Spiritual Practices at Home: The Practice of Sabbath

One of the essential spiritual practices of the Christian life in general and of living the faith at home, is the practice of Sabbath. This has its origins in the Old Testament “Where God rested on the seventh day” (Genesis 2:2-3, NRSV). This became one of the defining marks of faith in the one God, the keeping of this seventh day of rest, “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath…you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-10). That’s found in that top ten list, remember? 

Sunday became the Sabbath (versus Saturday) for Christians. Some of you will recall or recall relatives reminiscing about a time when, in North American anyway, things shut down on Sunday as a way of honoring the importance of Sabbath and communal worship. For the most part, that time is over; which means, it is even more important that we create times for Sabbath in our homes and our lives. If you don’t, the world will gladly eat up all your time with its noise, with its screens, and with its endless offerings and demands (Netflix anyone…). 

Sabbath is about rest and renewal. Sabbath is about creating space to be restored in one’s relationship with God, with others, and with all of creation. It is a time for joy. It’s a time for respite. It is a time for re-creating the life of God in you. The old meaning behind our word, recreation. It is a time for making expensive gifts to your pastor (Just making sure you were reading carefully). Sitting in front of a screen and being numbly entertained may be a welcome way of winding down, but does it restore us? Does it bring you together with those you love? 

It might, but it might also be a convenient way to ignore the real issues in our homes, hearts, and relationships (including with God). Yes, to a movie night, but what about a weekly unplugged night? No screens. Just people. Just a book. Just a walk. You could have a daily hour of reading where all in the home read. Resurrecting Sunday night family dinners is also a way of practicing Sabbath (as our date nights for couples). Maybe Sundays (after worship) you dedicate to family and friends. How are you doing with this or how might you begin? 

Spiritual Practices at Home: The Practice of Prayer

One of the essential spiritual practices of the Christian life in general and of living the faith at home, is the practice of prayer. A trait that should mark a “Christian home” is a home that is marked by regular prayer. Prayer is one of the chief means by which we pursue our relationship with God. Prayer is one of the chief means, perhaps the most fruitful and faithful, of inviting God into the nooks and crannies of our hurts and joys, pleasures and annoyances (Praying in traffic comes to mine). Prayer isn’t meant to be a pause from life, but part of life. 

Faithful discipleship involves the cultivation of faithful habits. We are creatures accustomed to and stubbornly inclined toward habituation. Creating routines of prayer in the home can help open ourselves to the often hidden, sometimes surprising, sparks of the Holy Spirit. One way of doing this is by praying in regular spots on a regular basis. Praying grace at meals or at least one meal, is a way of doing this. It’s also an easy way to start. Another is when you get up in the morning and when you go to sleep at night (or can’t sleep at night). 

After all, many people when trying to get up in the morning or prior to sleeping at night invoke the Lord’s name. (Often vigorously!). Expand it into a regular prayer. The great teachers of the spiritual life across the Christian Tradition recommend a daily time of prayer. For most people, this is probably best done at home. Maybe you have a prayer chair or family altar where you can have your “quiet time” with the Lord. It need not be long, being consistent for two minutes a day is better than occasionally praying for twenty minutes but then not again for a week. 

If you are praying with others, like a significant other, roommates, or the terrors of cuteness that we call children, you will need to adapt your prayer to what works for all. This may mean shorter and simpler types of prayer. That’s fine. Some families have a custom of Bible reading and prayer (“family devotions”) once a week or briefly at night, including some households that pray some form of the Daily Office or Compline. A home marked by prayer is a home opening itself to the love of God. How are you doing with this or how might you begin?

Spiritual Practices at Home: The Practice of Reminder

One of the essential spiritual practices of the Christian life in general and of living the faith at home, is the practice of reminder. “Out of sight, out of mind” is well-worn aphorism, because of its veracity. In our screen infested age, we might also say, “Screen in sight, no sight of mind.” This is due to the screen’s phenomenal power to capture our mind’s attention, obliterating the world around us. The practice of reminder is all about reminding ourselves of the reality of God and the reality of our commitment to the God of love revealed in Jesus Christ. 

