Produce

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When we walk in the Spirit He produces in us the fruit of a holy character. The contrast between the works of the -- i.e., the selfish life -- and the fruit of the Spirit, which is the natural product of His influence, is very marked. In works there is effort, the clatter of machinery, the deafening noise of the factory. But fruit is found in the calm, still, regular process of Nature, which is ever producing in her secret laboratory the kindly fruits of the earth.

 How quiet it all is! There is no voice nor language. It is almost impossible to realise what is being effected by a long summer day of sunshine. The growing of autumn arrives with noiseless footsteps.

So it is with the soul that daily walks in the Spirit. There are probably no startling experiences, no marked transitions, nothing special to record in the diary, but every year those who live in close proximity witness a ripening wealth of fruit in the manifestation of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control.

F. B. Meyer

Covenant

As this essay automatically posts itself, my family and I are at our local outpost of the Christian Movement renewing our covenant to serve Jesus the Messiah. This deeply meaningful ceremony was originated back in the mid-1700's by John Wesley, main founder of Methodism, the particular stream of Christianity I call home.

One of the main reasons I'm attached to Methodism is this ceremony and what is called the "Covenant Prayer," written by Wesley. Its taproot is sunk deep into the ancient Faith of the saints and it sums up -- for me at least -- the absolute, joyful, radical abandonment to Christ's will that is at the core of Christian life.

Even if you aren't Methodist though, I think you'll find this Renewal Prayer is the ideal foundation upon which to set all your other New Years Resolutions.

Covenant Prayer 

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will,
   rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing,
   put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
   exalted for you or brought low for you.
Let me be full,
   let me be empty.
Let me have all things,
   let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
   you art mine,
      and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
   let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

To me, this is the place to build New Year's resolutions.

Book Review: The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

A few days ago I wrote about the alien nature of the society Jesus set up (i.e., Christianity) and mentioned that we even have our own calendar. One of the best resources I've found for grasping the profound meaning and purpose of that calendar is Joan Chittister's book The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life. It is part of the Ancient Practices series edited by Phyllis Tickle and published by Thomas Nelson.

Ms. Chittister is a Sister in the Order of St. Benedict so, as might be expected, her book approaches the christian calendar from a Catholic perspective. But this is done with a light touch so a Protestant reader (or Orthodox, for that matter) will certainly profit from reading this book. From the perspective of history, our calendar has its origins in a time long before there were divisions in the Church.

Sister Joan goes into the history of each season in the calendar, but never at such a length that it becomes tedious. She is much more interested in the spiritual significance of the days and weeks of the christian year, what they teach us and how they draw us ever closer to Jesus himself...

Spiritual Formation, Part III

(Lent is about humbling one's self and taking on the nature of Christ. Each Sunday during this time I will let wise Christians speak on these subjects, the first 3 weeks about self-renunciation and the following 3 weeks on spiritual formation. On this Palm Sunday we have the words once again of John Wesley.)


Palm Sunday (Sixth Sunday of Lent)

What is then the perfection of which man is capable while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the complying with that kind command, "My son, give me thy heart." It is the "loving the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind." This is the sum of Christian perfection: It is all comprised in that one word, Love.

The first branch of it is the love of God: And as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:" Thou shalt love every man as thy own soul, as Christ loved us. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets:" These contain the whole of Christian perfection."

-- John Wesley, On Perfection

Spiritual Formation, Part II

(Lent is about humbling one's self and taking on the nature of Christ. Each Sunday during this time I will let wise Christians speak on these subjects, the first 3 weeks about self-renunciation and the following 3 weeks on spiritual formation. This week we have the thoughts of the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth on Christian love.)

Fifth Sunday of Lent

"What we have here -- in Christian love -- is a movement in which a man turns away from himself. In the continuation love turns wholly to another, to one who is wholly different from the loving subject. Christian love turns to the other purely for the sake of the other. It does not desire it for itself. In Christian love the loving subject gives to the other, the object of love, that which it has, which is its own, which belongs to it. It does so with a radically unlimited liberality."

-- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol. 4 Part 2, p. 733

Spiritual Formation, Part I

(Lent is about humbling one's self and taking on the nature of Christ. Each Sunday during this time I will let wise Christians speak on these subjects, the first 3 weeks about self-renunciation and the following 3 weeks on spiritual formation. Here the Orthodox writer Tito Colliander describes beginning the Christian journey.)

Fourth Sunday of Lent

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4.8).

"It is for us to begin. If we take one step towards the Lord, he takes ten towards us -- he who saw the prodigal son while he was at a distance, and had compassion and ran and embraced him."

-- Tito Colliander, The Way of the Ascetics, p. 74