Practicing the Presence of God
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Practicing the Presence of God February 7, 2010
Texts: 1 Corinthians 9:25; Daniel 6:1-11
BIG IDEA: We become like Christ by practicing the presence of God through a rule of life.
Props: trellis, bell, pointer.
(Disclaimer about attire and nature of the sermon)
Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian education psychologist, made a public appeal for a woman—any woman—to marry him. He had a written a book in the 1960s called Bringing Up Genius!, a book that expressed his conviction that great performers are made not born. He wanted to prove his idea by raising some kids of his own. So, he broadcast his need for a wife. Amazingly, Klara a school teacher from the Ukraine agreed to marry Laszlo and conduct this experiment.
They had three daughters Susan, Sophia, and Judit. Although Laszlo was only a mediocre chess player and Karla showed no ability at chess at all, they devoted their lives to teaching their girls how to play chess. They quit their jobs and homeschooled their daughters—prioritizing several hours each day to chess instruction.
What happened? At age 21 Susan became the first woman ever to be named a grand master, the highest rank in the world of chess. Not long afterwards, Judit became a grand master at the age of fifteen, the youngest person of either gender to win the prestigious designation. Sophia, who was considered the least committed to the chess of the sisters, did become the sixth-ranked woman in the world. When Susan, Sophia, and Judit competed as team in the Women’s Olympiad, they achieved Hungary’s first ever victory against the Soviet Union and became national heroes. The Polgar sisters had devoted their lives to the game, and emerged as world-class players. But when the sisters were in their twenties, all three sisters independently decided that there was more to life than chess. “It’s not that chess was too much for me,” Sophia said, “it was too little.” The sisters got married, had kids of their own, and eased up on the chess-focused work.1
As accomplished as they had become as chess players, each of the Polgar sisters became aware as young adults that chess for them was not a pursuit worthy of their entire lives.
Is there something you feel is worthy of your entire life?
Something you deeply want to pursue with every part of you?
Many people admire Olympic athletes because of their focused dedication to sport.
Perhaps you dream of becoming an accomplished athlete (maybe not a world-class athlete, but great in some sport); or maybe you long to be a skilled artist.
It could be you want to truly distinguish yourself in your work as a teacher, doctor, or business leader. Or become a loving spouse or wise parent.
Or maybe you have yet to discover that one thing to give your life for.
Some of feel us that if God were to appear to us as he did to Moses in the flames of a burning bush, or if he sent us a message typed out in the clouds, then we too might have something truly worthy of giving our entire lives for. But, if we are followers of Christ we already have a call so lofty, so all encompassing, that it is worthy of all that we have—we have a call from God to build our lives on the cornerstone of his son Jesus Christ: A call to become like him and to embody God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
But how do we become a person who reflects God’s life-giving presence for others? An important ingredient in becoming this kind of person is practice. Paul told his young protégé Timothy (1 Timothy 4:7), “Train yourself to be godly.”
1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul using an athletic image says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” Paul had likely been in Corinth during the Isthmian Games, second only the Olympics, during the games of A.D. 51.
We know how absurd it would be for someone to try win a race in a tournament by simply “trying” on the day race and not “training.”
Passion is very important in succeeding in something, but passion is not enough. Let’s say you’re a huge hockey fan and more than anything else you want Canada to win the Olympic gold medal here in Vancouver. And let’s say the coach of Team Canada men’s team, Mike Babock, phones you this afternoon and says, “Our top two goalies, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur, have just sustained injuries and are unable to play for Team Canada. I understand you’re one of most enthusiastic hockey fans ever, would you wear the team Canada jersey (show jersey) and play goalie for team Canada?” There’s a part of you that really wants to do this for Canada—and God knows you’d do your best—but you also know you’re not ready to play at that level because you haven’t been training for that kind of competition. You say, “When I roll off the couch and move the fridge, I get a little short of breath.” You’re not ready.
Every Olympic athlete knows that excelling in your game begins with good old-fashioned hard work. There is no magic pill, no such thing as effortless grace. In sports we see how practice leads to growth.
