Jeff Mount and I mentioned something about this on the Horizon message board a while back. It’s been a background thought in my head every now and then since. So, I thought I would explore it here. The idea is to try to figure out which spiritual disciplines were the hardest to practice in a certain culture and the effect that had on christians and the church as a whole in that culture.
The most obvious one to me is from Europe in the middle ages. Bible study was pretty much impossible. There generally was one copy of the bible in each town, and it was at the parish, and it was in latin. Most of the common people couldn’t read their own language, let alone latin. The effects that had on christians and the church as a whole would be some theological errors creeping in, quite a bit of superstition, and the idea that the church and it’s tradition was more important than scripture.
I would like to look into other cultures as well, but to comment intelligently I would have to study them more. I can however give a little analysis of our current 21st century American culture. There seem to me a few disciplines that are very hard to practice right now. I think the top ones are Solitude, Silence, Simplicity and Fasting. I would like to get other people’s opinions on this. Do you think there are others spiritual disciplines that are hard to practice now? What effects do you think it has on currect christians and the church as a whole? Leave me a comment and let me know.
I’m not sure what list of disciplines you use. Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” lists 12 spiritual disciplines: (Inward Disciplines) Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study, (Outward Disciplines) Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service, (Corporate Disciplines) Confession, Worship, Guidance, & Celebration.
The most difficult inward discipline for me is meditation. This is in direct opposition to the noise, hurry, and crowds of contemporary society.
The most difficult corporate discipline is confession. It is difficult to reveal failures and shortcomings to others. Of course, some are going to say that sin is only between us and God. James 5:16 says to “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another…” Two other fellows and I are going to start gathering every week in an accountability group, and these things will be included.
Of the outward disciplines, submission seems most difficult. There is freedom in the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. It is easy to demand things, and easy to maintain a grudge for long lengths of time. When we drop the matter we realize that it is usually not as important as we made it out to be. We fight for a sacred principle, but often at the root of the fight is the desire to get our own way. Instead, “we are commanded to live a life of submission, because Jesus lived a life of submission.”
Welcome Dennis. Yeah, I was working from some imaginary list of disciplines that combines what Foster and Willard have listed. I definitely agree with you about meditation, confession and submission. If we look at what the lack of those would cause in our lives we would be stressed, guilt-ridden and rebellious. As someone who has been all three of those I think you speak wise words. Thanks for sharing. Anyone else have a perspective on this?