Week #12: Engage in the discipline of Morning and Evening Prayer

Prayer is essential to Christian living.  This is true of all areas of our life of faith, but is especially true as we attempt to live out our Christian life through the discipline of Simplicity.  There is simply no possible way that we can seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, apart from an active prayer life.  A single hearted focus on God's kingdom is a prayerful focus.

Prayer calls us to a deeper reality of life.  Through prayer we become open to the pulses of God's spirit; we become attuned to the whispers of God's voice.  No longer is our Christian life merely a matter of dry belief or disassociated religious doctrine.  Rather, our life of faith becomes a life in the Spirit.  Through the discipline of prayer, our inward selves remain open to the graces of God, which then effects the manner in which we live our outward lives.  The choices we make, the expressions of our desires, the very essence of how we engage in the life around us begins to change as we approach these things not solely in our own power or understanding.

It is through prayer that we are formed more deeply into the image of our Christ.  It is through prayer that we hear the voice of God, a voice which directs, guides, challenges, convicts, and comforts.  It is through prayer where we find the ability to more deeply enter into the reality of our healing and forgiveness.  It is through prayer that we enter into an ongoing conversation with our Lord, a conversation that is the foundation of every faith-filled desire or activity.  It is in prayer that we receive the strength to stand against temptation and live lives of obedience to the will of God.
 
The practice of morning and evening prayer, sometimes done through the use of liturgical rites, is an easy way to develop a deeper habit of prayer in our lives.  Importantly, there is no legalism here.  The practice of morning and evening prayer is not about the mere filling up of time or the lifeless recitation of words.  Morning and evening prayer is less about the form we use and more about the focus which shapes our life.  We are lead into freedom as the practice of prayer calls into a radical centredness, shaping us both inwardly and outwardly.

Through the practice of morning prayer we are able to lay before God our hopes, our anxieties, and our questions concerning the day which lies before us.  We take the needed moments to enter once again the the mercies of God which are new every morning.  We seek God's face as that which is our first priority, and our ultimate aim in life.  We listen to God's voice, spoken in scripture and in silence, and we anticipate the Spirit's leading.  The grace of morning prayer is that it aids us in our continual and day-long desire to be open to God in our lives.  Having taken moments to ground ourselves in the desire for God's kingdom to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are more apt to see expressions of that kingdom as we go through our day.

Through the practice of evening prayer we again approach this radical centredeness, this time examining our past thoughts, words and deeds in light of the call of faith.  We thank God for the expressions of God's mercy and grace throughout the day, for the strength and peace that He brought.  We ask God to bring to mind any ways in which we fell short of the glory of God, and we humbly confess those things before God, confident in His mercy.  We lay our questions, our concerns before the one who never sleeps, thus freeing us from the habit of taking our concerns and worries with us into our night-time rest.  We end the day in the same way as we began, in the place of freedom.

Without prayer, we have to ask ourselves, what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God?  How can we possibly seek God's will and kingdom in our life without developing a habit of continual, focused prayer?  These things make no sense, and bare no concrete reality in our lives, without having a solid footing in prayer.

Find a liturgical resource that includes a form of morning or evening prayer and resolve to engage this practice for one month.  While you do not want to be legalistic about it, understand that developing a habit requires a certain degree of discipline.  Try to focus more on connecting with God than 'getting through' the liturgy.  Reflect on your ability or inability to carry this prayerfulness with you throughout the day.

Week 11: Carry a cross in your pocket.

Simplicity takes dedication and some focus.  It is not something that we can just jump into and expect that we be able to master this discipline.  The reality is quite the opposite.  Simplicity, like each and every discipline, is not something we master.  Simplicity is a way of ordering the entirety of our life, our bodily life, our thought live, and our spiritual life, around the one foundation of seeking first God's kingdom.  In this sense there is a sense of progression as we learn how to live out the discipline of Simplicity.

A necessary part of this learning concerns the need to train ourselves to be attentive to the divine kingdom around us, and the divine voice within.   For many, we simply have not developed the ability for such single hearted focus.  The world of distractions, in which we are immersed, has provided a different sort of training.  Our focus continually shifts from one thing to the next.  The ever shifting landscape of images, sounds, and slogans constantly barge in upon us.  Thus, so often the Kingdom of God gets squeezed out of attentiveness.

Thomas Kelly writes: "There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs.  But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings."  It is, what Kelly describes, as living from a 'divine center' in the midst of the tapestry of our regular life.

This centred living, however, while life-giving when it is achieved, can take some time to cultivate.  Physical reminders, such as carrying a cross in your pocket, can serve as a needed reminder to refocus our lives and re-engage in a life of divine attentiveness.  The manner this takes place in our lives can take many forms.  You can use the physical presence of the cross to remember a Bible verse.  In this manner, whenever you consciously recognize the cross in your pocket, or put your hand in your pocket and feel the cross, you inwardly repeat the verse of delay.  Similarly, the same practice can be done as a reminder to pray.  Here you may take a few moments, attempting to again enter into the 'divine centre' that Kelly spoke of.  Or, you may simply hold a loved one, or a particular situation in prayer.

A contemporary version of this may be to use a religious picture as your cell phone screen. Many people today  have smart-phones with personalized home-screens.  What is more, for many the cell-phone is the tool which links them to the world around them.  The cell phone is the tool for e-mail, messages, social media interactions, shopping, research, games, and host of other activities.  Because of this, the cell-phone is perhaps the biggest tool of distraction in this modern day.   It is simply the case that people are always on their phones. Changing the home-screen image to something that will remind you of the need for a single-hearted focus upon God's Kingdom is a wonderful way to interrupt the flow of distractions that come from the phone.  Amid the dings and beeps of notifications, opening the phone, and seeing religious image on the home screen, calls us to you take a moment to be look to the Spirit of God, to root ourselves in the presence of God, to meditate, to pray, to look for where the drawing of the Spirit, before we look at the email or notification.

The beauty of this practice, whether a physical cross in the pocket or an image on our cell-phone, is that it only a second.  It's strength, however, is found in training ourselves to be open to God's Spirit.  In the midst of a hectic world it bares the constant reminder to step out of a life in which we are be distracted and consumed by the things of the world, and into a life in which we consciously open ourselves, single heartedly, to the things of God.  Furthermore, born out over time, this practice equips us to not be 'distracted by many things', as we find ourselves being able to focus on 'the greater thing' for longer periods of time.

Week # 10: Meditate on Scripture

It is easy to think that reading the Bible is a fairly strait forward practice.  Open the book.  Read the words.  Close the book.  It's that simple, right?  In reality, reading the words of scripture is a lot more involved.  Reading scripture is not like reading any other book.  We read scripture as a spiritual discipline - a devotional act in which we live out our longing for God in our lives.  Psalm 1 declares that the blessed of God are those who 'delight in the law of The Lord, and on his law they meditates day and night.'  Similarly, Psalm 119 is an extended meditation on God's word.  We simply cannot deny our calling to live to a life of continual immersion in the word of God.

The term meditation can be  confusing word in our time and culture, particularly because of the ways meditation is treated in other religious contexts.  We must realize, however, that Christian meditation differs from the more 'eastern' understanding.  Christian meditation is not an act of emptying - it is an act of filling.  We do not attempt to jettison ourselves of everything we are, rather we engage in the activity of filling our lives -  our minds, hearts, and souls - with the things of God.  Richard Foster writes that 'Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word'  Thus the call to meditate on the God's word day and night is, at its heart, the call to listen to God's words.   For the psalmist,  the law's of God were not just the dry commands as written in the Torah - they were the voice of God detailing how to live in covenant relationship.  The words of God are to be listened to as an act of faith and love.

So how do we meditate in the way that the Bible instructs us to?  A cursory look on the internet will uncover many different systems and styles to choose from.  The most famous way to meditate on Scripture is what is known as 'Sacred Reading' or Lectio Divina.  This practice occurs in four distinct movements.

The first movement is to read a passage slowly and thoughtfully. Importantly it should be a chunk of scripture - not just our favourite verse.  Importantly our attitude is not to simply read the words of the text, but to listen to God's voice as He speaks.  We imagine God speaking to us through the words of scripture.  In this movement we listen for a word or phrase that jumps out at us.  This isn't about understanding or definition.  We seek not to 'study' anything.  We simply remain open to whatever in the reading seems to grab our attention.

The second movement is to read the passage again, this time focusing on how the reading touches our personal lives. Instead of the question 'what strikes you in the reading' we ask ourselves 'what is Jesus saying to me?'  We don't force this, or rush past it, for our desire is to interact with God's voice in a very personal way.  This may mean we may have to sit in silence for a while until we hear the text 'speak' to us personally.  That's ok. Time we spend in this movement is never wasted.

The third movement calls us to ponder what this reading calls us to.  There is a sense of prayer here.  We offer ourselves to God in response to what we hear God speak to us.  We can understand this as a pondering of the question: 'what does Jesus want us to do?'  We allow the words of God that we have read and listened to, to touch us and change.  We amend our lives in response to what was spoken to us and sit with the practical implications of God's words.  We seek to be formed by the words of scripture, and the voice of God spoken into our lives.

The last step in meditating on scripture is to to sit with it.  We carry the words of scripture with us throughout the rest of our day. In his 'Introduction to the Holy Life'; Saint Francis De Sales instructs us to 'carry our spiritual bouquet'  Just as the fragrance of a bouquet of flowers fills a room, we allow the God's word, listened to and reflected upon, to linger in all areas of our life.  Importantly, this is not a conscious pondering of the scriptures.  There is no intentionally mindful reflections that takes place.  We merely rise from our time of meditating on God's word, and carry God's voice with us as we enter into the rest of the day.  We proceed with our tasks of life  attempting to be open to God's voice, still living and active.

Meditation on God's word is essential to the discipline of Simplicity because it is only through opening ourselves to God's voice that we can truly say we seek first the kingdom of God.  What is more, as Psalm 1 so vividly images, this desire for God's word to be spoken personally into our lives, and the cultivation of it, is to be a continuous habit of our lives.  We are called to meditate on God's word 'day and night'.  The person in blessed relationship with God is imaged as a stalwart tree, one who is continually and constantly feeding from the ever-flowing streams of water.   So too, we are called to the devotional act of sitting with, listening to, and living out God's word in our lives.  It simply is a practice and an habit that we cannot deny.

Week # 9: The Spiritual Discipline of going to sleep.

How well do you sleep at night?  If you are like millions of people today, the answer is probably: ‘not very well’.  According to a report from the CDC, over 70 million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep-related problem.  The number is equivalent here in Canada.  It is estimated that roughly 40% of Canadians do not get an adequate night’s sleep.  Sleep deprivation is a huge problem today.

This lack of sleep affects not only our productivity and our mood, but also our spirituality.  Sleep fails to be restorative for us.  Instead of rest and quiet, we suffer through a sense of internal noise; our minds spins with all the questions and concerns of the day.  Because of this, we toss and we turn, more out of internal frustration than any physical discomfort.  And when we arise in the morning, we do not feel rested.  We do not feel renewed.  We wake up feeling like we have waged a war within ourselves – and we are still tired.

The Bible talks a lot about sleep.  In fact, for the Israelites, each new day began at sun-down.  Genesis 1 contains the recurring phrase ‘There was evening and there was morning, the nth day.’  An important lesson is seen in this.   The very first thing Israel was to do at the start of a new day was to go to sleep.  Each day began with act by which Israel lived out the realization that they were not in control.  The day started with trust, with reliance.  Each day began with the active laying aside of all the worries of life in order to be renewed in the presence of God.

Sleep is not to be merely a time in which we rest our body, but it is a time in which we lay aside all the frustrations and concerns of our souls.  Instead of suffering through restless nights because of the anxieties and worries we carry inside, we are called to lay them aside and trust in the provisions of God.   Biblical sleep is the laying down of our whole selves - body, mind, and spirit - in the presence of God, trusting that God will guard and keep us.  Psalm 4 ends with the phrase ‘I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.’ 

Seeing our evening sleep as a spiritual discipline frees us from the constant demand of having to be the one to figure things out.   We are able to lay aside the anxiety produced from feeling like we need to be in control.   The constant churning of the mind is finally put to ease and we can sleep in peace because we are surrounded by the one who ‘neither slumbers nor sleeps.’ 

God does not want our sleep to be frustrating or anxiety provoking.  It is to be a blessed thing.  Every night we have the opportunity to experience the renewing power of the Spirit.  Every night we are able to connect with that divine peace which is able to cut through all the noise and chaos of life. 

Before retiring for the night, spend 5 minutes in silence with the simple aim of acknowledging the presence of God.  Rehearse the day and ask yourself the questions, “What do I need to give God thanks for?”, “Is there anything I need to confess?” or “what plan, decision, or worry do I need to give to God?’   Importantly, this is not to be an active time, simply allow things to come to mind and simply place them before God.  Wilfully choose to see your time in sleep as spiritually restorative, not just physically. Sleep in the conscious presence of God.  As you get under the covers, ask God to be at work in you, to guide you, to restore you, to teach you.   Sleep is not a time for you to be active, it is not a time for you to define or be in the driver’s seat.  It is time for you to simply receive the loving work of the one who restores you.  

Week #8: Give something away

The discipline of simplicity is not strictly about the stuff that we have.  This is one of the main differences between understanding simplicity as a spiritual discipline, and understanding it merely as a process of de-cluttering.  Most of the sites you find on the internet will deal with simplicity through this very narrowly defined dimension.  Simplicity can be found, they argue, through better organizational systems and moor floor-space in the house.  This may do wonders to aid one in cleaning the house, but it has little to do with a spiritual transformation.

The discipline of simplicity is not merely about our stuff.  Living in a wilful attitude of single hearted focus on God and His kingdom changes our focus away from the material side of our life, and tunes us in deeper ways to the things of God.  This allows us to own possessions, yet not be owned by them.  Our material wealth is understood not as something inherently against our spiritual fulfilment, but as a tool through which we can express God’s kingdom in our lives. 

Yet simply seeing the material side of our life as a ‘tool’ for Kingdom living is not enough. We can understand our possessions as tools, yet still feel that we ‘own’ them.  To understand our possessions as belonging to us, as conveying some statement about our ability, worth and status, does little to keep us focused on God’s kingdom.  We must be willing, in radical obedience to the will of God, to release our self-focused hold over our possessions.  The discipline of simplicity, as it relates to the things we own, must be expressed in our willingness to give.

It was this attitude that created the dynamic community of believers that we see in the book of Acts, chapter 4.  “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common . . .There was not one needy person among them.” (Acts 4:32 & 34)   In our modern day materialistic world we like to dismiss this reality and suggest that the early church really didn't engage in this type of kingdom living.  We assume this is unrealistic, or worse yet, unhealthy.  After all, don’t Ananaias and Sapphira turn their back on this reality in the very next passage? Surely this must speak to the untenable reality of this type of giving!  Yet to truly believe this is to suggest that Jesus didn't understand the fullness of the Kingdom when he said “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” (Luke 3:11)  God’s kingdom is a giving kingdom, and we are invited and encouraged to give.  We give of ourselves, of our time, of our possessions. Jesus calls us to ‘give without expecting return’ (Luke 6:35). 

Giving of what we have, for the purpose of furthering the Kingdom of God, stretches us beyond our comfortable reliance upon the stuff of this world. It breaks the habits of consumption that we may so easily fall into.  In stepping away from the faulty privatized world of ‘ownership’ we enter into an active spirit of trust and reliance.  In stretching ourselves to give, we open ourselves to the reality of God’s provision and the freedom of being led by His Spirit and His will.  We also expose hidden thoughts and presumptions regarding the matters of self-worth, status, acceptance, and value.

So, find something to give.  Avoid relying on the items stored in the back of your closet, or in your basement – items that are easy to give away because you will never miss them.  This is simple de-cluttering, and not actual giving.  It is to give in a manner which avoids any sense of personal cost.  Yet to truly give, to give in the way that God, in Christ, gave to us, we must give of our self; our offering be as heartfelt as it is it tangible.  Maybe give your favourite item of clothing, or your favourite book.  Give away your second television, or a piece of furniture. 

Give in a way that you will feel it and recognize the absence of what you have given.  Pay attention to the emotions that surround your thoughts of giving.  Why are you reluctant to give something?  What does that reluctance say about a possible over-attachment to that item?  Do you experience a sense of inward freedom when you give?

Week #7: Play ''The Game of Minutes"

Have you ever heard of “The Game of Minutes”?  Do not be alarmed if you haven’t.  It is not well known in our modern day.  This little game was first described in the personal letters of Frank Laubach, letters written to his father while on missionary work in the Philippines.  These letters, eventually published in 1937 under the title ‘Letters by a Modern Mystic,’ described Laubach’s desire to be mindfully focused on the presence of God ‘at least one second of each minute.’  

Do not be thrown off by the use of the word ‘game.’  The language of game is not to suggest triviality.  The game of minutes describes a continuous walk with our Lord.  It is a ‘silent conversation; a ‘practice of the presence of God;’ a ‘familiar friendship with Jesus’; an ‘exhilarating spiritual exercise.’ For Laubach, the game of minutes simply described the manner in which he attempted to hold onto, and follow, the presence and will of God as revealed through the course of the day.   He writes, “my part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will, to make this hour gloriously rich.’ 

At first glance, we may think the game of minutes is impractical. There are simply too many things before us that demand our attention! We often believe, mistakenly so, that true focus on God must occur in the absence of the regular demands and tasks of the day.  We believe that in order to truly engage in our spiritual lives we must retreat; we have to escape; we must jettison all distractions from our midst.  There is truth to this in some regards.   Jesus often calls us to ‘come away to a quiet place and get some rest.’  It is true that we often find it easier to re-connect with God when we step away from, and put down, the complexities of the world around us.  Yet to take this too far is to believe that it is only through the cloistered life of monks and missionaries that such single-hearted focus is truly achievable.  The game of minutes, and other such spiritual disciplines, are deemed unrealistic to life as it is today.

If we believe this we miss out on cultivating a wonderful closeness with Jesus. The usefulness of Laubach’s game is that it is meant to occur amid everyday existence. Rather than taking us away from the regular spaces of life, playing the game of minutes is a manner by which we attempt to bring Christ into the demands and tasks of the day.  We look for the presence of God around us; we cultivate a conversational relationship with Him; we keep a scripture verse or a prayer in our minds; we view silence as a place to listen to the whispers of God.

Laubach’s game of minutes can be useful in the cultivation of the discipline of simplicity because it wonderfully connects our outward life with our inward meditations.  While we play the game in the context of living our exterior lives, the game itself occurs inwardly.  In our hearts and souls, we attempt to remain in the single-hearted focus which is essential to simplicity.  This game helps us experience the blessedness that comes from choosing to live in closeness with Christ.  It aids us in keeping the Kingdom of God ever before us.

