Disciplines

I consider Richard Foster, whose Celebration of Discipline (1978) has sold more than a million copies, a friend, a good friend, in fact. We've prayed together, he in his Quaker style, sitting on the floor, hands out, and me in my own, sitting up, eyes closed, hands folded. 

Richard Foster's wonderful contribution to American Christianity is, I believe, his examination of the role of discipline in the lives of believers. He's all for prayer and fasting, for significant study and dedicated meditation, for doing it all in disciplined fashion. Frequently, when I've been with him and other Christian writers affiliated with a group called The Chrysostom Society, he simply disappears, because he believes in the discipline of solitude and quiet. He's a Quaker, he's part Ojibwe, and he's a Christian.

A couple of my friends, years ago, friends who didn't quite understand my Dutch Calvinist background, asked me, with some seriousness, if I was a member of a cult. They were good friends, but they'd never known someone who went to church as often as I did. 

But I think I'm far less disciplined today, less committed to the many of the rituals that make Richard Foster's spiritual life alive. We pray and meditate some, but don't go to church as often as we used to, and are far less bound to the goings-on at the fellowship where we consider ourselves members, far less "involved," an important word to real church people.

I said I'm a friend of Richard Foster, but not a disciple, although he's taught me a great deal and I believe what he says. That could be at least part of the reason Garrison Keillor's quote about giving thanks sits at the top of the title page of this blog. I believe what he says. I don't always practice it, but I believe he's right. 

No, I know he's right. Eleven years ago, I determined to take up the challenge: "We'd all be better off if we started the day by giving thanks for just one thing." I did just that--for a year. Did it make a difference? Yes. Was it easy? No. Did I sometimes have to push? Yes. Did it get a little crazy once in a while? Yes. Was my thanksgiving always heartfelt? No. Did it feel like an empty ritual occasionally? Sure. Was it good for you. Amen, it was.

I didn't do that on line, but I could show you the calendar year because I kept it as a journal--with pictures. I enjoyed it too, I really did; and I believe it was good for me. 

But also exhausting.

So, ten years and 3500 posts ago, when I started this blog, I put that line up top because I wanted to continue to commit myself to the discipline of thanksgiving. Hundreds of entries are my "morning thanks," but over the years the ardor of my commitment has definitely faded. I don't give morning thanks as regularly as I once did. Richard Foster would smile. He understands that a discipline is never easy or simple--or it wouldn't require discipline. 

And now Keillor, the man I'm quoting on every page of this blog, is accused of groping women. The man whose injunction to giving thanks became a discipline in my life, has been found morally wanting. 

It seems he's not Harvey Weinstein, nor Matt Lauer; he's not Judge Moore, nor Donald J. Trump. But he's been accused and convicted, his contracts in shreds, and I'm stuck with him up there, as my Trump-loving readers have indicated.

Yesterday another friend told me that Garrison Keillor wasn't the only wise man to say what he did about the importance of giving thanks. Henri Nouwen did too. I told him I'd look up the quote. 

It seems to me that all of us have some skepticism for the sexual fires a'blazing right now. If that weren't true, Donald Trump would be wherever Billy Bush is these days. It's hard for any of us to look on people--men--we've trusted, even loved, and imagine them dropping their trousers or pushing their tongues down women's throats.

The discipline Keillor suggests up there at the top of the page, is still, in my book, as valid as it was when I first read the interview in Christian Century more than a decade ago. What's more, I'm happy that I've found his suggestion to be true. He's not lying. Giving thanks, daily, is good for the soul. 

And I should do it more. I should. Richard Foster would nod his head right now, and smile. He's not a scold.

I'm guessing Garrison Keillor would say so too. Neither is he.

I'll leave the man's words up there. I'll look for the quote from Henri Nouwen, but I don't think I'll take Mr. Keillor's line down. Not yet anyway. It's no less true today than it was last week.