Spiritual Disciplines

What do you think when you hear the phrases 'quiet time' and 'daily devotion'? Can you say them without air quotes in your voice and the faintest hint of a cynical smile at the corner of your mouth? I can't. They seem to reek of a church we've emerged from, or somehow outgrown. They carry overtones of legalism, and images of Precious Moments figurines. I know they do for me.

Last term someone asked at a formal meal if Christians needed to read the Bible every day. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that reading the Bible is a good thing, but were hesitant to attach any sort of 'should' or 'ought' to it. But I wonder if we're overreacting to the pietism encouraged by the church of our youth. Maybe we've thrown the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.

A lot of things have been brought up lately that are causing me to think more deeply about spiritual disciplines. Of course, we're in the Lenten season which calls to mind fasting. I've never actually celebrated lent... growing up the holy days were marked by the school calendar rather than the church calendar, and I have never fully understood many of the 'Christian seasons' in a deep, participatory way.

Also, last week Karryn gave a lecture about a Christian view of the body. I found myself identifying more than I wanted to with her critique of the practice of judging our spiritual health by our physical appearance, but also wondering about physical disciplines as spiritual disciplines. I'm getting it wrong if I hate myself because I don't look like Tyra Banks (impossible for a whole host of reasons), but maybe the complete collapse of restraint I experience in the presence of baked goods signals a more serious problem.

And of course, there is the ongoing dilemma of prayer and scripture reading. When is it enough? Is it ever enough? What, as Christians, should we be doing?

Maybe these are the wrong questions; maybe I'm falling prey yet again to the instinctive pull to neatly delineate things so I can be sure I'm getting it right. And I definitely wouldn't want to fall into the trap of making it about the practice instead of being about deeper relationship and communion with God. But I believe that there is a proper place for discipline in our spiritual lives. So what is it? And if we don't find it, is there the possibility of it passing into that area we call sin?