This is more than simply a reminder, such as a post it-note on the refrigerator door or stapled to the dog’s tail (I apologize, the Cat Lovers of Canada requested I include that line). This is a symbolic reminder. We are symbol hungry and symbol making creatures. Nobody needs to tell us this. Nobody needs to tell people to decorate their homes with items that reflect who they are and what they value. Family pictures, movie posters, and so on. Yet, I ask, are there any symbols of the faith displayed in your home? (Red Sox pennants don’t count, close, but no!)

There is a long tradition of Eastern Christians displaying icons in their home, sometimes called an icon wall. In the West, there is the long and wonderful custom of a family altar. A small altar or devotional space that includes saints’ pictures, prayers, and is often changed to reflect the season of the Church year. In more Protestant circles, a prominently displayed family Bible and sometimes also, Bible verses. Among Anglican Christians, a visible Book of Common Prayer. Among Lutherans, a displayed casserole (Yes, that was joke. I prefer Lutefisk, anyway.)

It is not necessary to have a full chapel in your home (though some people have these, really), but it is wise to have some holy reminders, some symbols of the faith, to remind you of your Christian faith. In fact, the idea is for them to be less churchy and more-homey or less gathered church and more domestic church. Let it reflect your personality and any others in your household. Be as creative as you like. There are lots of resources out there. Start small. How are you doing with this or how might you begin?

Spiritual Practices at Home, intro

This Advent, I’ll be writing a three-part blog series, “Spiritual Practices at Home.” Advent is a wonderful season of the Church year for home observance with its Advent wreaths, calendars, and more. But here is the big secret…all the seasons of the Christian year are wonderful for home observance! Growth in discipleship, the pursuit of spirituality maturity, is an adventure of integrating faith in Christ with every aspect of our lives. Our homes, whether a humble room or grand house, influence us immensely and usually reflect ourselves in ways flattering and not so flattering (Really, it’s time to take down that M.C. Hammer poster.) 

Bringing your faith to bear visibly in the most intimate spaces of your life is an important step forward in the journey of Christian discipleship. Home observance of the faith is for all Christians. Certainly, there are practices that lend themselves to family life (in all the wonderful and weary forms it can take), but whether by yourself, with roommates, your significant other, your animal friend, or a house full of small people, the riches of our Christian heritage for daily life are immense. 

When observed faithfully, not perfectly, not dramatically, but regularly, over the months and years, they can serve as quiet shapers of our souls and steady channels of God’s grace, transforming us day by day into people of greater Spirit and Love. Are there particular aspects of home practice you are hoping I explore? (Perhaps the exorcism of that space filled with stuff you haven’t looked at in years?) Do you have recommendations or suggestions to make? They are always most welcome. Please share them as move through the series. 

The Confusion of Calling

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon and related themes from the second Sunday of Advent, on the Gospel text from Mark 1:1-8. 

“I feel called to become a priest.” This is not unfamiliar language to Christians. For many, it is merely churchy code for, “I want to become a priest.” The problem with this gap in understanding is that Biblically, many people who were called by God, wanted to do anything but answer that call. Moses protested God’s call because he wasn’t a good speaker. The prophet Jeremiah said he was too young. Before his conversion, Paul had been persecuting Christians and the last thing he wanted, one could imagine, was becoming one of them.  The idea of a call has embodied within it the idea that God compels you, urges you or invites you to do something. Yes, you have to respond in the affirmative (as Blessed Mary did), though in the case of the prophet Jonah, sometimes saying no to God is difficult.

Traditionally, an individual’s call must be recognized both by the individual and the community. So it isn’t enough for Jane to say “God is calling me to be a priest. Ordain me already!” The community must also, through a careful process of discernment and prayer, affirm that sense of call. In some cultures and situations, it is actually the community that identifies the individual as having a calling. In most Christian Churches, both the individual and the community must recognize that call in order for the person to be ordained. Also, training requirements vary greatly across denominations, with some Churches emphasizing calling and the equipping power of the Holy Spirit well over training (and thus their training requirements are quite minimal or non-existent) and some Churches emphasizing preparation and professional training over a sense of spiritual call. For most denominations, the actual practice is somewhere in the middle.

