Monday, April 14, 2008
The Morgan Spurlock Program For Spiritual Discipline?
As mentioned yesterday, I have been thinking about engaging in a spiritual experiment/exercise in order to improve my spiritual discipline and hopefully come to a richer encounter with God.
After careful thought and prayer, I have decided to go ahead with it.
I feel like though I am constantly thinking about God and reflecting on spiritual matters, there is something missing in my spiritual life. Though recently I have started to once again feel God at work in my mind intellectually, it is as though when it comes to feeling the presence of God and feeling like I'm actually in a relationship with Him, I'm not quite there. Things are not quite like they used to be, and I do not feel as fulfilled as I did before what I have started thinking of as "the crisis."
The main reason for this is most likely that I have not been reading and reflecting on Scripture regularly. For a long time (probably at least two years) having what people in Christian circles refer to as a "quiet time" has not been high on my list of priorities. That's not to say I didn't do it - I did, I would just go in spurts of activity. Some months I'd do it pretty frequently, and other months I wouldn't do it at all. I was lazy, and quite frankly, pretty arrogant about whether or not it was necessary. Then, after the "crisis", it became obvious that it was necessary, yet by that point I was so frustrated with God and uncertain about how to interact with Him and with Scripture that I did not see the point. At the moment, whenever I do read Scripture on my own, I frequently come away frustrated because I feel like I'm not grasping what was originally meant in the cultural context or what God is really trying to say to me.
I feel that spiritual discipline is important if one is ever going to have meaningful encounters with God, and not just the "know-how" about theology and how God supposedly works, of which I feel I have a fairly decent amount. However, it has become obvious to me that:
a) I have problems staying consistent
b) Lately, whenever I do attempt to read Scripture and understand it, I always come away feeling like I have missed something
So, in an attempt to remedy both these problems, I am going to commit myself for the next 30 days to the practice of several different spiritual exercises, one of which comes from Islam, and the other from Buddhism and Christian monastic traditions, in the hopes that by engaging in uncomfortable and unfamiliar practices I will be able to come to a fuller encounter with God. Here is what I am going to attempt to do every day for the next month:
1) Daily calls to prayer - This is inspired by the Islamic tradition of praying at five scheduled times throughout the day. Although I am not going to do it that much, I feel like there might be benefits to scheduled times of prayer, not the least of which being that it will hopefully inspire a spirit of humility and service to God. I am going to try to pray for a few minutes at or around three scheduled times of the day: 6 AM (I know, I'm crazy), 2 PM, and 10 PM. I am going to begin by reciting a modified version of the Islamic call to prayer:
The Almighty is Great (x4)
I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but the Almighty (x2)
I bear witness that Christ is the Almighty's Messenger and Son (x2)
Come to prayer (x2)
Come to success (x2)
The Almighty is Great (x2)
There is none worthy of worship but the Almighty (x2)
I am then going to pray aloud for several minutes, doing my best to remain focused on the greatness of God. It should be noted that although I do not ascribe to Islamic beliefs, I find this call to prayer refreshingly humbling. Islam is by nature a very reverent and respectful religion in terms of how its followers relate to God, and this is an aspect of prayer I feel I need to place more emphasis on. At times when I pray, it is difficult to stop focusing on myself and my own needs, even for a few minutes, so I am hoping that by engaging in this practice I will come to appreciate God more simply for Himself.
2) After the morning prayer, I am going to read a passage of Scripture. It will range from either a few verses to an entire chapter, depending on what I feel led to read and contemplate. I am going to first read the passage aloud, and then several times silently. I am then going to prayerfully reflect on the passage, perhaps even engaging in some sort of Scriptural meditation such as lectio divino.
3) I am then going to read a passage or chapter from a book somehow related to the Christian faith. If I finish the book before the 30 days is complete, I will move on to a new book. First on the list: The Last Word by N.T. Wright.
4) In the evenings, before I go to bed I am going to engage in a time of quiet meditation, most likely for 10-20 minutes. This could range from something in the Buddhist tradition, like simply concentrating on my breath or on nothing, to more Christian monastic practices of focusing on a specific word or religious symbol. I am aware that this will probably prove difficult, since I am easily distracted, but I think that the very act of setting aside a time of silence for meditation is an important one. Often times in American culture our lives are so busy and hectic that we don't set aside time to just sit and be still. Scripture says, "Be still and know that I am God." I am going to try and set aside time to simply listen, and see if God speaks. My goal is to use this time to reflect on things such as:
a) nothing - just a time of concentration and/or rest
b) God - and who He is
c) myself - and my own strengths/weaknesses/needs
5) I am also going to commit myself to fasting every Saturday. Although I have fasted before, it's something that I think should probably be done on a more regular basis (at least once a month or every few months). My goal by doing it this frequently is to be able to get a better idea of its potential benefits and pitfalls.
Those are the basics. I am going to start by just trying to stay on schedule, and let the details of the prayer and meditation aspects evolve over the course of the next month. It will be interesting to see if I can stay committed to doing this for that long, and if I do what the effects are. I'm going to try and blog about the experience every few days to chronicle what (if anything) I learn from the experience. At the very least I hope I'll come away more disciplined in at least some aspects of spirituality.