Shikuza Arakawa (show photo) a figure skater from Japan won the Olympic gold medal in Turin at the last winter games. Arakawa’s specialty was what some called the Ina Bauer—bending backwards almost double with the feet pointing in opposite directions—and then moving to a three jump combination. Perfecting such a move takes a huge amount of practice. For Arakawa, it took almost 20 years of practice (she began skating at age 5). A conservative estimate, Arakawa’s path to gold meant she fell on her butt, on the cold hard ice, about 20,000 times.
This is also true in music. People simply don’t become accomplished musicians without practice. A famous study of music students in Berlin’s elite Academy of Music has shown that no elite professional musician floats to the top without effort. Those of the persons who emerged as elite musicians—without exception— practiced 10,000 hours. What about Mozart? Wasn’t he simply endowed from on high? He was no doubt extraordinarily gifted, but more current scholarship has demonstrated even Mozart didn’t compose original work that is now considered a masterwork until his was 21; that is, until he been composing for 10 years. Many people believed for 200 years that Mozart could compose major pieces in his head and then write them out complete. That belief was based on a famous letter which has since proven to be a forgery. Mozart was extremely talented, but also had to practice like everyone else.
Great athletes, accomplished musicians, skilled teachers and carpenters, and wise parents have a path (conscious or unconscious) to prepare them to thrive in their roles.
Sometimes we believe our spiritual life is an exception to this rule. We may think we can grow without effort—that it will just happen, perhaps by luck or through a zap from God.
But, those who flourish in their spiritual lives with God have a “rule of life”--some kind of “trellis” and a set of practices that enable them to become who they are. They train themselves to be godly (1 Timothy 4: 7). We cannot attain inner transformation apart from God’s gracious work in us. Apart from Christ indwelling us, we can bear no fruit (John 15:5). But, we are also called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, precisely because it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Phil 2:11-13). Grace, as Dallas Willard reminds us, is not opposed to effort, but earning.
A farmer cannot grow corn on his own, but he can cultivate the soil, sow seeds, and water the ground and trust that powers beyond his control will enable the grain to grow.
A sailor cannot produce the wind to sail a boat. But a sailor can raise and trim the sails, and position the rudder so that when the wind comes the boat will move.
It it’s very attractive to believe that accomplished athletes, skilled musicians, and professional people are simply gifted from God, because that lets us off the “hook.” But if we have a role in our spiritual development, then it means we are called to take ownership of our spiritual lives.
One of the practical ways we do ownership of our spirituals—to live a life where we “practice the presence of God”-- is through a rule of life.
The word “rule” has negative connotations for many people, but don’t let the word “rule” intimidate you. The word “rule” comes from the Greek word that means “trellis.” A rule of life is simply a trellis that enables us to grow upward and become freer and more fruitful (show image of the trellis—use pointer). For a grapevine to grow and to produce its best fruit, it requires a trellis (or some kind of support system) so it can be pruned and guided in its growth.
So, it is for us. In order to grow and flourish in our relationship with God, we need some kind of trellis, some kind of structure (like an athlete or musician) that will enable us to organize our lives so that Christ is at the core.
Without some kind of rule of life, some kind of trellis, we can have the best of intentions—even great passion, but like someone playing hockey who desperately wants to play well, but has no rhythm for practice--we will find ourselves running out of gas on the ice or find ourselves tripping and crashing into the boards…
Without a rule of life we can find ourselves running out of gas, feeling spiritual burned out. Without a rule we can find that we don’t have capacity to stand with Christ-like integrity in a particular arena of life… (We’ve all had some kind of integrity collapse). I have a friend who is a devout follower of Christ who was unfaithful to his wife. When he was asked about it later, he said that he had (among other things) become so busy with his work, and his traveling, that he felt that he could not afford to honor God’s commandment to take a Sabbath each week. So instead of taking a Sabbath day once a week, he said he would take a Sabbath day once every ten days…or 12 days…or 15 days. Without being fully aware of it, his soul was leaking and he was become spiritually weak; and, in that state of vulnerability, he violated his code, God’s code for him. A rule of life helps a person. A create a kind of rhythm where we are resting and receiving life and strength from God.
A rule of life helps us build a trellis so that we experience each part of our lives: our work and rest, our study and play, our times of solitude and times with people as prayer … as prayer. A rule enables us to receive the life of the Spirit in each part of life so we become like Christ and embody more of God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
In a monastery, a monk’s life is guided by a certain rule, a certain rhythm —that is literally dictated by a bell (use bell).
