In recent years, as cell phones have changed from basic phones with which to make calls, to smart phones which do just about everything, iPhones, Blackberry’s, and Droids have all kinds of applications to use for just about every conceivable aspect of life.
If you want to know what the weather is, there’s an app for that!
If you need help counting your calories consumed or burned, there’s an app for that!
Need directions while out in traffic? There’s an app for that!
You probably know better than I do, that there is an app for just about anything you can think of to help you in your day to day journey.
Well, I’m not here today to sell you a phone with a bunch of fancy apps, but I am here as your pastor to help you choose some spiritual applications which will help you and me in our spiritual journey especially as we prepare to begin the Season of Lent this week.
Lent is a time for us to find our way again because we can so easily drift away from our faith.
I was reading a book not too long ago by Christian author Brian McLaren. He told a story about a time when he thought he was just supposed to introduce a famous speaker, Dr. Peter Senge, to a conference room filled with about 500 pastors. Dr. Senge is a scientist and the director of the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT Sloan School of Management.
But when the day of Dr. Senge’s presentation arrived, Brian McLaren found out that he was not supposed to just introduce the doctor, but to interview him as well! And as if finding that out so late in the game wasn’t bad enough, the interview would not be face to face, but rather over a satellite connection with Dr. Senge projected on a big screen!
When the connection was finally made, Brian started off by saying to Dr. Senge, “You probably don’t talk to large groups of pastors very regularly. What would you like to say to this group to start off this morning?”
To which Dr. Senge replied, “Well, Brian, you’re right. I don’t normally speak to pastors. Actually I was thinking about that very question yesterday when I was in a large bookstore. I asked the bookstore manage what the most popular books are these days. Most popular, he said, were books about how to get rich in the new information economy, which didn’t surprise me.”
A ripple of laughter gave Brian a moment of relief. Dr. Senge continued, “Second most popular, the manager said, were books about spirituality, and in particular, books about Buddhism. And so when I thought about speaking to five hundred Christian pastors today, I thought I’d begin by asking you all a question: why are books on Buddhism so popular, and not books on Christianity?”
Brian thought to himself, “Great. Not only did I have to pose questions to a face on the screen, but now I had to field one from him as well. I managed to recover enough to punt the question back to him.” “Well, Dr. Senge,” I said, trying not to sound as clumsy as I felt, “how would you answer that question?”
He replied, “I think it’s because Buddhism presents itself as a way of life, and Christianity presents itself as a system of belief. So I would want to get Christian ministers [and I would add all Christians, not just ministers] thinking about how to rediscover their own faith as a way of life, because that’s what people are searching for today. That’s what they need most.”
That story struck me as very true. We really suffer as Christians when we turn our faith into just a set of statements to believe in, and forget that our faith is meant to be a way of life. Our life is supposed to come to reflect more and more the example of Jesus’ life.
When we cut ourselves off from the spiritual applications that are meant to incorporate our faith into a way of life, we are like an anemic plant that doesn’t get the right amounts of nutrients, sunlight and water in order to grow strong, and to its full potential. We get weak, run down, wilt or wither away.
Moses was one of the persons in the bible who got pretty good at spiritual applications during his lifetime. But it wasn’t always that way. When he was young, he was raised by Egyptians, who worshiped many gods, even though he knew he was an Israelite by birth.
Moses had a pretty hot temper when he was young. You remember that time he saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew slave? His reaction was rash; he struck the Egyptian and killed him. When he was found out, he ran for his life into the wilderness. There he stayed for 40 years while God shaped and molded him into someone who could really be used by God.
Of course, one spiritual application that Christians practice is solitude. Waiting upon God in solitude is an important way that we can get ourselves quiet enough to hear God speak.
Those applications we use on smart phones are great, but they can sometimes just add to the noise and the information overload in our lives that make it harder and harder for us to slow down enough to hear God. When we practice solitude, we begin to get quiet enough to hear God’s voice.
When God called Moses to go up the mountain, he said, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait.”
Moses went up the mountain, and the glory of the Lord covered the mountain. And Moses waited six days before the Lord called out to him.
Moses had a lot of practice being in solitude. The life of a shepherd way out in the wilderness for forty years will do that for you. And here on the mountain with God is another good example.
Please note that solitude is a “practice.” Like any other spiritual application or practice, if you want to get better at it you have to practice. That’s the only way to get better.
In January of 1997 a friend of mine decided that he wanted to run in the Columbus Marathon that year. He had been a runner for a long time, but he’d never raced a distance any longer than a half marathon. He knew enough that to double a race distance from 13.1 miles to 26.2 miles was not possible without some planning and practice.
Slowly, he added mileage to his training routine. Seven mile runs; ten mile runs; fifteen mile runs. He even ran a couple of twenty mile training runs.
