Category: Spiritual Practices

A popular slogan today is, “No off-season!” In the world of sports we live in presently if one takes off too much time they are being passed by the next guy. Brooks Robinson famously coined, “If your not practicing, somebody else is, and he’ll be ready to take your job.” Hence, “No off-season!” Another reality is that elite sports are year around; gone are the days of the three sport stars. It’s not as though the athlete today is incapable of playing three different sports; it is that they don’t have the time to work at another sport in order to play it at an elite level. It takes year around training to keep up with your primary one. Now the off-season is not really a time of rest, it’s a time – about the only time – to make weaknesses strengths. The off-season is a time to get stronger and faster, a time heal a little bit, a time to improve technique, a time to create some new and better habits. In short, off-season is that time to get better all the way the around. Today, Christians begin the season of Lent, a 40 day period set aside for spiritual growth in anticipation of Easter – the glorious resurrection of our Lord. In many ways, Lent is the Christian’s “off-season”.

When we hear Lent most of us think in terms of “putting off” – fasting. This is true, and in certain traditions it is called the “Great Fast”. Most churches seek to help their members by posting some rules for fasting such as “what” and “when” to eat or not to eat. But the whole idea of fasting – “putting off” – is in order to “put on”. You don’t’ take away for taking away sake, rather you restrict or sacrifice so that you can focus more on growing in your relationship with God. Much like an Athlete’s “off-season”, you cut back in some areas so that you can focus more on building up other aspects in your game. For off-seasons to be beneficial they require discipline and sacrifice. If I want to put on some strength and lean muscle mass in the off-season I will need a disciplined structured lifting program as well as disciplined structured nutritional plan. I’m going to have to make some sacrifices of time and with what I eat in order to make gains I want. This is the same idea with Lent; the sacrifices remind us and make room for the practices that will help us grow in our relationship with God.

Lent is that time of year – the off-season – that the church sets aside in order to strengthen our weaknesses. It’s that time to go to work on our spiritual life, a time to put off pride and put on humility, a time lose greed and find generosity, a time to push away adultery and embrace purity, a time to cut out envy and become benevolent, a time to stop impulsiveness and live in moderation, a time to end anger and live in kindness, and a time not to be lazy, but to be diligent. Lent is that season to get better, a time to grow closer to God.

A few guidelines to follow:

1. For everything you cut out put something spiritually positive into its place. For example, if you cut out chocolate, put in an extra time of prayer. So if you typically eat chocolate three times a day you would replace that time of eating chocolate with prayer.
2. Just like you would do with workout program, design your self a spiritual workout for these 40 days. Set aside time each day that you pray and read Scripture. Also, add to this a spiritual book on some area you want to improve on in you life.
3. Make an explicit effort to live differently. This could be as simple as making everything you say be words of kindness.

 

 

I coach high school baseball at a private, non-christian, prep school and before every game we gather together and say the Lord’s Prayer in unison. Ever so often, before we begin, I will remind them why we are doing it, “We are praying this prayer to remember that there is a God and that there is more to life than baseball”.  MLB great, Billy Wagner, said that he prayed right before he would pitch simply asking God, “Lord, help me do my best!” Through prayer we pause to remember God and invite him to share in that moment with us. We are inclined toward forgetting God; prayer is our attempt to overcome that the sin of “forgetfulness” by remembering Him.

There is an ancient prayer of the church I came across several years ago that I’m really fond of and believe is very appropriate to pray before any competition. It’s entitled “A Prayer before any Task”.

Almighty God, our Help and Refuge, Fountain of wisdom and Tower of strength, who knowest that I can do nothing without thy guidance and help; assist me, I pray thee, and direct me to divine wisdom and power, that I may accomplish this task, and whatever I may undertake to do, faithfully and dilligently, according to thy will, so that it may be profitable to myself and others, and to the glory of thy Holy Name. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Warm-ups have come along way since I was in high school. We would take a short jog from the line to second base and back, line up for a few arm circles and a couple static stretches, throw a little bit, and then we would get after it. My present high school team has a 45 minute game (30 min practice) warm-up scripted by one of the top performance coaches on the east coast. In addition to this fully scripted program our guys do soft tissue work, band work, throwing and hitting before the game. I think we would all agree that warm-ups have become events in and of themselves.

Advancements in kinesiology and sports science has taught us how important the warm-up is for our health and performance level. In the warm-up we are looking to get everything “turned on” and “activated” so that as soon we start the game we can play at our highest level. The warm-up orients and prepares our minds and bodies for the task that is before us. The same holds true for the Christian athlete, we need a warm-up that turns on and activates our spiritual mindset each day – one that prepares and orients us toward living Christianly. The great spiritual leaders of the Church have been in unison down through ages in recommending some form of prayer/devotional time at the start of each day. This time of being with God is that necessary warm-up for living Christianly that day.

What I suggest is that just like you script a warm-up for your sport, you need to script a prayer/devotional warm-up to use each day. This can come in all types and forms, from devotional books to the liturgical prayers of your particular church. Whatever you do, you need to develop the discipline of setting aside this time each day to warm up those spiritual muscles. (And oh yea, don’t forget before you go to sleep each night to seek forgiveness for those things you did and those things you forgot to do, as well as, give thanks for the opportunity of getting better early that day.)

Here is an example of a spiritual warm-up script I put together for my family. (This was complied from the Prayer Book of ACNA).

Prayer In the Morning

Open my lips, O Lord,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. (Psalm 51:16)

Psalm 51:11-13

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me.

Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

A Reading from Holy Scripture (or from the Bible or Devotional book here)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

or this

Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14

or this

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

Praise:

Venite O Come

Psalm 95:1-7; 8-11

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD;

let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God;

and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are all the corners of the earth;

and the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it;

and his hands prepared the dry land.

O come, let us worship and fall down,

and kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD;

let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God;

and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are all the corners of the earth;

and the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it;

and his hands prepared the dry land.

O come, let us worship and fall down,

and kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

or this

Jubilate Be Joyful

Psalm 100

Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.

Know this: the Lord himself is God;
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

For the Lord is good;
his mercy is everlasting;
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

Say The Lord’s Prayer

and then:

O Lord, show us your mercy;
And grant us your salvation.

O Lord, save our nations;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.                                                                                                                                                                  Clothe your ministers with righteousness;                                                                                                                                                                    And make your chosen people joyful.                                                                                                                                                                              O Lord, save your people;

And bless your inheritance.
Give peace in our time, O Lord;
For only in you can we live in safety.                                                                                                                                                                                  Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;                                                                                                                                                                        Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.                                                                                                                                                                   Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And take not your Holy Spirit from us.

Add your personal prayer request here then end with the Collect for the day

A Collect for the Renewal of Life (Monday)

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Peace (Tuesday)

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Grace (Wednesday)

O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to the beginning of this day: Defend us by your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin nor run into any danger; and that guided by your Spirit, we may do what is righteous in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Guidance (Thursday)

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Endurance (Friday)

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Sabbath Rest (Saturday)

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.