A monk or nun knows that time is not their own and when a bell rings, they must stop what they are doing and move on to what is being asked of them. Saint Benedict said the monk must put down his pen without crossing his “t” or dotting his “I”.2 Monks recognize that there is a proper time and place to do things: sleep, eat, pray, work, play and recognize that each part of their lives helps to form them in the life of Christ. The beauty of living by a rule of life is that we have a bell that enables to give each instance of life the time it deserves (not necessarily the time we feel like giving it). In the midst all of the time pressure in our lives, our monastic bell can pause, and experience Christ in each part of our lives. A rule of life allows us to pray without feeling guilty that we’re not working, and to work in a way that enables to see our work as a prayer.
Daniel was a person in Scripture who lived by a rule and bell. As a young man, Daniel’s homeland of Judah was besieged by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (in about the year 600 B.C.). Daniel and a number of his contemporaries were deported to Babylon. As a young man Daniel was cut off from his family, his friends, his teachers, his culture, and his language. A potential leader in the Babylonian Empire, he was sent to the elite university of his new land; and he was immersed in a completely pagan way of viewing history, science, philosophy, and religion. He was also being exposed to astrology, sorcery and magic—all things that were considered idolatrous in his homeland Israel. Yet, rather than being carried out to sea by the cultural wave of Babylon, Daniel is able to resist. He puts his life at risk by choosing to not swear allegiance to the King of Babylon (shown by his refusal to eat at the king’s table).
But, he prays—even when praying is a crime punishable by death at the mouths of ravenous lions. In his work at the government, he distinguishes himself as a person with an excellent spirit and unassailable integrity (Daniel 6). How does he do it? Daniel does not leave this to chance his life with God to chance. He has a plan to develop and sustain his life with God. Daniel was not a cloistered monk, nor of clergy, and precisely because he was very much in the world, he felt like he needed to live by a rule of life. Daniel made it his practice to kneel and prays three times a day (Daniel 6:10) even when he knows this may cost him his life. Through this daily rhythm of praying toward the temple, Daniel centers his life on God and receives the life-sustaining presence of the Spirit which empowers him to live a life faithful to God.
When we become people who structure our lives so that we spend time in the presence of the living God--in prayer meditation, the Word, in nature, with people, through service—and see some secular things as prayer.. work, study, recreation and the unique places where we are meeting God--we become people who bear the life of God and are able to live with a new kind of energy in the world.
So what does a rule of life look like?
Some of the categories that we might think about in a rule of life may include:
(Please reach for the sheet)
§ SABBATH: Taking time to rest, worship, and embrace life.
(If you have stories about Sabbath or other spiritual please share your story on our blog… for the encouragement of others).
§ PRAYER: Finding a daily rhythm of seeking God.
o FAMILY: Honoring our family relationships. (We all operate consciously or unconsciously with some kind of rule. If spending time with family is important to you, you might have rule that says we eat dinner together. You think of it as a rule, but it’s a rule.)
§ STUDY: Learning about God, ourselves, and the world.
§ WORK: Seeing work as part of our worship.
§ SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIPS: Walking with spiritual companions.
§ FINANCIAL LIFE: Using our income in a way that honors God.
§ CARE FOR THE BODY: Getting adequate sleep, exercise, and practicing healthy eating habits.
§ SEXUALITY: Using our sexual energy in healthy ways that honor God’s design for us. (Vancouver is a gateway city)
(This is going to sound like we’re going on bit of a detour, but stay with me… Vancouver is a city where women and children are vulnerable to being trafficked into the sex trade. With the Olympics here there will be more demand than ever for purchasing sex. We believe that buying and selling of sex is a violation of a person's dignity, so we supporting this (show T-Shirt) campaign: Buying Sex is Not Sport. If you’d like to support this campaign advocating on behalf of women and children at risk of being coerced into the sex trade, then please considering buying one of these shirts in the back.)
§ RECREATION: Having a life beyond work and doing things that re-create us. Play can be a form of prayer.
§ MISSION: Participating in God’s mission to redeem the earth spiritually, socially, and environmentally. (The rule is not a self-improvement but it’s a quest become like Christ and to embody more God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
(Over the next several weeks we’ll be looking at some of the pieces of this rule.)
