{"id":5481,"date":"2019-06-24T13:16:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T21:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5481"},"modified":"2019-06-24T13:16:03","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T21:16:03","slug":"celebration-of-discipline-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/06\/24\/celebration-of-discipline-meditation","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Discipline: Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline by Richard Fos\u00adter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which is an email I send to the par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants). They are all tagged <\/em>summer\u2010reading\u2010project\u20102019<\/em><\/a>. The sched\u00adule is <\/em>online<\/em><\/a> if you\u2019d like to read along. <\/em>

The first of the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal dis\u00adci\u00adplines we\u2019re going to look at is med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion. Fos\u00adter help\u00adful\u00adly dis\u00adtin\u00adguish\u00ades what he is talk\u00ading about from East\u00adern med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion: \u201cEast\u00adern med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion is an attempt to emp\u00adty the mind; Chris\u00adt\u00adian med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion is an attempt to fill the mind. The two ideas are quite dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u201d (page 20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In East\u00adern med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion (or mind\u00adful\u00adness as we tend to call it today) very often peo\u00adple seem to be try\u00ading to gain self-aware\u00adness \u2014 to dis\u00adcov\u00ader what they <\/em>think and feel. In Chris\u00adt\u00adian med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion, on the oth\u00ader hand, we are try\u00ading to gain God-aware\u00adness \u2014 to dis\u00adcov\u00ader what He <\/em>thinks and feels. As Fos\u00adter puts it, \u201cChris\u00adt\u00adian med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion, very sim\u00adply, is the abil\u00adi\u00adty to hear God\u2019s voice and obey his word\u201d (page 17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live Without Hurry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I sus\u00adpect this chap\u00adter\u2019s biggest chal\u00adlenge for most Stan\u00adford stu\u00addents is the sug\u00adges\u00adtion to live through\u00adout the day in such a way that you are pre\u00adpared for med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are con\u00adstant\u00adly being swept off our feet with fran\u00adtic activ\u00adi\u00adty, we will be unable to be atten\u00adtive at the moment of inward silence. A mind that is harassed and frag\u00adment\u00aded by exter\u00adnal affairs is hard\u00adly pre\u00adpared for med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion. The church Fathers often spoke of Otium Sanc\u00adtum: <\/em>\u201choly leisure.\u201d It refers to a sense of bal\u00adance in life, an abil\u00adi\u00adty to be at peace through the activ\u00adi\u00adties of the day, an abil\u00adi\u00adty to rest and take time to enjoy beau\u00adty, an abil\u00adi\u00adty to pace our\u00adselves. With our ten\u00adden\u00adcy to define peo\u00adple in terms of what they pro\u00adduce, we would do well to cul\u00adti\u00advate \u201choly leisure.\u201d And if we expect to suc\u00adceed in the con\u00adtem\u00adpla\u00adtive arts, we must pur\u00adsue, \u201choly leisure\u201d with a deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion that is ruth\u00adless to our date\u00adbooks. <\/p>Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline, page 27<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I often think about a con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion between John Ort\u00adberg (the pas\u00adtor of near\u00adby Men\u00adlo Church) and Dal\u00adlas Willard (men\u00adtioned in Fos\u00adter\u2019s book on page xxi). At the time, Ort\u00adberg was work\u00ading at a very fast-paced megachurch in Chica\u00adgo, so he called Willard to ask what he need\u00aded to do to be spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly healthy. Willard paused for a long time, and then said, \u201cYou must ruth\u00adless\u00adly elim\u00adi\u00adnate hur\u00adry from your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruth\u00adless\u00adly. Elim\u00adi\u00adnate. Hur\u00adry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In oth\u00ader words, treat hur\u00adry as the ene\u00admy of your soul. This is not a call to be unpro\u00adduc\u00adtive. It is a call to refuse to be dri\u00adven by arti\u00adfi\u00adcial urgency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So my first chal\u00adlenge to you is twofold: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Live with\u00adout hur\u00adry this sum\u00admer. Be pro\u00adduc\u00adtive with\u00adout allow\u00ading feel\u00ading fran\u00adtic to take root in your soul. <\/li>
