by: Phillip Kroh
Last Sunday we discussed different types or categories of practices that can help connect oneself with God and Christ: tradition, scripture, reason, and experience. I personally believe that each of us has a unique relationship with God and Christ, and therefore there is personal benefits to exploring different types of spiritual disciplines and practices to find what nurtures each of us. In the next few letters, I thought I might share a couple of the different spiritual practices that I have been exposed to so far in seminary focused on one of the four categories each week. I invite you to experiment with these and other practices, innovating and evolving these practices as suits your personal growth.
This first letter looks at tradition. This is a challenge in because of the vast diversity of Christian practices rooted in rituals handed down across generations. The practice that I want to discuss this week is one that is important to me right now, keeping sabbath. This might seem a strange choice for a spiritual practice of tradition. After all, sabbath is rest rather than action so how can it be a practice! But allow me to frame it in a particular way.
There are a handful of virtues that I currently pursue in my own relationship with Christ, and one of them is frugality. Frugality when it comes to time means making sure not all of my limited time is spent, being frugal with my time and not overcommitting this precious resource. For me, keeping sabbath is akin to practicing frugality with my time instead of money. It’s about making sure there is time each week that can be responsive to the particular needs of that week be they spiritual or temporal. This time may be used for catching up on some work, helping others, or simply resting as the sabbath implies. What is important is making it an explicit practice, a personal tradition, to make it sacred so that it is resistant to invasion from the other pressures of life.
This week, I invite you to think about your own time and how you are spending it. I invite you to think critically and intentionally about the actions you perform each week, and whether you have spread yourself thin as I often do or if there is some frugalness in your schedule that keeps some time free each week for your changing needs.