This week in worship we’ll explore Aaron Miller’s chapter on Discipline (how does that make us weird in the world?), and our focus scripture will be God working through Samuel to find a new King.
Aaron starts his chapter with a quotation from Quaker Richard Foster: The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.
We enter the story of the Israelites as they are searching for a new king. Samuel is to find a good candidate from the sons of Jesse. All the obvious choices come forward – the outwardly powerful sons – but they are all rejected. God is after more than appearance. God is after depth; heart. With a disciplined approach Samuel sticks to the task and David, the youngest, is chosen.
There is discipline in the Christian life. Discipline to listen, to surrender, to serve. Discipline in our practices of prayer, giving and resting. And we are human: our practice is not always effective – we are not always disciplined. And how can we be when we are immersed in a culture that pursues quick satisfactions, immediate responses and easy answers?
We are weird in this world when we listen for God to speak in our lives. We are weird in this world when we don’t follow the first thing that piques our curiosity. We are weird in the world when we choose to give instead of take.
We are weird in the world when we go deep, when we look through the surface and into the heart of the matter.
See you Sunday.