and a sweet treat of some kind!
Now I must confess to you that we have guests this weekend and we stayed up till the clock struck twelve last night, so this post will likely be loaded with (more) typos (than usual) and more brief. It's a good place for that, fortunately, because yesterday I said I'd share with you what the Spiritual Disciplines are. We'll keep it to that for today.
When I think of the Disciplines, my mind goes to prayer, fasting, and giving, several practices Jesus addresses in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Personal Bible study and repentance also come to mind. Did you come up with others? Let's see what Richard Foster includes in his book Celebration of Discipline.
He has the text divided into three parts: inward, outward, and corporate disciplines.
The Inward Disciplines
- Meditation
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Study
The Outward Disciplines
- Simplicity
- Solitude
- Submission
- Service
The Corporate Disciplines
- Confession
- Worship
- Guidance
- Celebration
We only have a week left in the series, so we will not be delving too much into any of these things, but perhaps we can spend a day on each category. I am intrigued by the idea of corporate disciplines. The Church can engage in practices together that draw them closer to the Lord. I think that is very cool. (Cool, such a profound vocabulary word, isn't it?!) I also wonder, in this stage of life with noise all around (all. the. time. - almost) about solitude. Perhaps your interest is piqued enough that you'll grab this book and give it a read; I think I need to, too!
That's all for today, folks. [yawn & stretch] Can you think of passages that Foster might use to support and/or explain choosing the disciplines he chose for his chapters? You can engage in the 'study' discipline this weekend to answer that question!
Tomorrow I'll have a Psalm of thanksgiving post for your reading pleasure. More on the Disciplines on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!!
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