celebration of discipline by richard j foster

William Law, in his classic work A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, urges us to make every day a day of humility. No, we must come at this most prized virtue through the indirect route of routine acts of service. This is good news indeed, for we all know that humility is not one of those things that comes to us by trying to get humility. Of all the spiritual disciplines, service is the most conducive to the growth of the grace of humility within us. Do you remember that it was said of Messiah that he would not “break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick” (Matthew 12: 20)? Jesus, you see, would never crush the needy he would never snuff out the smallest hope. From the hidden years in Nazareth to the self-sacrificing love of Calvary, all that Jesus was and did was a seamless robe of service. Now, the specific act of washing feet has genuine punch because it was simply a continuation of the whole of Jesus’s life.

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13: 12 – 15). So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. After Jesus’s startling act, he says, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord- and you are right, for that is what I am. In doing this he redefined for them - and for us - the meaning of greatness. I am, of course, referring to the well-known story in John 13 where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

The towel and the basin are the icons of service. Today’s celebrity culture, captive to its pretentious egoism, simply finds such realities hard to grasp. There is no flash, no glitz, no titanic anything. These tiny corners of life are the genuinely significant realities in the kingdom of God. It is in these actions and many more like them that we begin to get a picture of service. When we see simple, everyday acts of kindness, we are witnessing service in action. When we see someone actively guarding the reputation of others, we are witnessing service in action. When we see a person holding the sorrows of another in tender, loving care, we are witnessing service in action. When we see someone intently listening to another human being, we are witnessing service in action. We learn about service best by watching it in action over an extended period of time. Service as a Christian spiritual discipline is difficult to capture in words. Excerpt from The Making Of An Ordinary Saint

Celebration of discipline by richard j foster