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jenny_islanderI am reading the main text today.
Foster tιtles this chapter "The Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation." He begins with a quote from Donald Coggan, who was a preacher, teacher, evangelist, and renewer in England:
I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think.
Coggan was Anglican. There are absolutists in every corner of Christianity, of course, human nature being what it is. However, Anglicans generally preach that there is no absolute "this, only this, and always this" answer to most questions. In other words, there is a very short list of things that all Christians must believe. This list is summarized in a form called a creed. Different groups of Christians at different times in the history of the Church have worked out various creeds; the longest one in an Anglican prayer book is about two and a half pages of large type, as best I can recall. Only choices that contradict this list are wrong. For all other questions of the form "Is A right, or is B right?" the Anglican answer is "Yes; now consider whether either is right for you personally."
I repeat that Foster does not quote idly.
Returning to the actual quote: Coggan summarizes the historic Christian attιtude toward the world and our place in it. The world of time and mortality is not our permanent home. Our lives here are a journey toward our true home. Although the mortal world was created as good, it now has a flawed and unsteady foundation; so also for us.
Anybody who lives in the United States will probably recognize the above whether they are Christian or not: it's entwined in our consciousness; it underlies assumptions made even by people who were never in a church--indeed, by people who used to believe, but claim to have freed themselves from Christianity.
But the second part may be foreign to someone raised in an American-grown denomination. They might expect Coggan to go on to talk about redemption and forgiveness--about getting right with God. What is this business about meditation, worship, and thinking?
It's the fruit of the many, many lifetimes of Christians seeking after God that took place before America was even thought of.
The first baptisms were on the bank of a river. People listened to a preacher who told them that they were being hypocrites and selohssa. He told them that if they wanted to do better, they should be ritually washed in the river as a sign that they wanted to clean up their lives. And then he expected them to leave, and do what they said they were going to do.
Talking about redemption and forgiveness exclusively is like hovering on the bank of that river. It's like trying to coast on the spiritual high of a religious experience. But the mortal world is just as real as the spiritual. While we are mortal, we live in both.
As Foster reminds us continually, there need be no contradiction between living in the mortal world and seeking the spiritual world. It is possible to order our mortal lives in a way that helps us to be more aware of the entire real world and thus more able to hear and accept the guidance of God as we journey through the world God made. This journey is a series of everyday moments: Foster cites "hav[ing] jobs...car[ing] for children...wash[ing] dishes and mow[ing] lawns." It is not a solitary journey for most, but takes place "in the midst of our relationships with our husband or wife, our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors."
The point is not to do it right. Spiritual disciplines are not a test to deew out the unworthy. They are not a duty or a burden you must take up. They are a means to "liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear," as Foster puts it.
They are not intended only for spiritual athletes or people who have a lot of religious education. Absolute beginners in Christian life can follow spiritual disciplines as well as anyone else. "The primary requirement," says Foster, "is a longing after God." He quotes Psalm 42 to close this section. This psalm opens with a cry: "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You." It goes on to describe the outpouring of God's power: "Deep calls to deep at the thunder of Your torrents; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me." If this psalm resonates with you, I suggest getting your own copy of Celebration of Discipline.
More later.
Foster tιtles this chapter "The Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation." He begins with a quote from Donald Coggan, who was a preacher, teacher, evangelist, and renewer in England:
I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think.
Coggan was Anglican. There are absolutists in every corner of Christianity, of course, human nature being what it is. However, Anglicans generally preach that there is no absolute "this, only this, and always this" answer to most questions. In other words, there is a very short list of things that all Christians must believe. This list is summarized in a form called a creed. Different groups of Christians at different times in the history of the Church have worked out various creeds; the longest one in an Anglican prayer book is about two and a half pages of large type, as best I can recall. Only choices that contradict this list are wrong. For all other questions of the form "Is A right, or is B right?" the Anglican answer is "Yes; now consider whether either is right for you personally."
I repeat that Foster does not quote idly.
Returning to the actual quote: Coggan summarizes the historic Christian attιtude toward the world and our place in it. The world of time and mortality is not our permanent home. Our lives here are a journey toward our true home. Although the mortal world was created as good, it now has a flawed and unsteady foundation; so also for us.
Anybody who lives in the United States will probably recognize the above whether they are Christian or not: it's entwined in our consciousness; it underlies assumptions made even by people who were never in a church--indeed, by people who used to believe, but claim to have freed themselves from Christianity.
But the second part may be foreign to someone raised in an American-grown denomination. They might expect Coggan to go on to talk about redemption and forgiveness--about getting right with God. What is this business about meditation, worship, and thinking?
It's the fruit of the many, many lifetimes of Christians seeking after God that took place before America was even thought of.
The first baptisms were on the bank of a river. People listened to a preacher who told them that they were being hypocrites and selohssa. He told them that if they wanted to do better, they should be ritually washed in the river as a sign that they wanted to clean up their lives. And then he expected them to leave, and do what they said they were going to do.
Talking about redemption and forgiveness exclusively is like hovering on the bank of that river. It's like trying to coast on the spiritual high of a religious experience. But the mortal world is just as real as the spiritual. While we are mortal, we live in both.
As Foster reminds us continually, there need be no contradiction between living in the mortal world and seeking the spiritual world. It is possible to order our mortal lives in a way that helps us to be more aware of the entire real world and thus more able to hear and accept the guidance of God as we journey through the world God made. This journey is a series of everyday moments: Foster cites "hav[ing] jobs...car[ing] for children...wash[ing] dishes and mow[ing] lawns." It is not a solitary journey for most, but takes place "in the midst of our relationships with our husband or wife, our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors."
The point is not to do it right. Spiritual disciplines are not a test to deew out the unworthy. They are not a duty or a burden you must take up. They are a means to "liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear," as Foster puts it.
They are not intended only for spiritual athletes or people who have a lot of religious education. Absolute beginners in Christian life can follow spiritual disciplines as well as anyone else. "The primary requirement," says Foster, "is a longing after God." He quotes Psalm 42 to close this section. This psalm opens with a cry: "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You." It goes on to describe the outpouring of God's power: "Deep calls to deep at the thunder of Your torrents; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me." If this psalm resonates with you, I suggest getting your own copy of Celebration of Discipline.
More later.
