She talks about having what are traditionally called "spiritual disciplines" in your life, but she prefers the term holy habits, and she says that there is no point whatsoever doing them if it is out of a sense of duty, or to win points - but rather, if you have met and loved Jesus, you'll want to know him more, and these are the ways... She isn't saying the holy habits are dispensable, rather that, you can only really do them if you have the will and yes, a bit of willpower, but, then doing them will bring so much reward, so once you start it will become easier and more exciting. And you'll see transformation in your life. You do what you can, and then the Spirit of God will do ALL that He can - and there will definitely be results!
At least, this is what I am getting out of it... So far...
There is a section on the gift that God's Word is to us, and how we receive it in various ways including hearing preaching. She writes a bit here about how in many of the less traditional churches, there is an inclination towards abandoning the preaching - because it has come to be seen as irrelevant and boring in our entertainment age. She bewails this as preaching is still so important. But, there is a problem when preaching does become dull and long and out of touch. And I must admit, I have listened to so many dull, deadly sermons, I had begun to despair of the sermon slot myself. Until we started going to our church, St Andrews in Churchdown. The vicar there, Jonathan Perkin, is so gifted at preaching - I actually, honestly look forward to his sermons every week. Which is a miracle. He manages to be very easy to listen to, profound, and encouraging, week after week. (I also enjoy the curate's sermons too, - they are enjoyable and have humour in them.)
Of course, for those of you who know Dan, you'll know that his sermons are always entertaining and far-reaching, quite out of the box, and definitely teach you things. So I never despaired of his...
So, Lucy includes this brilliant quote from Martin Luther in her book, which I have to reproduce because it made me laugh and it is so true:
"Cursed be every preacher who aims at lofty topics in the church, looking for his own glory and selfishly desiring to please one individual or another. When I preach here I adapt myself to the circumstances of the common people. I don't look at the doctors and masters, of whom scarcely forty are present, but at the hundred or the thousand young people and children. It's to them that I preach, to them that I devote myself, for they too need to understand. If the others don't want to listen, they can leave... we preach in public for the sake of plain people. Christ could have taught in a profound way, but He wished to deliver His message with the utmost simplicity in order that the common people might understand. Good God, there are sixteen-year-old girls, women, and farmers in the church, and they don't understand lofty matters." Luther's Works, quoted in Lucy Peppiatt, The Disciple: on becoming truly human, (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012) p 39.
OK, so maybe things have changed a little bit now... but Luther's point stands! Only a few weeks ago I sat in another evangelical church with my children and their little cousins filling the row in front of us, while the preacher spoke seriously and deeply for thirty minutes, without one reference to their presence nor one sentence they could understand. It was almost beyond belief.
Preachers, please don't be boring and irrelevant! And if you have heard a lot of dull preaching, don't worry, there are still great preachers out there, and when you hear one, it is like water falling on dry thirsty ground.
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