Foster - Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition: the Path to Spiritual Growth

Forty years ago there was an abysmal ignorance of how we grow in grace, entering into ever fuller and deeper Christlikeness. I penned Celebration of Discipline in response to this crying need.

The response was a genuine surprise. And overwhelming. The hunger for real, transforming power was greater that I ever could have imagined. Once people realized that progress in character formation is actually possible, they were seized with genuine hope and encouragement. Stories poured in; heartrending stories, hope-filled stories, stories of love and faith and fierce struggle.

Not everything was rosy. Many, many dear people, catching this vision of a with-God kind of life, felt isolated and orphaned even in quite good churches. Others lacked substantive teaching that could take them deeper. And the culture in general was so captivated by fads that it undermined the staying power of many... folks were quickly on to the next best thing.

Still, today, some forty years later, we can thank God for steps forward. Many no longer find spiritual discipline to be negative and off-putting. Vast numbers of ordinary folk have taken into their own lives Disciplines of the spiritual life that reflect the overall life of Jesus himself. And, they have indeed discovered these Spiritual Disciplines to be the means of Gods grace for the formation and transformation of heart and mind and spirit and body and soul. They have actually made progress forward in the spiritual life. What a wonder! What a grace! I thank God.

Now, lets consider together whether Celebration of Discipline is relevant to our cultural context today. So much has changed in the last four decades. Perhaps most important is the explosion of information technologies in our day. Back when I wrote Celebration, the internet was barely on the horizon and certainly still in the future for the average person. Cookies were for eating. Having a virus meant we were sick. Hackers were unheard of. But now, with the invention of the microchip, we have personal computers we can hold in our hands or strap to our wrists. Emailing, texting, tweeting, and much more have transformed modern communications.

Indeed, the explosion of information technologies that we are now experiencing is not unlike the explosion of information and the rapid dissemination of ideas produced by Gutenberg and his movable type in the fifteenth century. Today, however, the changes seem to be crashing in on us with lightning speed.

Nevertheless, and this is the crucial point, nothing in these amazing technologies touches the substance of the human personality. Our moral deficiencies are as glaring as ever... perhaps even more so, as a consuming pride grows stronger with every advance we make. Deep inside we still long for freedom from anger and bitterness and hostility. None of our gadgets are able to overcome the deep, destructive habit structures that reside in our souls. No technology is able to produce the character transformation we so desperately need. The gnawing hunger for the spiritual realities of love and joy and peace remains.

Our world, you see, has not changed all that much. The message of Celebration of Discipline is as relevant as ever. The needs are as great as ever. Divine resources are as available as ever.

There is one major difference that has occurred in the past forty years that does indeed impinge upon the spiritual life. I can state it in one word: distraction. Distraction is the primary spiritual problem in contemporary culture. Frankly, when we are perpetually distracted, we are unable to discern the Kol Yahweh, the voice of the Lord.

Oh, for the day when all we had to do was turn off the television if we wanted solitude and silence! Now, we click through an endless stream of internet links, write daily blogs, read tweets from God knows who, check our emails constantly, text family and others, and mindlessly scroll through Facebook.

Even more insidious are the ways we are bombarded by the broad distractions of constant noise, constant demands, constant news. Everyone, it seems, wants us to be accessible 24/7 and to respond instantly to any and every request. If we delay answering an email for even an hour or two people are worried that something is wrong with us. Neuroscience studies are now showing us that the neural pathways of our brains are being rewired accordingly, so that our physical capacity for sustained attention is decreasing.

We, of course, complain endlessly about our wired world. Butlets be honestwe do enjoy our technological gluttony.

There is, however, a better way to live. For all who are longing for a new start, allow me to provide you with a spiritual exercise (the Spiritual Disciplines can come in many forms) that can begin to free you from the crippling grip of multiple distractions. It comes in a little three-part rhythm:

Day One: For thirty minutes, turn off all technology... your smartphone does have an off button. Make a good strong cup of coffee or tea. Find a good place to sit. Begin by speaking aloud these words of the Psalmist: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (139:2324). Then, be still. No writing. No talking. Nothing. The objective here is to clear away all creaturely activity, to use a phrase from the old writers.

Day Two: Again, for thirty minutes, become free of all technology. Today, take a walk, allowing your footsteps to fall into the rhythm of your whispering of the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Day Three: Again, all technology is off for thirty minutes. A good cup of coffee or tea and a comfortable chair are in order. Begin with the simple prayer I composed for coffee time: O Spirit of God, blow across my little life and let me drink in your great Life. Amen. Next, ever so slowly, pray the words of the Lords Prayer (Matt. 6:913). With each phrase of the prayer add your own thoughts or concerns a little like you are decorating a Christmas tree with your own ornaments. See if your extended prayerful meditation will bring you to the end of the Lords Prayer at about the thirty-minute mark.

Days Four, Five, and Six: Repeat the same rhythm of days one, two, and three.

Day Seven: Use your technology to your hearts content.

Follow this three-part rhythm for several months, maybe a year. After some practice, you may want to extend your time to one hour rather than thirty minutes. Then, when you feel you are ready, you can take the next step: a twenty-four-hour retreat with no technology whatever. No radio. No smartphone. No laptop. No iPad. No MP3 player. Take a print Bible for reading and a pen and pad for writingno more than that. See what happens. Who knows, you just may be enabled to listen to Gods speech in his wondrous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence, to use the moving words of Catherine de Hueck Doherty. I recommend that you consider using this twenty-four-hour retreat pattern four times a year: winter, spring, summer, and fall.

These, of course, are beginning steps. You can add to them and extend them and modify them as your desires and needs call for it. Be encouraged by the teaching of Thomas Aquinas that habit overcomes habit. And remember that Jesus Christ, your living Teacher, will guide you.

What I have written here, as you can tell, is provided specifically for the fortieth anniversary of Celebration of Discipline. I rather imagine it will pass with the next edition. However, the foreword that is to follow will, I hope, become an evergreen piece in the