Lenten Disciplines
A Reflection on Luke 12.13 given at the Merchantville Lenten Breakfast
March 5, 2003
"And when it was day, He called His disciples...."
J.W. Gregg Meister, Interlink Media
The Greek word for "disciple," mathytas,
carries with it a freight of meaning from the Greek, pre-Christian
culture which helps illumine the word as we find it in the
New Testament. It means "to direct one’s mind to something"
in the realm of education, but even more so to acquire a custom
or habit. The process of learning is for the practical engagement
of the skill or knowledge attained, not merely to intellectually
know something.
When we apply to ourselves, or at least hope
or want to apply to ourselves, the term "disciple," we are
implying that we are willing to direct our lives to the person
of Jesus Christ so that our life is aligned with His life.
We discipline ourselves to the orientation of Christ. Three
corollaries immediately follow.
- We find our basic, essential, fundamental knowledge about Christ in the Bible.
- We believe that the Jesus in the Bible is the Risen
and Alive Christ today. If one doesn’t believe this then there
is ultimately little compelling reason to orient oneself toward
Christ instead of, say, George Washington or Gandhi or Bill
Gates or oneself. If Christ is not alive now then directing
one’s life toward a person whose life experience led to a
cross is hardly a rational choice.
The third corollary is the one we will pursue this morning, namely that it
requires intentionality to live life as a disciple just as surely as it requires
intentionality to acquire any higher level skill or habit. You can’t learn touch
typing or lay bricks with out intending to acquire these skills, at least you
can’t do them well, so if we are to become even reasonably competent disciples
of the most significant person who ever lived and the only one who is resurrected
after death, it requires discipline.
Lent is a time to focus our attention, to
direct our minds and our lives, on such disciplines. Here
are some suggestions, offered in the spirit of mutual desire
to grow in Christ, in the hope that it will prompt you and
encourage you and challenge you for the next forty days.
a. Determine that, whatever specific discipline
you decide to do, you will devote at least one hour a day
to practicing that discipline. When you read about professional
football coaches being at their office at 4.30 in the morning
to review game film it raises the question, in addition to
what a questionable way to live a life, of how willing we
are as Christians to devote significant amounts of time to
acquiring a Christian habit. One hour a day seems like a fair
enough, and modest enough, starting place.
What to do with this hour then becomes the issue.
b. Start with the Bible. If you’re not already
using "Through the Bible in a Year," this is a fine time to
start. You can get it at any bookstore, in any number of translations
- the New International comes highly recommended - and you
can start it on any day of the year. One year later, you will
have read the entire Bible.
c. Decide that you will memorize at least
a verse of Scripture every day. You can begin this with any
book in the bible, but Psalms is a lively choice. Let’s just
do one right now as an example. Psalm 8.1, "O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is Thy Name in all the earth." ((Psalm 34, verse
1: "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continuously
be in my mouth.")) Let’s just repeat that together, out loud,
three times. <Exercise> Repeat this to yourself a few
times during the day, tonight just before falling asleep,
and the odds are very good you’ll know it tomorrow - when
you can start with a new verse.
d. You can recite the Jesus Prayer at least
ten times a day, or ten times in one sitting, several times
a day.. I’m sure many of you know this prayer already, but
for those who may not it goes like this
Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Let's say it together now, three times:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
e. During the day, you can practice breathing
and walking the Psalms. To start this discipline it’s perhaps
easiest to begin with single syllable words, and two word
phrases. These match the rhythm of our breathing, namely in
and out, and two feet, left/right. Since we’ve already started
with Psalm 8 we can take a phrase from that first verse -
"Thy Name" - and use this as our breathing and walking prayer.
Let’s do the breathing exercise now. Just silently say "Thy"
when you breathe in, and "Name" when you exhale. Let’s do
that for just a few moments. Silently.
f. Music is of course an excellent way to
facilitate focusing our minds. There are an infinite number
of ways that you can use music during this Lenten period of
encourage you in your life in Christ, so we’ll just do one
this morning. A simple enough song you may already know, but
one which supports the spiritual life:
Come into my heart, come into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Come today.
Come in, to stay.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Let's stand and sing this together three times, and close with prayer.