Is there ONE part you feel led to work to start on?
So how do we actually build a rule of life?
How do we begin? (Let’s give a word here and unpack others later).
Build Slowly
A sustainable rule of life will be built slowly one section at a time, tested and continually revised.
It won’t be helpful to hear about a rule of life and conclude, “I have been a lazy bum. I haven’t been very disciplined about prayer, eating, and exercising. Starting tomorrow morning I am going to get up at 4:00 in the morning and spend an hour in prayer, an hour reading the Bible, and then I am going to go to the park, run 10 k, come back, have a nutritious breakfast. Then I will go to work, come home by 6:00 p.m., eat dinner with the family, do my e-mail, watch part of the hockey game on TV, and start reading The Brothers Karamazov.”
What will happen? First of all, you are probably going to arrive late at work--all hot and sweaty because you did not have time to take a shower. And then you are going to be up until 2:00 a.m. in the morning trying to get everything done. And the next morning when the alarm goes off at 4:00, you are going to hit the snooze button repeatedly and pray while you are going to work.
So it’s important to build a rule of life slowly one category at a time.
What part of the rule would be most fruitful to begin with for you?
I was just with someone last week in Toronto who heard me teach on this rule of life in Mexico a couple of years ago. Jacob told me he took this outline and has kept it in his journal. And the one he’s been working is care of the body: getting enough sleep and exercise and this has helped in all the other areas of life. For you it might be something else.
What part of the rule would be most helpful for you to begin with? Where do you feel the greatest amount of need, or energy or joy?
We who follow Christ have a call that is worthy of our entire life.
We have a call so lofty--so all encompassing that it is worthy of all that we have—we have a call to become like Christ and to embody his life-giving presence in the world for others.
With a such a great, lofty call—doesn’t it make sense to have a pathway to fulfill this call?
Doesn’t it make sense to have a trellis, some kind of rule of life?
There is no short-cut to becoming like Christ. This is the business of our whole lives. So let’s begin.
Practicing the Presence of God February 7, 2010
Texts: 1 Corinthians 9:25; Daniel 6:1-11
BIG IDEA: We become like Christ by practicing the presence of God through a rule of life.
Props: trellis, bell, pointer.
(Disclaimer about attire and nature of the sermon)
Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian education psychologist, made a public appeal for a woman—any woman—to marry him. He had a written a book in the 1960s called Bringing Up Genius!, a book that expressed his conviction that great performers are made not born. He wanted to prove his idea by raising some kids of his own. So, he broadcast his need for a wife. Amazingly, Klara a school teacher from the Ukraine agreed to marry Laszlo and conduct this experiment.
They had three daughters Susan, Sophia, and Judit. Although Laszlo was only a mediocre chess player and Karla showed no ability at chess at all, they devoted their lives to teaching their girls how to play chess. They quit their jobs and homeschooled their daughters—prioritizing several hours each day to chess instruction.
What happened? At age 21 Susan became the first woman ever to be named a grand master, the highest rank in the world of chess. Not long afterwards, Judit became a grand master at the age of fifteen, the youngest person of either gender to win the prestigious designation. Sophia, who was considered the least committed to the chess of the sisters, did become the sixth-ranked woman in the world. When Susan, Sophia, and Judit competed as team in the Women’s Olympiad, they achieved Hungary’s first ever victory against the Soviet Union and became national heroes. The Polgar sisters had devoted their lives to the game, and emerged as world-class players. But when the sisters were in their twenties, all three sisters independently decided that there was more to life than chess. “It’s not that chess was too much for me,” Sophia said, “it was too little.” The sisters got married, had kids of their own, and eased up on the chess-focused work.1
As accomplished as they had become as chess players, each of the Polgar sisters became aware as young adults that chess for them was not a pursuit worthy of their entire lives.
Is there something you feel is worthy of your entire life?
Something you deeply want to pursue with every part of you?
Many people admire Olympic athletes because of their focused dedication to sport.
Perhaps you dream of becoming an accomplished athlete (maybe not a world-class athlete, but great in some sport); or maybe you long to be a skilled artist.