He remembers that he really had to plan for those training runs during the summer months. He carefully plotted his practice runs so that he would pass a water fountain every few miles; he didn’t want to overheat or dehydrate. He also planned the courses so that he was never more than a few miles from home, so that if he would became ill while out for the training run, he wouldn’t be stranded far away from home.
By the time the marathon happened in November, that practice paid off, in that he hit the goal time that he had been shooting for all year.
It’s like that with anything that is worth doing.
If you want to get better at swimming, you have to practice swimming.
If you want to play the violin better, you have to practice the violin.
If you want to beat Ohio State, you really need to practice.
If you want to get better at solitude, you have to practice solitude.
If you want to get better at prayer, you have to practice praying.
Scripture tells us that when Moses entered the cloud of God’s glory on the mountain, he remained there for forty days and for forty nights. Again, that is a long time to be alone with God. But it’s when we practice spending time with God alone, that we are able to find our way again.
Something similar happens in the transfiguration of Jesus story too, right?
Jesus invites three of the disciples to go up a mountain with him.
This wasn’t unusual. Jesus often made time to go off to a quiet place alone or bring some of the disciples with him. Throughout the gospels we read about times when Jesus went off by himself to pray, or to be alone in God’s presence.
While Jesus, Peter, James and John were on the mountain, Jesus was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, and his face shone like the sun. The disciples had a very special encounter with Jesus on that mountain, just like Moses had a very special encounter with God.
The event was so moving and inspiring for the three disciples that they wanted to stay on the mountain, offering to build dwelling places so they would be able to stay there.
For two thousand years, Christians have been using many different spiritual applications to draw closer to God in Jesus Christ.
I realize that I am using the word, “application” here, and that it’s not a term often associated with these practices.
More often than not, we talk about spiritual practices, or disciplines. John Wesley often referred to these spiritual apps as the means of grace.
But I think the term application has some merit.
Wikipedia defines a computer application as something designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. It helps to solve problems in the real world. Likewise, spiritual applications are meant to help us with the problems and challenges we face in life.
Webster’s dictionary also provides a great example of the use of the word, “application” in a sentence: Repeated application of fertilizer will help the grass become green and healthy. This reminds me of the anemic plant example I shared with you a little earlier.
During the upcoming season of Lent which is the time leading up to Easter we have the awesome opportunity to find our way again and to spend time with God in an intentional way.
During this time, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the spiritual applications that God has provided for us. We’ll learn what some of them are and how they can help us reconnect with God.
Here are a few that we’ll be looking at in deeper detail:
Next Sunday, we’ll begin by exploring the spiritual app of fasting. We’ll see some of the ways that it is used properly as a spiritual discipline, and some misconceptions that we often have about it.
A pastor recently told me about a time in his life when he felt a calling from God to make a career change and enter ordained ministry about thirteen years ago. This major decision that would significantly impact his family’s life led him to fast and pray in order to confirm this calling. He said how fasting was difficult for him to do at first, but that it helped him to really focus on listening for God’s voice.
During week two of Lent, we’ll look at Sabbath as an important spiritual app. Having a day to rest one day a week is not a commandment just for the sake of being a commandment. Practicing the Sabbath is a way that we can reconnect with God on a weekly basis.
Prayer is a probably one of the more familiar spiritual apps we will be focusing on but it’s also one that many of us want to use more in our day to day lives. There are aspects of prayer that can help us such as different postures of prayer; different kinds of prayer; and different ways to pray.
We’ll also delve a little deeper into the spiritual app of Holy Communion. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism believed that Christians should receive Holy Communion as often as possible. We’ll learn how this means of grace shapes our Christian life.
We’ll spend a couple weeks looking at a couple of applications that we don’t talk about very much. One of those is the calendar – the Christian calendar that is meant to keep us in rhythm with God throughout the year.
And we’ll also take a look at another practice we don’t talk about much, and that is the practice of making a spiritual pilgrimage.
I am planning to practice at least one small aspect of each of these applications during Lent. My hope is that I will learn something new about myself, something new about my Christian faith, and something new about God by doing so. I hope you will join me on this journey. It will be interesting if all of us share with each other what we are learning through these applications, and how practicing these disciplines is helping us go deeper in our relationships with Christ and with each other.
On this Transfiguration Sunday, we are invited to spend the next 40 days on the mountain with God and experience a transformation in our lives like we have never experienced before.
I invite you to pray for me and I will pray for you that together we will grow in what it means to be true disciples of Jesus Christ.
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March 9 - 12:00 P.M. & 7:30 P.M. @ Main Building, 163 E. Wheeling Street & 6:30 P.M. @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue
