifice, which calls to mind priestly service. Spiritually speaking, our bodies are brought to God’s altar. This is a reference to our entire being! When we give our bodies to God, the soul and spirit go with it. Our thoughts and our desires are brought before the Lord. When Paul says, “I urge you,” he’s reminding us that the will is to be the master over the body. The thinking of our age says that our body must tell the will what to do; but the Bible says that our will must bring the body as a living sacrifice to God. The body is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. Keeping it at God’s altar as a living sacrifice keeps the body where it should be. May we remember this as we practice the spiritual discipline of fasting this week!

You Are What You Do

At the very core of who we are is our identity in Christ.  It is this identity that will last into the age to come.  Beyond that, our lives and even our personalities are made up of the choices we make.  We are shaped by the habits and practices we commit to.  Exercising regularly over many years will have a significant impact on your body and your mind.  The way you choose to spend money or the people with whom you spend your time will influence the person you become.

In 2021 we are inviting you to commit to habits that will shape your soul in positive ways.  Each month we will practice a classic spiritual discipline.  In January we will practice meditation.  We are encouraging you to spend five minutes reflecting quietly on a Scripture, a memory, or a truth three times a week.  The more you do it, the more you will benefit.  This week we are suggesting you spend your time meditating on Psalm 1.  The promise is that over time, you will notice positive changes in your life: more peace, more awareness, more like Jesus.