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Up the Holy Mountain

One of the things I always appreciate about being involved in the Spiritual Disciplines class is the fact that it puts me back into regular practicing of disciplines.  I know, as well as anyone, how important regular discipline is.  That does not matter if we talk about spiritual disciplines or physical disciplines, like walking, swimming, hiking, etc.  Of course, anyone who has ever tried to play the piano, violin, or any other musical instrument knows the necessity of discipline.

But most of us know how easy it is to fail at our disciplines.  Often it is easy to begin---to have high aspirations.  But then, we soon fall prey to problems.  Usually, one temptation is that we simply don’t want to do the discipline some day.  Skipping one day is not a problem.  However, skipping one day makes it easy to miss the second day.  And this begins to form the habit of failure.  We can rationalize that it does not matter; we probably were not going to be concert hall pianists anyway!

So being in my class is good for me.  I feel more responsible to be involved in my own discipline if I am going to expect the students to be involved in theirs.  In fact, feeling responsible for one’s involvement is a positive cue for success.  I can be responsible to other people; I can be responsible for some aspect of my self, such as my own physical or spiritual health.

One of the things I try to build into my routine is some daily engagement with the Christian Bible.  I usually follow the lectionary from the Benedictine monastery.  This offers daily readings from the Psalms---the heart of Benedictine spirituality.  Also regular readings from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament give me more material to ponder.  

I try to read the selections slowly and more meditatively than I would if I were reading for a class.  With all the years of reading in my experience, I know I can read something fairly quickly to get the gist of what it says.  However, this spiritual reading is not for the purpose of understanding what I am reading.  On the contrary, it is for spiritual nurture and development.  

For example, I know I can read that God is love.  I could write a paper on it.  I can even explain the Greek words found in the New Testament.  But the real question is whether I can meditate on the words and let them form my spirit into ways that are pleasing to God and serviceable to my fellow humans.

To pursue this end, let me use a few words from the Psalmist found within today’s lectionary readings.  The Psalmist appeals to God: “Send forth your light and your truth; let them lead me away, let them lead me up your holy mountain, up to your sanctuary.” (Ps. 43:3)  I want to let these words soak into my soul.  I hear the Psalmist telling me I need to wait for God to send the Divine light and truth.  They will come if I wait and watch and welcome them.
And then I want to allow them to lead me away.  That sounds like a variation of the Lord’s Prayer theme: not my will but Your will.  Let me learn to live in Your light and Your truth.

Let the truth and light lead me up the holy mountain.  What a great image for this flatlander!  Let me ascend the holy heights.  Let me learn to live from this vantage point.  I know I cannot live on the mountain.  Like Moses, we also have to descend from the holy mountain below to where the people live.  But we can go down there with the Divine light and truth and make all the difference.

I get it now.  My spiritual discipline is my daily hike up the holy mountain so that when I come down I am able to live in the truth and light of the Holy One…up the mountain we go!  

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