Settled on a good use of a corner of our new backyard: building a playhouse for the kids. (Current ages 9, 7, and 2.)

I paused the Tottenham match I was watching in the 95th minute to wake up my daughter so she could rewatch Kane’s goal with me.

And then we discovered together that the goal was under review…

My fault? Sure.

VAR ruining the beautiful game? Absolutely.

Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as have fallen because of the tongue. … As you fence in your property with thorns, so make a door and a bolt for your mouth.

A gem from Ecclesiasticus found in today’s Daily Office Lectionary.

October 23

While this is not your standard Rhythms of Habit email, I wanted to send out a quick note today about St. James of Jerusalem, along with a request.

The Request

Please send me your questions about the Church Calendar! It has been a joy hearing from many of you as you enter more deeply into following the church calendar, and I would love to know what questions you have along the way. Simply reply to this email, with your questions and I will do my best to get them in the queue. (Up next: Liturgical Colors!)

A Note about St. James

St. James of Jerusalem was the brother of our Lord, a critical early leader in the Church, and the first of the Apostles to be martyred. He wrote the Epistle of St. James, and was considered “a pillar” among the Apostles.

But today’s note is not so much about James himself, but rather a practice that has emerged in his honor over the centuries.

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage across much of Western Europe that ends at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. It is here that (at least some of) the remains of St. James are buried.

The whole concept of a pilgrimage deserves its own book, as does the Camino itself. But I mention them here in Rhythms of Habit today for one particular reason: my wife recently returned from her own two week pilgrimage on the Camino, which means that James and the pilgrimage in his honor have been on our minds much of the past several months.I hope my wife (who probably reads these emails??) will one day write about her own experience on the Camino, but in the meantime you can click here to read how I tried to adopt a pilgrim mindset while caring for our kids at home in her absence.

So on this day set aside to commemorate St. James of Jerusalem, I leave you with two things: a prayer of thanksgiving for the life and work of James, and a habit to adopt.

O gracious God, we remember before you today your servant and apostle James, first among the Twelve to suffer martyrdom for the Name of Jesus Christ; and we pray that you will pour out upon the leaders of your Church that spirit of self-denying service by which alone they may have true authority among your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Habit to Adopt: Pilgrimage

At its core, a pilgrimage is an intentional walk for a specific purpose. It can be a retracing of significant moments in the life of Christ—like the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem—or a walk around your block for the purpose of praying about an upcoming decision.

A pilgrimage is a practical means of using time and place to honor important intentions.

Here is a largely practical example from my own life: I have started to park my car farther away from the entrance to my school in order to have three or four minutes of silence before and after work. Sometimes this silence is simply enjoyed as a moment where I am not needed ... and other times it is spent praying. And, of course, plenty of times it is spent thinking about the weekend’s schedule or the latest Tottenham match.

But this tiny pilgrimage, experienced over the course of many months and years, is no doubt shaping me and my interactions with those I care for.

So, talk to my wife if you want to hear more about the Camino! But also look for ways to take your own tiny pilgrimages here and now.

My wife returned this weekend from a two week pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. My latest piece at Covenant is about my experience trying to walk the pilgrim way while caring for our kids here at home.

It was my own Camino de Solo Dad.

I do not love it when a match is decided by PKs—they are a terrible way to lose—but it was quite the experience being in the stands last night when FC Dallas advanced on Velasco’s Panenka.

What’s a Panenka, you ask?

The two teams I support most have coaches who insists on their “System” even when the results are not (yet/always?) positive.

I trust Conte when he says “trust the system” more than I do when Berhalter says the same. Here’s hoping for a surprise on the later come World Cup time!

The seven day week as a microcosm of the Church Calendar. Read more here.

The seven day week as a microcosm of the Church Calendar.

The Church Calendar, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent and concluding with the Feast of Christ the King, is an intentional re-living of the life of Christ year after year.

In Advent we anticipate his Incarnation that we celebrate throughout Christmas. In Epiphany we recognize the many ways he revealed his true nature throughout the Gospels. In Lent we enter with him into the period of fasting in the wilderness. Holy Week is a slow, purposeful walk through the final week of his life. Easter—the longest of the Holy Seasons!—is a feast celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.

To follow the Church Calendar is to re-live the life of Jesus every year of your life.

But there are some things worth doing not just every year, but every week.

For as long as the Church has been the Church, Christians have used the natural rhythm of the seven day week to be formed—week after week—increasingly into the image of Jesus.

The seven day week serves as a microcosm of the Church Year.

So what is the seven day rhythm of the Christian week?

The Didache is a first century text that describes many areas of life for at least one early Christian community. Here is what it says about fasting:

But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week. Rather, fast on Wednesday and the Preparation (Friday).

In this specific church manual, the reality that Christians were regularly fasting was understood. The Didache simply gives a prescription for when to do so: Wednesdays and Fridays.

Why?

It was on Wednesday that Judas planned the betrayal of Jesus, and it was on Friday that he was crucified.

Throughout the ages, certain days of the week have been given special treatment by Christians, and these days often come with a prescription of sorts.

Not every day of the week has a set purpose or practice. The same is true of the Church Year, too. There are Holy Seasons and Holy Days, but there are plenty of ordinary days throughout the year also.

After all, if every day is special … then no day is really special.

Habit to Adopt: Over the centuries, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays have held a special place in the lives of the faithful. This year, pick one of the days below to specially observe on a weekly basis.

Wednesdays: Fast. This can be a skipped meal, or fasting from a particular type of food, like meat, sugar, or coffee. Or you could avoid eating all day. As you fast, keep in mind that one benefit of fasting is that you are strengthening your moral “no” muscle, or what the ancients called Temperance. As you say “no” when it doesn’t really matter—skipping a meal, for example—you are increasing your ability to say “no” when it matters most.

Fridays: Fast, and remember the Cross. Similar to Wednesday, Christians have often fasted on Fridays. This is most culturally noticeable throughout the season of Lent, when the McDonald’s Filet-o-fish returns to prominence. A collect for Fridays is below, and would be a wonderful prayer to say throughout your Fridays.

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Saturdays: Rest, and prepare for Sunday Worship. This could take the form of a day-long rest—like fasting from a smartphone or screens—or it could be a simple act of preparation, like reading the lectionary texts for Sunday’s sermon or setting out clothes and making a simple breakfast ahead of time in order to make the “get ready for Church” routine a little less hectic. A collect for Saturdays is below, and would be a wonderful prayer to say as you prepare.

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sunday: Celebrate the Resurrection, and launch into the week. While there are countless biblical topics covered in Sunday services and classes, the Sunday gathering of the faithful is chiefly a celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. Similarly, it is our weekly celebration of the Resurrection that equips us for the week ahead. Two prayers help capture these things. The first is a general collect for Sundays, and the second is the Post Communion Prayer: the final words prayed by the congregation before the service ends. Whether your church says these prayers or not, consider doing so yourself as you seek to more fully celebrate Sunday.

God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Slowly but surely, my Run Thy Neighborhood project continues. Today’s run completed the outer frame of a neighborhood and a half, and a few missing street portions. Still a long way to go: I have completed 29/1240 Richardson streets so far.

(Literally) One step at a time.

September 29: A celebration of heavenly beings in an overly-materialistic world.

In the preface to his infamous Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis notes the following about our attitudes towards heavenly beings.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

On the one hand, ours is an age that values the physical and material world around us. To the materialist, the world is what you can experience and observe: atoms, molecules, nature, etc. This world is explained in scientific terms; we hold things to be true if we can empirically verify them in a laboratory. The world of spirits, angels, and demons is often billed as a thing of the past — a primitive view of the world suited only for primitive humanity.

On the other hand, even in this overly-materialistic world, our wider culture is drawn to the supernatural. Many of the most popular films and television series tread into the realm of magic and spirits; they are populated with dragons and elves. Production companies do not spend a fortune on a television series unless they somehow know that it will strike a nerve with a wide audience.

(And, as someone who once dressed up as Frodo for the DVD release of The Two Towers, I can attest to the reality that these fantasy worlds can really strike a nerve with a subset of that wider audience!)

Wherever you land on angelic beings—an ardent materialist who denies their existence, or as one who perhaps takes “an excessive and unhealthy interest in them”—the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels has something for you.

In the biblical languages, an angel is simply a messenger from God. Angels are not at the forefront of the story of Scripture, but they certainly feature in a few key moments on earth and in a few key glimpses into heaven.

