I am teaching a hapless group of college sophomores about practices this semester. They are living together in community (they've never met each other before!) and learning how to achieve their goal of doing good acts of service in the UD community even as they learn how to live with each other in all of life's ups and downs.

 

Part of their work in community, I suggest to them, has to be developing practices: habits that form and shape their community, habits that they come back to again and again no matter what else has gone on for them, habits that remind them who they are and what their purpose is, even when a fight happens, a friend gets arrested, a family member gets sick. A Christian practice is a bit like practicing music or basketball: they play the scales, practice the jumps, so that in the times of high stress, they have those ingrained habits to turn to. 

 

In Paul's letter (1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27),  he speaks about the discipline needed to be a disciple.  Paul says he is free in all things, but a slave to all?  What can that possibly mean?  There is a clue in my analogy to basketball or practicing the flute.  The more experienced players are the least free to do whatever they want, because they have practiced and trained their bodies to respond in certain ways, even in times of stress.  They practice the three-pointers and maneuvering the ball in all sorts of set-up situations in practice, so that when the stakes are high, their bodies will take over and respond to the situation as easily and calmly as they did in practice.  By contrast, the less experienced players were more likely to freak out mid-game or performance, because their bodies were not quite as trained, but were more free to do whatever they wanted (including freak out).

 

So it is for Christians: prayer, Sabbath keeping, hospitality, forgiveness - all these are practices we do to remind us of  who we are, and that keep us on the path we hope to follow. I can think of the example of working at a soup kitchen.  Doing it once is certainly good; making a commitment to it every week is tougher and requires more discipline, but also shapes and forms us in particular ways, the longer and more often that practice takes over our lives. 

Jesus' admonition about training in today's gospel (Luke 6:39-42) is that we should seek to be like our teacher, that is, like Jesus himself.  Perhaps more importantly, we should never think our training is "done," that we have finished working toward our goal.  To do that would be to ignore the "log" in our own eyes.

Today let us reflect on the ways we practice this life to which Christ has called us?  What disciplines do we need to add?  In what parts of our lives are we acting so "free" that we have become free of the gospel itself?

 

- Jana M. Bennett