This last week has seen me get through what has felt like mountains of marking, I have finally reached the end of the pile and am quite relieved. Just as I was coming to the end of it (the marking that is) a new book I ordered came through the post, The Sacred Way by Tony Jones. It's beautifully written and easy to read, 'an invitation to explore spiritual practices that will quicken and expand our everyday lives' as the review says.
I find it interesting and exciting that there is an increased interest in spiritual practices of long ago, I personally feel that the tradition I've grown up in hasn't given me much in the way of practices in this area and I'm the weaker for it. The thing is, as Jones writes, 'seeking God will not be easy' and what is comforting (for me, as I feel I'm fairly useless at times in this area) is that spiritual disciplines don't come easy either and haven't done for Christians throughout the ages. The thing with 'disciplines' is that they are just that - you have to work at them and make time for them, but they're not to be seen as a chore or burden, rather a way of finding space for God. Jones quotes Henri Nouwen:
'Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned or counted on.'

It's the practices that Jones writes about (Silence, meditation, labyrinth, fasting, different types of praying, etc..) that can help us to be disciplined and to create that space for God to speak and for us to hear and grow and that's why I think the interest in this area, not just for individuals but in the whole emerging church scene is an exciting one.

On a completely different note...roller disco in the church hall tonight at youth group - should be fun! And, now that I'm a deacon (I was elected last night), I will be even more aware of the tension between taking responsibility for the state of the hall floor and allowing the young people to have fun!