Wish me luck!
After careful thought and prayer, I have decided to go ahead with it.
I feel like though I am constantly thinking about God and reflecting on spiritual matters, there is something missing in my spiritual life. Though recently I have started to once again feel God at work in my mind intellectually, it is as though when it comes to feeling the presence of God and feeling like I'm actually in a relationship with Him, I'm not quite there. Things are not quite like they used to be, and I do not feel as fulfilled as I did before what I have started thinking of as "the crisis."
The main reason for this is most likely that I have not been reading and reflecting on Scripture regularly. For a long time (probably at least two years) having what people in Christian circles refer to as a "quiet time" has not been high on my list of priorities. That's not to say I didn't do it - I did, I would just go in spurts of activity. Some months I'd do it pretty frequently, and other months I wouldn't do it at all. I was lazy, and quite frankly, pretty arrogant about whether or not it was necessary. Then, after the "crisis", it became obvious that it was necessary, yet by that point I was so frustrated with God and uncertain about how to interact with Him and with Scripture that I did not see the point. At the moment, whenever I do read Scripture on my own, I frequently come away frustrated because I feel like I'm not grasping what was originally meant in the cultural context or what God is really trying to say to me.
I feel that spiritual discipline is important if one is ever going to have meaningful encounters with God, and not just the "know-how" about theology and how God supposedly works, of which I feel I have a fairly decent amount. However, it has become obvious to me that:
a) I have problems staying consistent
b) Lately, whenever I do attempt to read Scripture and understand it, I always come away feeling like I have missed something
So, in an attempt to remedy both these problems, I am going to commit myself for the next 30 days to the practice of several different spiritual exercises, one of which comes from Islam, and the other from Buddhism and Christian monastic traditions, in the hopes that by engaging in uncomfortable and unfamiliar practices I will be able to come to a fuller encounter with God. Here is what I am going to attempt to do every day for the next month:
1) Daily calls to prayer - This is inspired by the Islamic tradition of praying at five scheduled times throughout the day. Although I am not going to do it that much, I feel like there might be benefits to scheduled times of prayer, not the least of which being that it will hopefully inspire a spirit of humility and service to God. I am going to try to pray for a few minutes at or around three scheduled times of the day: 6 AM (I know, I'm crazy), 2 PM, and 10 PM. I am going to begin by reciting a modified version of the Islamic call to prayer:
The Almighty is Great (x4)
I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but the Almighty (x2)
I bear witness that Christ is the Almighty's Messenger and Son (x2)
Come to prayer (x2)
Come to success (x2)
The Almighty is Great (x2)
There is none worthy of worship but the Almighty (x2)
I am then going to pray aloud for several minutes, doing my best to remain focused on the greatness of God. It should be noted that although I do not ascribe to Islamic beliefs, I find this call to prayer refreshingly humbling. Islam is by nature a very reverent and respectful religion in terms of how its followers relate to God, and this is an aspect of prayer I feel I need to place more emphasis on. At times when I pray, it is difficult to stop focusing on myself and my own needs, even for a few minutes, so I am hoping that by engaging in this practice I will come to appreciate God more simply for Himself.
2) After the morning prayer, I am going to read a passage of Scripture. It will range from either a few verses to an entire chapter, depending on what I feel led to read and contemplate. I am going to first read the passage aloud, and then several times silently. I am then going to prayerfully reflect on the passage, perhaps even engaging in some sort of Scriptural meditation such as lectio divino.
3) I am then going to read a passage or chapter from a book somehow related to the Christian faith. If I finish the book before the 30 days is complete, I will move on to a new book. First on the list: The Last Word by N.T. Wright.
4) In the evenings, before I go to bed I am going to engage in a time of quiet meditation, most likely for 10-20 minutes. This could range from something in the Buddhist tradition, like simply concentrating on my breath or on nothing, to more Christian monastic practices of focusing on a specific word or religious symbol. I am aware that this will probably prove difficult, since I am easily distracted, but I think that the very act of setting aside a time of silence for meditation is an important one. Often times in American culture our lives are so busy and hectic that we don't set aside time to just sit and be still. Scripture says, "Be still and know that I am God." I am going to try and set aside time to simply listen, and see if God speaks. My goal is to use this time to reflect on things such as:
a) nothing - just a time of concentration and/or rest
b) God - and who He is
c) myself - and my own strengths/weaknesses/needs
5) I am also going to commit myself to fasting every Saturday. Although I have fasted before, it's something that I think should probably be done on a more regular basis (at least once a month or every few months). My goal by doing it this frequently is to be able to get a better idea of its potential benefits and pitfalls.
Those are the basics. I am going to start by just trying to stay on schedule, and let the details of the prayer and meditation aspects evolve over the course of the next month. It will be interesting to see if I can stay committed to doing this for that long, and if I do what the effects are. I'm going to try and blog about the experience every few days to chronicle what (if anything) I learn from the experience. At the very least I hope I'll come away more disciplined in at least some aspects of spirituality.
Wish me luck!
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 4/14/2008 12:57:00 AM 
