Experience is the only way we can interpret and relate to what we read. Experience that has been understood and reflected upon informs and enlightens our study.
Richard Foster
We have a new super star author — John Mark Comer. His books have enriched my life. But before Comer there was Richard Foster.
Comer’s current best-selling book is Living the Way. He’s so “hot” that he was recently featured in Atlantic Monthly. Comer is touching a nerve in people who want simple yet biblical practices that will draw them closer to God in a midst of a frantic lifestyle.
I’ve read two of Comer’s books. I have not read Living the Way. But . . . I have read the book that Comer derives some of his thinking from; a book published in 1978. Whenever we talk about the spiritual disciplines in Protestant evangelical circles, we ultimately come back to Richard Fosters’ Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.
What puts a book on my favorite book list? I periodically sift through my library and keep or discard books by this simple question: “Will I read it again?” Foster’s book continues to linger on my repeat reading list after nearly fifty years.
I devoured Celebration when the book first appeared. Like any Christ-follower I wanted to go deeper with God and help others do the same. Foster did not disappoint.
Let me give his voice to the book’s premise:
“Superficiality is the curse of our age. 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. The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”
I soaked in each chapter. I wanted real inner change for my life. Foster did not position the practice of the disciplines as the magic formula for change. He wrote, “God has ordained the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we are placed where he can bless us.” Here’s a way of illustrating the role of the disciplines in our growth.
Practicing these disciplines can be like weather forecasting. Our local weather forecasters express the weather in percentages; there is seldom a guarantee of 100%. While they seldom guarantee the weather they can predict a greater probability for rain, snow, etc. when certain conditions exist. It’s the same way with our Lord. These disciplines are not guarantees but when practiced there is a greater probability that we will meet our Lord in the disciplines.
Foster writes on twelve disciplines such as meditation, prayer, simplicity, service, confession, worship and celebration to name a few. Over the years, two have resonated deeply with me and I continue to plumb the depths of application.
The first is simplicity. Here’s Foster’s analysis:
“Inwardly modern man is factored and fragmented. He is trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment he makes decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of him. He has no unity or focus around which life is oriented. Because we lack a divine Center [Jesus] our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things.”
What is the Center? “The central point in the Discipline of Simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of His kingdom first — and then everything necessary will come in its proper order.” Instead of Jesus being the Center, we place the accumulation of things, the achievement of status, or the pretense of importance through a hurried life. “Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry,” writes Foster.
Simplicity to me is the process of establishing what is essential, narrowing the many down to the few so that I can both commit and practice what is important. Simplicity has become a lifestyle that affects my accumulation of things and the planning of my priorities. Without Foster’s penetrating and practical advice, I would be accumulating more and doing more. I keep coming back to simplicity, back to Jesus.
My second life-altering discipline may surprise you — celebration. I never pictured joy or celebration as a spiritual discipline. In fact, the discipline of celebration did not capture my attention until I got to know my friend Dr. Bill. Let me first outline Foster’s argument for a lifestyle of celebration.
“Joy,” he writes, “is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Often, I’m inclined to think that joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going,” he writes. Foster documents how joy was at the heart of many of Israel’s communal celebrations, joy marked Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:10) and joy inhabited His proclamation of the new year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18,19) — “When the poor receive good news, when the captives are released, when the blind receive their sight, when the oppressed are liberated, who [can] withhold the [joy] of Jubilee?”
Consider these lines: “Every Discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving” or “Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives.” Where is this joy found? It’s found in our obedience to Jesus. “Without joy obedience is hollow and artificial” and “No one would dare celebrate the Jubilee unless they had a deep trust in God’s ability to provide for their needs,” writes Foster. As the hymn proclaims, “Trust and obey, there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus is to trust and obey.”
One last thought from Richard: “Far and away the most important benefit of celebration is that it saves us from taking ourselves too seriously. This is a desperately needed grace for all those who are earnest about the Spiritual Disciplines.” I have often said that you can tell a good leader by his or her ability to laugh at themselves!
For those who know me well I can be extremely focused, loyal, and dutiful. I’m like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son wondering why his loyalty and duty was not rewarded (Luke 15:29-30). Doing the right thing is important but God has awakened me to the joy of celebration — a joy that propels me to savor and find pleasure in all His creation.
My friend Dr. Bill was heavily influenced by Foster’s book. Bill has taught me to savor life — to enjoy the moment, to enjoy God’s presence, to enjoy the diversity of people in my life, and to enjoy the sensual parts of our Lord’s creation — what I hear, taste, smell, or touch. The joy that comes from celebrating our Lord has deeply marked my life and two men taught me its value — Richard Foster and Dr. Bill.
So, when John Mark Comer’s book is quoted or people describe the impact from reading it, check out a current edition of Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. Foster’s writing began a revolution of the heart in the lives of countless people and in my own.
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