Christian ritual (an example)

If you develop a ritual it will have to be based on something. For me it would be biblical and Work related.

So one element would be Bible reading. Using the notion that, as I wrote earlier and have said for years, getting that language into you pays off in ways you can't know now but will manifest later on down the line. (But we need to get understanding, parts in relation to the whole understanding, with our reading too.) But Bible reading would be a major element in any ritual. Or Rule of the Day. (I forget what the phrase is, maybe it's rule of the day, or something else.)

Prayer would be another major element.

And then meditation. Meditation is based on the Bible, but to meditate in a Christian way you meditate on Bible subject matter (or the subject matter of systematic theology if it is pure doctrine). I just read a good definition of it that is practical. A farmer wakes up thinking about his land and crops. A tradesman wakes up thinking about his business. A stock market trader wakes up thinking about futures and the economic calendar and news headlines and what not. They are, in effect, meditating upon those subject matters. If you consciously did the same regarding biblical truths and teachings then you would be meditating in the Christian way. That's puts it into practical perspective. ("But I can't monetize biblical truths!" I can hear somebody I know saying that. He always says 'monetize'. Yes, so it's a ritual that involves a not-worldly thing.)

Fasting could also be an element in a Christian ritual. It would not be an everyday thing, but maybe one day a week, or month. And there are different kinds of fasting.

Watchfulness is another practice that Christians engage in. Jesus spoke of it. Usually it is defined in relation to the temptation and illusions of the devil and the world and our fallen nature. Being watchful against these things. Awake to them. Choosing some time in our day to practice watchfulness. To think over our day to see if we have been asleep to something we should have been awake to. Of course watchfulness is something we need to do all the time, but as part of a daily ritual we could set aside time to engage in it like self-remembering with the goal of raising our average level of watchfulness upwards.

NOTE: You know how he Work sources teach that self-remembering should go hand-in-hand with self-observation? The Puritans and Christians in general taught that meditation should go hand-in-hand with self-examination. That's a pretty clear parallel.

NOTE 2: The Puritans pointed out that meditation had to involve both the mind and the heart. The Work, to show another parallel here, teaches that self-remembering needs to be emotional after a certain point.

Well, just off the top of my head what I wrote above would be a Five Pillar Rule of the Day. (It was 'Rule' of the Day that I was trying to remember.) - C.

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"Two Types of Meditation

Dr. Beeke, who pastors the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, noted that Puritans spoke of two kinds of meditation: occasional and deliberate. Occasional meditation occurs when one "takes what one observes with his senses and uses that to climb to heaven." Biblical examples of this type of meditation include Psalm 8, where the psalmist meditates on the glory of the Creator in the heavens and the earth; and John 4, where Christ used the well water to teach the Samaritan woman spiritual truths. "This type of meditation, the Puritans said, is really quite easy. A spiritual man can easily spiritualize natural things."

However, the Puritans were also aware "that there were dangers with occasional meditation," and were especially concerned lest occasional meditations go beyond Scripture, perhaps even into the excesses of Ignatius Loyola. What reigned in the Puritans was a deep commitment to Scripture.

Deliberate meditation, according to the Puritans, is to be done every day, as a man deliberately sets aside time to meditate upon Christ and heaven. There were two foci in this type of meditation - dogmatic (or theological) and practical."

http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/articles/article_detail.php?119

ME: An example of occasional meditation would be like when I once observed that water towers were symbolic of the water of life, Jesus Christ Himself. They are up in the sky. This came about when an atheist I ran across had a hobby of photographing water towers all through the American south. I suggested it was symbolic of her unconscious yearning for meaning and for the truth of a Savior.

An example of deliberate meditation would be reading a passage of Scripture and pondering it. One technique is to try to visualize the passage, or truth. Sort of combining the right an left side of the brain, as they say. Like thinking of grace as raining down like actual rain. That type of thing. Deliberate mediation also involves meditating on a topic of theology like the Trinity, or adoption, or the atonement. - C.

ps- More helpful notes at that link.

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If I were to add two more to this to make 7 they might be Emulating Christ and Keeping a Journal.

Emulating Christ is a powerful practice when you think about it. Because we know, when we know Christ, just exactly how we should react and behave and think and speak and so on when we think of Jesus Christ like that. And we take the suffering, just like He did. We know this at deep levels. We don't have to think it out because it is all contained when we imagine Jesus and emulate Him in the moment.

Keeping notes and observations in a journal speaks for itself. It seems small, but making concrete our thoughts and realizations and so forth is a big thing. - C.

ps- Also, watchfulness can include not just being watchful of the temptations and illusions of the devil, the world, and our fallen nature, but also being watchful to practice the two great commandments of Jesus to love God and to Love our neighbor (and enemies).

pps- Also, since fasting is not a daily thing it could be combined with Fearing God Alone, because both are a separating oneself from worldly things. Food, desire, physical things...and the fear of man. Both also are type of non-identifying.

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[A response to an email from S.]

You bringing up this subject of a ritual, or daily routine, or rule of the day (I forget where that phrase came from) is relevant to everything regarding this email group and all else it's been over the last - gasp - 12 or so years.

Because (and this thought just came to me as I am writing this) at first we are searching and that is our discipline. Then we are consolidating our understanding from what we've found (but this is still on the innocent momentum of the search phase). Then...then we are no longer innocent or unaware of what is going on regarding it all, so at that point perhaps a disciplined rule/routine comes into play. Not a mechanical routine by any means, but a discipline. An approach that is self-conscious (worldly meaning of that term) of necessity yet effective nevertheless because the parts of the routine are real. - C.