It could be you want to truly distinguish yourself in your work as a teacher, doctor, or business leader. Or become a loving spouse or wise parent.
Or maybe you have yet to discover that one thing to give your life for.
Some of feel us that if God were to appear to us as he did to Moses in the flames of a burning bush, or if he sent us a message typed out in the clouds, then we too might have something truly worthy of giving our entire lives for. But, if we are followers of Christ we already have a call so lofty, so all encompassing, that it is worthy of all that we have—we have a call from God to build our lives on the cornerstone of his son Jesus Christ: A call to become like him and to embody God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
But how do we become a person who reflects God’s life-giving presence for others? An important ingredient in becoming this kind of person is practice. Paul told his young protégé Timothy (1 Timothy 4:7), “Train yourself to be godly.”
1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul using an athletic image says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” Paul had likely been in Corinth during the Isthmian Games, second only the Olympics, during the games of A.D. 51.
We know how absurd it would be for someone to try win a race in a tournament by simply “trying” on the day race and not “training.”
Passion is very important in succeeding in something, but passion is not enough. Let’s say you’re a huge hockey fan and more than anything else you want Canada to win the Olympic gold medal here in Vancouver. And let’s say the coach of Team Canada men’s team, Mike Babock, phones you this afternoon and says, “Our top two goalies, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur, have just sustained injuries and are unable to play for Team Canada. I understand you’re one of most enthusiastic hockey fans ever, would you wear the team Canada jersey (show jersey) and play goalie for team Canada?” There’s a part of you that really wants to do this for Canada—and God knows you’d do your best—but you also know you’re not ready to play at that level because you haven’t been training for that kind of competition. You say, “When I roll off the couch and move the fridge, I get a little short of breath.” You’re not ready.
Every Olympic athlete knows that excelling in your game begins with good old-fashioned hard work. There is no magic pill, no such thing as effortless grace. In sports we see how practice leads to growth.
Shikuza Arakawa (show photo) a figure skater from Japan won the Olympic gold medal in Turin at the last winter games. Arakawa’s specialty was what some called the Ina Bauer—bending backwards almost double with the feet pointing in opposite directions—and then moving to a three jump combination. Perfecting such a move takes a huge amount of practice. For Arakawa, it took almost 20 years of practice (she began skating at age 5). A conservative estimate, Arakawa’s path to gold meant she fell on her butt, on the cold hard ice, about 20,000 times.
This is also true in music. People simply don’t become accomplished musicians without practice. A famous study of music students in Berlin’s elite Academy of Music has shown that no elite professional musician floats to the top without effort. Those of the persons who emerged as elite musicians—without exception— practiced 10,000 hours. What about Mozart? Wasn’t he simply endowed from on high? He was no doubt extraordinarily gifted, but more current scholarship has demonstrated even Mozart didn’t compose original work that is now considered a masterwork until his was 21; that is, until he been composing for 10 years. Many people believed for 200 years that Mozart could compose major pieces in his head and then write them out complete. That belief was based on a famous letter which has since proven to be a forgery. Mozart was extremely talented, but also had to practice like everyone else.
Great athletes, accomplished musicians, skilled teachers and carpenters, and wise parents have a path (conscious or unconscious) to prepare them to thrive in their roles.
Sometimes we believe our spiritual life is an exception to this rule. We may think we can grow without effort—that it will just happen, perhaps by luck or through a zap from God.
But, those who flourish in their spiritual lives with God have a “rule of life”--some kind of “trellis” and a set of practices that enable them to become who they are. They train themselves to be godly (1 Timothy 4: 7). We cannot attain inner transformation apart from God’s gracious work in us. Apart from Christ indwelling us, we can bear no fruit (John 15:5). But, we are also called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, precisely because it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose (Phil 2:11-13). Grace, as Dallas Willard reminds us, is not opposed to effort, but earning.
A farmer cannot grow corn on his own, but he can cultivate the soil, sow seeds, and water the ground and trust that powers beyond his control will enable the grain to grow.
A sailor cannot produce the wind to sail a boat. But a sailor can raise and trim the sails, and position the rudder so that when the wind comes the boat will move.
It it’s very attractive to believe that accomplished athletes, skilled musicians, and professional people are simply gifted from God, because that lets us off the “hook.” But if we have a role in our spiritual development, then it means we are called to take ownership of our spiritual lives.