Confusing and complicating all of this are questions of “what constitutes a sense of call?” Does it mean a man or woman simply enjoys helping other people? Does it mean that having some mysterious spiritual experience of call is necessary? These are all questions that have been debated and defined over the centuries. A more global concern is whether calling is the special province of clergy. It is not. All Christians receive callings. Indeed, people of no faith or other faiths will often express a sense of calling. The language being less churchy, “I felt this is what I should be doing.” “Things kept leading me to this field.” Even in secular literature and the experience of people who live without explicitly religious faith, many experience a sense of “things they should be doing” or “burdens that came to them” or “life missions.” I always encourage people to find a calling, not just job or a career. For many people, this sense is found in marriage and family life, and less so in their job which helps to support their genuine sense of calling to family life or a particular passion.

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?  

Keep Awake!

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon and related themes from the first Sunday of Advent, on the Gospel text from Mark 13:24-37.

This passage, is which is known as the little apocalypse, has inspired much speculation, anxiety, and creative interpretation over the centuries. The Bible has several books or sections of books that feature apocalyptic writing, mostly famously, The Book of Revelation. This genre of Biblical literature deals with difficult subject matter like heaven, hell, judgment, and upheaval of the established order. 

Advent is an apocalyptic season of the Church year. This seems entirely strange and alien to the general spirit of “holiday cheer” going on around us. However, if you have ever seen a group of children tearing into their Christmas presents, with the wrappings flying in the air, and much “weeping and gnashing” of teeth over presents received and not received, you can find plenty of apocalyptic moments in the “most wonderful time of year” (never mind holiday traffic!). 

Advent readings, like Mark 13, put the Christian out of step with the pace of the world. We’re invited to “Keep Awake” and be ready for the return of the Savior, while the world is getting ready for Santa Claus, Christmas cookies and lots of holiday parties --- some with inappropriate drama, some with tippy toe family drama. For some, being awake this time of year is painful, because they are all too aware of what other people have and they do not. 

Mark 13 is a reminder to “Keep Awake,” which suggests, that perhaps many of us are, for all intents and purposes, sleep walking our lives away. It might also suggest that we need spiritual lasik surgery in order to truly see what matters in life. Jesus’ return or our return to Jesus will put everything in our lives in perspective. One woman facing breast cancer put it this way:

“You take a long look at your life and realize that many things that you thought were important before are totally insignificant. That’s probably been the major change in my life. What you do is put things in perspective. You find out that’s like relationships are really the impost things you have -=-- the people you know and your family – everything else is just way down the line. It’s strange that it takes something so serious to make you realize that.”

In a sense, cancer is an unwanted apocalyptic event. It upheaves a life. It brings fear of death and whether from God or a person’s own conscience, brings judgment. This comparison can be pushed too far, but certainly, the idea of Christ’s return or our own return to Christ should carry with it a force that rouses us to reflection and not merely morbid anxiety.

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about? 

Preparing for Advent

Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year. This year it begins on Sunday, December 2, and concludes on Monday, December 24. Advent is a season of preparation. Not only is Advent about preparing to celebrate the first coming of Christ as a baby, but it’s also about preparing for Christ’s second coming as judge. In Advent we are reminded that the Christmas story began thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, with the people of Israel. In Advent we are reminded that the Christmas story is not over; Jesus will return. On that day we will sing the old carol “Joy to the World! the Lord is come; let earth receive her King” in a whole new way.

Advent is a rich season with many ancient customs for individuals, couples, and families to observe. Sadly, many Christians fail to celebrate Advent meaningful. This is because observing Advent is counter-cultural. Advent challenges us to wait, to hold off on celebrating Christmas until we’ve prepared ourselves rightly. I believe that a real observance of Advent by individuals, couples, and families would transform our faith, making it a part of our daily lives. In order for this to happen we have to prepare ourselves for Advent. If we don’t plan for Advent our lives will be shaped by the frenzy of the holiday season.   

Today, and certainly no later than this week, take time out by yourself, with a friend, or with your family to plan for Advent. Think of planning now as a deposit on an investment, an investment that will profit in transformed lives as you and yours observe this ancient and wondrous season of the Christian year.

Here are some resources to help you get started.

Feel free in the comments section to share your own resources and ideas.

The Advent Conspiracy

The Spirituality of Advent by the Archbishop of Canterbury

How to Make and Use an Advent Wreath

What is Advent? An Introduction

Advent Customs

Lots more Advent Resources from the Anglican tradition