  2. Pre\u00adpare to live with\u00adout hur\u00adry in the fall. Prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly, this prob\u00ada\u00adbly means sign\u00ading up for one few\u00ader class than you think you\u2019re sup\u00adposed to. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Meditate Upon Scripture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Fos\u00adter dis\u00adcuss\u00ades sev\u00ader\u00adal types of med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion, but empha\u00adsizes med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion upon Scrip\u00adture as the foun\u00adda\u00adtion. I agree com\u00adplete\u00adly. Make med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion upon Scrip\u00adture a main\u00adstay in your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And so my sec\u00adond chal\u00adlenge to you is three\u00adfold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Pick a sto\u00adry from the Bible and med\u00adi\u00adtate upon it one day this week. <\/strong>Try to envi\u00adsion the sto\u00adry from the point of view of all the par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants (David, Goliath, Saul, the Israelite army, David\u2019s broth\u00aders, etc). Imag\u00adine how dif\u00adfer\u00adent tones of voice would affect your inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion of the sto\u00adry (try to think of sev\u00ader\u00adal ways the woman could have told Jesus, \u201cSir, I per\u00adceive you are a prophet\u201d and say them aloud). Inhab\u00adit the sto\u00adry.<\/li>
    2. Pick a com\u00admand\u00adment from the Bible and med\u00adi\u00adtate upon it one day this week.<\/strong> Be spe\u00adcif\u00adic \u2014 don\u2019t just think of a rule, actu\u00adal\u00adly find a verse that gives the com\u00admand. Now run through the verse empha\u00adsiz\u00ading and then reflect\u00ading upon each word or phrase in turn. For exam\u00adple, Philip\u00adpi\u00adans 4:8 \u2014 \u201cFinal\u00adly, broth\u00aders and sis\u00adters, what\u00adev\u00ader is true, what\u00adev\u00ader is noble, what\u00adev\u00ader is right, what\u00adev\u00ader is pure, what\u00adev\u00ader is love\u00adly, what\u00adev\u00ader is admirable\u2014if any\u00adthing is excel\u00adlent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u201d
      1. Start with the first key phrase \u2014 \u201cWHATEVER IS TRUE\u2026 think about such things. Lord, why does truth mat\u00adter so much? And you say \u2018what\u00adev\u00ader is true.\u2019 What\u00adev\u00ader? Does that mean there is spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal bless\u00ading in 2+2=4? Help me under\u00adstand.\u201d <\/li>
      2. And then move on to the next phrase. \u201cWHATEVER IS NOBLE\u2026. think about such things. God, what does it mean for some\u00adthing to be noble? What\u2019s a noble thing I can think about?\u201d etc. <\/li>
      3. Run through all eight types of things we are to fill our mind with. <\/li>
      4. Even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly get to \u201cTHINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. Lord \u2014 what fills my mind? Is it pos\u00adi\u00adtive and encour\u00adag\u00ading stuff like this? What\u2019s a bet\u00adter way for me to think about _____? What is the true, noble, right, pure, love\u00adly, admirable, excel\u00adlent or praise\u00adwor\u00adthy thing I can see in this sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion?\u201d<\/li><\/ol><\/li>
      5. Pick a promise from the Bible and med\u00adi\u00adtate upon it one day this week. <\/strong>Take time to dwell upon its impli\u00adca\u00adtions. Exam\u00adple, Luke 6:38 says , \u201cGive, and it will be giv\u00aden to you. A good mea\u00adsure, pressed down, shak\u00aden togeth\u00ader and run\u00adning over, will be poured into your lap. For with the mea\u00adsure you use, it will be mea\u00adsured to you.\u201d Med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion upon this promise might look like this: begin by envi\u00adsion\u00ading your\u00adself receiv\u00ading a bag full of good things, tight\u00adly packed to the point of over\u00adflow\u00ading. And then ask, \u201cGod, what would I have done dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly this week if I real\u00adly believed this promise?\u201d And then, \u201cHow have I seen this in my life or the lives of those I know?\u201d Keep reflect\u00ading on the promise and its impli\u00adca\u00adtions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        That\u2019s my chal\u00adlenge \u2014 med\u00adi\u00adtate upon Scrip\u00adture this week in each of these ways. Pick your own sto\u00adry, com\u00admand, and promise. If you don\u2019t know what to choose, just flip through the gospels until you find one of each. Grab\u00adbing them from the gospels is a great way to \u201cfix your eyes upon Jesus\u201d as Heb 12:2 tells us to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        If you\u2019re will\u00ading, email me back and let me know what pas\u00adsages you intend to med\u00adi\u00adtate upon. <\/strong>And then after\u00adwards let me know how it went!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline by Richard Fos\u00adter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which is an email I send to the par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants). They are all tagged summer\u2010reading\u2010project\u20102019. The sched\u00adule is online if you\u2019d like to read along. The first \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cCel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline: Med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Some thoughts in response to Richard Foster's chapter on meditation in Celebration of Discipline. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[264,263],"class_list":["post-5481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-celebration-of-discipline","tag-summer-reading-project-2019"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1qp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5481"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5495,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}