One of the practical ways we do ownership of our spirituals—to live a life where we “practice the presence of God”-- is through a rule of life.
The word “rule” has negative connotations for many people, but don’t let the word “rule” intimidate you. The word “rule” comes from the Greek word that means “trellis.” A rule of life is simply a trellis that enables us to grow upward and become freer and more fruitful (show image of the trellis—use pointer). For a grapevine to grow and to produce its best fruit, it requires a trellis (or some kind of support system) so it can be pruned and guided in its growth.
So, it is for us. In order to grow and flourish in our relationship with God, we need some kind of trellis, some kind of structure (like an athlete or musician) that will enable us to organize our lives so that Christ is at the core.
Without some kind of rule of life, some kind of trellis, we can have the best of intentions—even great passion, but like someone playing hockey who desperately wants to play well, but has no rhythm for practice--we will find ourselves running out of gas on the ice or find ourselves tripping and crashing into the boards…
Without a rule of life we can find ourselves running out of gas, feeling spiritual burned out. Without a rule we can find that we don’t have capacity to stand with Christ-like integrity in a particular arena of life… (We’ve all had some kind of integrity collapse). I have a friend who is a devout follower of Christ who was unfaithful to his wife. When he was asked about it later, he said that he had (among other things) become so busy with his work, and his traveling, that he felt that he could not afford to honor God’s commandment to take a Sabbath each week. So instead of taking a Sabbath day once a week, he said he would take a Sabbath day once every ten days…or 12 days…or 15 days. Without being fully aware of it, his soul was leaking and he was become spiritually weak; and, in that state of vulnerability, he violated his code, God’s code for him. A rule of life helps a person. A create a kind of rhythm where we are resting and receiving life and strength from God.
A rule of life helps us build a trellis so that we experience each part of our lives: our work and rest, our study and play, our times of solitude and times with people as prayer … as prayer. A rule enables us to receive the life of the Spirit in each part of life so we become like Christ and embody more of God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
In a monastery, a monk’s life is guided by a certain rule, a certain rhythm —that is literally dictated by a bell (use bell).
A monk or nun knows that time is not their own and when a bell rings, they must stop what they are doing and move on to what is being asked of them. Saint Benedict said the monk must put down his pen without crossing his “t” or dotting his “I”.2 Monks recognize that there is a proper time and place to do things: sleep, eat, pray, work, play and recognize that each part of their lives helps to form them in the life of Christ. The beauty of living by a rule of life is that we have a bell that enables to give each instance of life the time it deserves (not necessarily the time we feel like giving it). In the midst all of the time pressure in our lives, our monastic bell can pause, and experience Christ in each part of our lives. A rule of life allows us to pray without feeling guilty that we’re not working, and to work in a way that enables to see our work as a prayer.
Daniel was a person in Scripture who lived by a rule and bell. As a young man, Daniel’s homeland of Judah was besieged by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (in about the year 600 B.C.). Daniel and a number of his contemporaries were deported to Babylon. As a young man Daniel was cut off from his family, his friends, his teachers, his culture, and his language. A potential leader in the Babylonian Empire, he was sent to the elite university of his new land; and he was immersed in a completely pagan way of viewing history, science, philosophy, and religion. He was also being exposed to astrology, sorcery and magic—all things that were considered idolatrous in his homeland Israel. Yet, rather than being carried out to sea by the cultural wave of Babylon, Daniel is able to resist. He puts his life at risk by choosing to not swear allegiance to the King of Babylon (shown by his refusal to eat at the king’s table).
But, he prays—even when praying is a crime punishable by death at the mouths of ravenous lions. In his work at the government, he distinguishes himself as a person with an excellent spirit and unassailable integrity (Daniel 6). How does he do it? Daniel does not leave this to chance his life with God to chance. He has a plan to develop and sustain his life with God. Daniel was not a cloistered monk, nor of clergy, and precisely because he was very much in the world, he felt like he needed to live by a rule of life. Daniel made it his practice to kneel and prays three times a day (Daniel 6:10) even when he knows this may cost him his life. Through this daily rhythm of praying toward the temple, Daniel centers his life on God and receives the life-sustaining presence of the Spirit which empowers him to live a life faithful to God.
When we become people who structure our lives so that we spend time in the presence of the living God--in prayer meditation, the Word, in nature, with people, through service—and see some secular things as prayer.. work, study, recreation and the unique places where we are meeting God--we become people who bear the life of God and are able to live with a new kind of energy in the world.
So what does a rule of life look like?
Some of the categories that we might think about in a rule of life may include:
(Please reach for the sheet)
§ SABBATH: Taking time to rest, worship, and embrace life.
(If you have stories about Sabbath or other spiritual please share your story on our blog… for the encouragement of others).
§ PRAYER: Finding a daily rhythm of seeking God.
o FAMILY: Honoring our family relationships. (We all operate consciously or unconsciously with some kind of rule. If spending time with family is important to you, you might have rule that says we eat dinner together. You think of it as a rule, but it’s a rule.)
§ STUDY: Learning about God, ourselves, and the world.
§ WORK: Seeing work as part of our worship.
§ SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIPS: Walking with spiritual companions.
§ FINANCIAL LIFE: Using our income in a way that honors God.
§ CARE FOR THE BODY: Getting adequate sleep, exercise, and practicing healthy eating habits.
§ SEXUALITY: Using our sexual energy in healthy ways that honor God’s design for us. (Vancouver is a gateway city)
(This is going to sound like we’re going on bit of a detour, but stay with me… Vancouver is a city where women and children are vulnerable to being trafficked into the sex trade. With the Olympics here there will be more demand than ever for purchasing sex. We believe that buying and selling of sex is a violation of a person's dignity, so we supporting this (show T-Shirt) campaign: Buying Sex is Not Sport. If you’d like to support this campaign advocating on behalf of women and children at risk of being coerced into the sex trade, then please considering buying one of these shirts in the back.)
§ RECREATION: Having a life beyond work and doing things that re-create us. Play can be a form of prayer.
§ MISSION: Participating in God’s mission to redeem the earth spiritually, socially, and environmentally. (The rule is not a self-improvement but it’s a quest become like Christ and to embody more God’s life-giving presence in the world for others.
(Over the next several weeks we’ll be looking at some of the pieces of this rule.)
Is there ONE part you feel led to work to start on?
So how do we actually build a rule of life?
How do we begin? (Let’s give a word here and unpack others later).
Build Slowly
A sustainable rule of life will be built slowly one section at a time, tested and continually revised.
It won’t be helpful to hear about a rule of life and conclude, “I have been a lazy bum. I haven’t been very disciplined about prayer, eating, and exercising. Starting tomorrow morning I am going to get up at 4:00 in the morning and spend an hour in prayer, an hour reading the Bible, and then I am going to go to the park, run 10 k, come back, have a nutritious breakfast. Then I will go to work, come home by 6:00 p.m., eat dinner with the family, do my e-mail, watch part of the hockey game on TV, and start reading The Brothers Karamazov.”
What will happen? First of all, you are probably going to arrive late at work--all hot and sweaty because you did not have time to take a shower. And then you are going to be up until 2:00 a.m. in the morning trying to get everything done. And the next morning when the alarm goes off at 4:00, you are going to hit the snooze button repeatedly and pray while you are going to work.
So it’s important to build a rule of life slowly one category at a time.
What part of the rule would be most fruitful to begin with for you?
I was just with someone last week in Toronto who heard me teach on this rule of life in Mexico a couple of years ago. Jacob told me he took this outline and has kept it in his journal. And the one he’s been working is care of the body: getting enough sleep and exercise and this has helped in all the other areas of life. For you it might be something else.
What part of the rule would be most helpful for you to begin with? Where do you feel the greatest amount of need, or energy or joy?
We who follow Christ have a call that is worthy of our entire life.
We have a call so lofty--so all encompassing that it is worthy of all that we have—we have a call to become like Christ and to embody his life-giving presence in the world for others.
With a such a great, lofty call—doesn’t it make sense to have a pathway to fulfill this call?
Doesn’t it make sense to have a trellis, some kind of rule of life?
There is no short-cut to becoming like Christ. This is the business of our whole lives. So let’s begin.
posted by Shigematsu at 4:35 PM
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