Why Spiritual Practices?
“But we who would be born again indeed, must wake our souls unnumbered times a day” - George MacDonald
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you are joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated you can’t produce a thing” (John 15:5-8, MSG).
A few weeks ago we wrapped up our sermon series in Esther, and with it a short exploration of Christian spiritual practices. Often when we think of spiritual practices (or often called disciplines) we think of things like bible study, prayer, worship, and giving. These are probably the most commonly discussed practices within the church, and while all of these are good to engage with, there are numerous others which have been used by Christians throughout the history of the church for the sake of experiencing the presence of God in a transformative way.
The practices we considered were Breath Prayer, the Examen, Silence, Sabbath and Lectio Divina. The interest for these practices from our community was greater than I had anticipated, and it was so exciting to hear from many of you who let me know how meaningful you found these practices to be. After such enthusiasm I wanted to provide you with a few extra resources for each of the different practices we looked at. So over the next couple of weeks I’ll be releasing some short blogs on each, and resources for further information if you are interested.
But before we jump in I thought it would be worthwhile to briefly explore the question: Why “do” Spiritual practices?
If you’re like me then maybe you have experienced a desire for God that goes beyond your own understanding. A longing for more and more of God’s love, and a hunger to be transformed in his presence, to live a life that is radically different to what the world tells us to live. Or maybe you’ve been unable to articulate it, but you just know “that there has got to be more to life.” That desire for a different sort of life does not just appear out of thin air, rather the fact that you desire more of God in your life is evidence that God is already at work in you, inviting you to go deeper with Him. This is where the spiritual practices can come in.
Engaging with spiritual practices is not just for the spiritual giants of history, or the pastoral and ministry team who lead during a Sunday worship gathering, they are for you and me — people who have jobs, raise children, wash dishes and mow the lawn. In the midst of our busy, scattered, exhausted and often hurting lives we can make space to receive God’s love and notice His presence in us. As Adele Ahlberg Calhoun wrote: “Spiritual disciplines give the Holy Spirit space to brood over our souls just as the Spirit hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation.”
In engaging with spiritual practices we are responding to that deep hunger within to experience more in our relationship with God; we are saying we want to move beyond the surface of ourselves into the hidden depths of our heart and soul. We are offering ourselves lovingly and obediently to God. The rest is up to God, to work in us and do that which we alone cannot do.
So I invite you to join me in introducing one, or some, or even all of these practices into the flow of your days and weeks as you seek to attune your spirit to the presence of God living and moving in you. May you discover more of God’s love and delight for you as you abide in Christ and he in you.
In Him,
Rose
Further Resources:
Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun