North Raleigh Presbyterian Church issued the following announcement on March 24.
If the COVID-19 pandemic has any gift to offer us, I think it is the gift of sabbath.
We're living in a time and circumstance that is forcing us to slow down, take stock and connect more deeply. I've spent more time on the phone with friends in the last 10 days and more time texting my brother and sister, too. Probably even a greater number of intentional 'checking in' phonecalls with church members.
I may even be praying more constantly than ever - worry and anxiety hover close and I find myself working hard to rest in God's presence. If you're reading this blog, maybe you're sensing a need to deepen your connection to the Triune One, too. If so, well, then you're practicing sabbath. And I suppose we have a pandemic to thank for that.
Before life as we knew it stopped, I had plans to spend a week of study leave attending a spiritual retreat - a days-long sabbath of sorts. There would be coursework, to be sure, but most of the week would be sabbath - time to slow down, take stock and connect more deeply to the One who breathed my first breath into me, the same One who nourishes me body, mind and spirit even now.
In preparation for that retreat, I've been reading two books. I finished Gerald Sittser's Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries a couple of weeks ago. Sittster's book is something of a church history approach to spirituality. I found it refreshing to learn how each phase of the church's history had its unique ways of connecting more deeply to God. Sittster's approach casts a wide net - study is as 'spiritual' as prayer in his view and I was glad to read that!
Marjorie Thompson's Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life is the book I'm reading - actually re-reading - now. (Soul Feast was first published while I was in seminary and I remember reading it for Ministry-101 class.) Unlike Sittster's church history approach, Thompson offers explanation and encouragement for particular spiritual practices. I'm enjoying re-reading Soul Feast this time, well, with the "eyes of the heart" rather than the "eyes of a student." It's practically a different book this time around!
For the next several weeks I'll share my experience of Soul Feast in hopes that you might join me at the table Thompson's setting for us. But please, don't let my experience become your experience. I am offering what I learn in order to encourage you to do your own feasting - if you really want to taste chocolate cake, you've got to get your own fork! Likewise, someone else's spiritual journey can help you crave that nourishment for yourself, but it cannot actually feed you. You have to dig in for yourself.
>Pause for a minute or two: As you come to the table, maybe say the Lord's Prayer to get yourself started. Focus on the "Give us this day" line of the prayer so you'll have in mind what it is that you most need in terms of spiritual nourishment. Below is a shot of Lenten Roses on my windowsill, pause there and think about - maybe even write down somewhere - what you're after in this experience. Then, below the photo, I'll share my takeaways from chapter 1 of Soul Feast and this born-out-of-pandemic blog will be off and running.
Chapter 1: Hunger and Thirst for the Spirit: The Spiritual Yearning of Our Time
I hope you spent some time with “Give us this day” and that you now have a bit of an idea of what it is you’re hungry for.
Thompson’s chapter 1 explores how it is that we've become so very hungry and then suggests what we can do to identify and feed our real cravings. I would liken what she says to what I know (but do not practice very well!) about nutrition: it may be cheaper, faster and tastier to gobble the empty calories of processed foods, but if I spend the time and money to prepare and eat balanced meals, my body will naturally be stronger, leaner and healthier. I'll even find that I begin to crave balanced meals and begin to diminish my junk food dependence.
Likewise, contemporary life craves “an infinite supply of thrills, goods, and successes” which don't end up satisfying our real cravings. (p. 1) Made in the image of God, we long for more meaning than we get when we satisfy those shallow culture cravings. Our quick fixes can’t meet our deep needs, so we constantly are left hungry and thirsty for more.
Like preparation of a healthy, well-rounded meal, cultivating the spiritual life takes some time, energy and intentionality. We have to be willing to say no to some things in order to say yes to the work of nurturing our spirits.
What is unique about cultivating the spiritual life, though, is that a little bit of effort pays off fairly quickly because God meets us in that place where we pray “Give us this day.” This is in contrast to “feeding the beast” that is the way of the culture. Chasing those things that the culture tells us we need will only make us hungrier; a little spiritual food starts a cycle of satisfaction and then draws us (gratefully rather than frantically) into ever more spiritual nurture. “If only I could…” (fill in the blank for what the culture tells you you need: “be skinny,” “be rich,” “be successful”) begins to give way to a steady dependence on God’s “daily bread.”
>Pause again: Maybe gaze out a window or go back to the Lenten Rose photograph and consider what spirituality means for you.
Thompson says “the spiritual life is simply the increasing vitality and sway of God’s Spirit in us.” (p. 7) I’d say that spirituality is the experience of seeking and being fed by God’s spirit. It is about intentionality in creating a two-way relationship with God. Spiritual practices and spiritual disciplines are two ways of confessing that a vital two-way relationship doesn’t fall out of thin air, but that it results from consistent effort (practice) and an openness to being conformed to the image of Christ (which is what it means to be disciple-ed/disciplined).
>Pause once more: What have you wanted badly enough that you’ve been willing to commit to practice or discipline in order to make it happen? How ready are you to work at cultivating a deeper spiritual life?
Until next time,
Peace
Lisa!
Original source can be found here.
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