What are your commitments? The habits that remind you that you are human, the values that shape your life? The disciplines you keep that give your life shape and your time purpose?
A Rule of Life is a set of commitments or disciplines that one uses to keep themselves focused on the things that matter most. This is Pope John Paul XXIII’s “Rule of Life”:
Spend 15 minutes in prayer first thing in the morning
Spend 15 minutes reading spiritual literature
Before bed, spend a few moments examining my conscience and making a confession to God; then identify the issues I want to pray about in the morning
Set aside time for prayer, study, recreation and sleep
Make a habit of turning my mind to God in prayer throughout the day
Two things surprise me about this list. First, it is rather simple. My American lens on everything - including Spirituality - sometimes leads me to think more striving and bigger goals are needed for success in any area. So, I would expect a Pope to pray for hours a day - even to do the daily offices including the 3am prayers. Prayer shows up a whole lot on this list of commitments, in small bites. It makes me wonder if Pope John Paul XXIII struggled with the discipline of organized prayer like so many of us do.
The other thing that surprises me about this list is that it includes recreation. What does the Pope do for recreation? Is he on a secret frisbee team? Does he play softball with the cardinals? Or was he into something more quiet? Watercolors or crochet?
As we find ourselves under the star of Christmas on this Day of Epiphany, I wonder what you feel coming out of this season of reflection. How has Advent and Christmastide helped you find hope and reshape your faith during this time of waiting, welcoming, and waking? What are the commitments or disciplines you want to bring into this new season of light? If you were to write a rule of life, what would it include?
Mine includes spending more time just being, less striving; seeing my life as a prayer and all of the actions within it; allowing more openness for joy, wonder, and service and reflecting on the surprises that come with each day.
Thank you for journeying with us in these seasons of darkness and light. May the light always find you even in the moments that feel full of fear, worry, and dread - for surely those moments will be with us just as much as the buoyant ones. Be not afraid, dear friends. The light of Christmas is in you and around you, now and always no matter the terror that can so easily take up residence in our lives, in our communities, even in our countries, which we know deeply remembering the insurrection 4 years ago. Knowing that we will not be kept from danger or heartbreak, may you remember that love always has the last word. That light always breaks open over the day. May you be blessed in the ways you bring this time together forward in your lives, be it through a disciplined way of being or through the surprising ways the Spirit will enfold you.
It has been a great joy to be in community with you throughout these seasons of Advent and Christmas. Thank you to Pastors Eli and Adrienne for your deep, honest, and loving reflections that have opened us to the Spirit in new and familiar ways. Thank you to each of you for your own wonderful contributions in reflection through the chat and through your emails to us. You are a gift, thank you for sharing you with us.
Inhale: The light is within me
Exhale: I am the light
Inhale: The light is within us
Exhale: Let us share the light