In some church
circles, we have seen an explosion of interest in being deliberate about
adopting spiritual practices. It deals with the question of
how one grows spiritually, or are we content with an assurance of salvation for
the next life, but wander about in this one.
Some have adopted ancient traditions such as fasting,
while others emphasize careful attention to habits of faith such as not judging
others or forgiveness.
Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, urged
his group to conduct a daily review before sleep. At this time of year, people
naturally extend it into a year review. Some illustrative questions would be:
Where did you see the hand of God in the year past? When did you feel the
presence of God in the year past (and when was it glaringly absent)? Does an
event rise up that demands spiritual attention?
Many of us have long ago given up on New Year’s
resolutions. Some of us figure that we are so close to perfection, so why
should we bother with a resolution. Some of us do not want to face the failure
of not living up to yet another personal vow for improvement. Lately
resolutions seem to deal much more with weight, exercise, and eating properly
more than seeking inner virtues.
One crucial facet in examining one’s spiritual life is
our basic orientation. Do we live in our own head or heart more? Do we require
contemplation or action? Are we more social or more introverted? I would ask
that folks consider making some sort of spiritual inventory and decide to try
to work with one of the virtues listed. One could choose to strengthen an
already powerful one or to work on a perceived weakness.
One writer who touched me deeply some years ago is
Marjorie Thompson. In Soul Feast, she listed a number of basic spiritual
practices to open our spiritual horizons. One of her items is spiritual
reading. For many, that would include reading the Bible. We can give some
thought to doing that simple exercise. Are we reading for content or insight? A
fine monastic tradition is to read a passage slowly until a word, an issue, a
character jumps out at you and then you reflect on it. I like to read the Bible
with three sets of glasses: What is the background, what issues is it
presenting for that time, and what contemporary issues am I bringing into my
reading? In other words, reading the bible can take us into new depths, new
spiritual territory as we wrestle with its words and meaning.
Another item would
be various types of devotional literature. Again, we do well to assess our
strengths and weakness. I candidly admit that most of us read spiritual fast
food and rarely commit the time and effort to pushing our severely
circumscribed boundaries very much. In part that is due to our over-emphasis on
feeling states in the spiritual life to the neglect of thought, soulful
contemplation, and action in t he spiritual realm.
January’s name comes from the Roman god, Janus. Janus
had two faces, one looking backward and one looking forward. Anyone who says
that we can walk away from the past is foolish. The past forms us, even as we
react against it. It shapes the future itself. At the same time, we do look
forward. While the past has enormous impact, it is not a wooden destiny. Change
does occur, in incremental steps or in large events. Surprise is always part of
human experience. Always, we live in tension with the past and the new moment
that is 2015. May it be a year that we can look back upon with real fondness.
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