This isn’t to suggest we are able to cultivate a perfect execution of the game of minutes.  Laubach himself states that perfect execution is unachievable.  In a letter dated June 3, 1930, Laubach asks himself the question “Can it be done all the time?” to which he honestly answers, ‘hardly’.  Throughout his letters, Laubach frequently speaks of his own failings.  Perfect execution, however, is never the focus.  “We fix our eyes upon Jesus and not on the clock” Laubach advises.  It is the effort, the longing, the soulful desire for Christ’s presence in our minds that is both liberating and fruitful for our spiritual lives.  The benefit found in playing the game of minutes emerges out of the whole-hearted attempt to draw closer to Christ, and not from achieving a score of 100%.

Don’t like the ‘game of minutes’?  Why not try ‘a game of people’? Try to pray for every person you come in contact with during the day.  Or, how about ‘a game of places’?  Whenever you physically enter a new room or space enter prayerfully, looking, and listening for The Holy Spirit in that place.

Week #6: Experiment with Simplicity in Speech.

One of the intriguing things we find in Scripture is God's interest in how we speak to one another.  Our Lord is not unconcerned with the words that flow from our hearts and off our lips.  In fact, there is a deep relationship with the words that we speak and that which lies deep in our hearts.  "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks,' says Jesus (Luke 6:45) As we strive to live our lives in Christ-likeness, the words we speak are to reflect this deep desire.

There are several different ways that one can adopt simplicity in language.  Firstly, one can attempt to reduce the amount of our talking.  We wilfully attempt to avoid adding our words in situations that do not demand it. In her book, Abundant Simplicity, Jan Johnson writes about our culture being one that is 'enslaved to talking.'  This enslavement is not merely about the  amount of talking that occurs, but the constant look for windows in which we can insert our own voice and opinion.  This may occur out of a desire to sway other people to our way of thinking, or because we want others to view us in a certain way.  In either instance, the motivation to speak stems from the desire to control.  We manage situations, conversations, and people through the multiplicity of our words.  This sense of management ultimately divorces us from authentic listening and true connection.

Attempting to reduce our 'talking', while being uncomfortable, allows us to be more fully present with one another, and with the presence of God.  The call to 'be quick to listen and slow to speak' naturally moves us into the spiritual space where we wait for God to reveal His voice and will, before we attempt to exert our own.  The prayer 'not my will but thine be done' equally involves the prayer 'not my voice, but thine be heard.'  Simplicity in speech frees us from the stressful attempt to manage what others think of us.  We remind ourselves that we do not need to know all the answers; we do not need to be in control.  Here we uncover the joy of listening and connecting - we may even be surprised by deep expressions of the Spirit.

Yet simplicity in speech isn't just about the amount of talking we do.  Sometimes simplicity in language is about the type of words we use.  The epistle of James records the need to 'tame the tongue' and 'not speak evil against one another.'  Paul also encourages the people in Ephesus to 'let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up.'   It seems like the childhood lesson of 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' has strong roots. Hurtful language does not build up the kingdom of God.  In gossip, vitriol, and whatever else we may classify as 'evil talk', we vainly attempt to wield a sense of moral and spiritual superiority.  We speak only out of pride and vanity and not out of love or grace.  

Instead of speaking evil to one another, we are challenged in scripture to 'speak as if speaking the very words of God.'  We are called to consciously view our words as gifts that God has blessed us with for the purpose of revealing HIs presence.  We edify, praise, and support.  Our words become testimonies that speak to a life lived in relationship with God, and thus become expressions of the very nature of God's kingdom.

Of course simplicity in speech is not for everyone, nor is it to be practiced all the time.  This is not an excuse to avoid responsibility.  Obviously there are times where we engage in discussion, voice our opinions, and seek to 'explain ourselves' for any number of reasons.  Yet what is important in this is the spiritual motivation behind our decision to reduce our talking.  This isn't a legalistic refusal to speak, but a spiritual action aimed at making us more attune to God's voice.