It is worth noting that throughout Scripture it is not uncommon for angels to begin their message to God’s people with the words, “Do not fear.” This should tell us something about their physical appearance. Cute babies with wings appearing to you in a dream do not need to lead with, “Don’t be afraid of me” do they?

(On second thought … maybe they do!)

Most angelic beings are not mentioned by name in the Scriptures. Joseph, for example, is visited by many unnamed beings bearing the title “angel of the Lord.”

Chief among the angels that are mentioned by name are Michael and Gabriel. In Scripture and the tradition, Michael is considered the greatest of the archangels. He is credited with defeating Lucifer in the war in heaven (Rev. 12:7-9). His name is mentioned twice in the OT and twice in the NT, and numerous other times in apocryphal literature. Gabriel is most well known for his announcement to the Virgin Mary that she will bear the Son of God, but appears also to Daniel in the Old Testament and Zechariah in the New Testament.

Biblical angels appear to have different roles: Michael protects, and Gabriel announces. Countless other angels of the Lord fulfill other duties.

So what does all of this information about angels have to do with our own formation?

There are times when God protects, communicates, or guides us in inexplicable ways.

As people who aim to have the story of Scripture engrained in our lives, we should be open to the reality that this protection, communication, and guidance may be the work of “an angel of the Lord.”

Habit to Adopt: An increased awareness of the angelic and demonic realms is not necessarily a habit, is it? But perhaps each year on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels you can make it a practice to pray a thanksgiving for the work of angels. Year after year, this reminder may help you grow in our ability to trust that the unseen is as real—if not more so—than the seen.

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Three years ago today I was ordained a Priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.

The USAMNT proceeded to cough the ball up 54 times inside their own half in the first half alone. Think about that for a minute and it becomes almost impressive: they gave the ball away 1.2 times per minute. Unfathomable.

Ouch. But it’s just a friendly, right? RIGHT???

My Run Thy Neighborhood goal hit a first milestone today: Heights Park (my actual neighborhood) is complete. On to Arapaho Heights next!

The church calendar trains us to honor most those people most worthy of being honored.

Different Christian Traditions have various official and unofficial ways of canonizing or otherwise recognizing the faithful departed whose lives of holiness have made a profound impact on the Body of Christ. Some of these Saints even have Feast Days on the Church Calendar in recognition of their life and work. Some of these Feast Days have remained culturally relevant long after the religious significance of the holy day has been lost. (Looking at you, St. Patrick!)

If the Church Calendar’s primary purpose is to help us become more like Jesus, why are there so many Saint Days and commemorations of people other than Jesus sprinkled throughout the Church Year?

As is often the case, St. Paul and C.S. Lewis both have something helpful to say about this great question. And what they have to share might just reveal why honoring Saints from Christian history is perhaps a more important practice today than it has ever been.

The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is to not become a saint.

Léon Bloy

The first step to living a holy life worthy of the title “Saint” is a recognition of how impossible that task truly is. It is also hard to imagine a Saint that does not spend serious time each day in prayer and the reading of Scripture. But I think there is a third significant step to becoming a Saint, one that St. Paul teaches us in his epistle to the Corinthians: imitate people who imitate Christ.

Follow me as I follow Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:11

Yes, Jesus is the ultimate human example. The Church Calendar is built entirely around commemorating his life and saving work. We do become more like him by adopting his overall pattern of life year after year.

But there are degrees of holiness, and sometimes we can learn quite a bit by spending time with folks who are further along on the same path that we are. By following someone with more experience in the long obedience in the same direction that is the Christian life, we don’t just become more like them; we become more like Jesus, too.

But there is more.

I am convinced we need Saints Days today more than ever.

International online celebrities are rampant, in both the secular and religious worlds. We are invited to follow and honor countless people in a given day.

And without noticing it, we begin to follow and honor people without considering the degree to which we should. This matters because humans always—slowly but surely—become like the people they honor most.

Or, as C.S. Lewis once put it:

Where men are forbidden to honor a king, they honor millionaires, athletes, or film stars instead; even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.

C.S. Lewis, Equality

You will become like those whom you honor most.

The church calendar trains us to honor most those people most worthy of being honored. In return, we might just find ourselves becoming like them.

A change I made to my work email last week has proven quite fruitful:

Emails that I am copied on now skip the inbox and go directly to a CC folder. I check that folder once or twice a day. With this one change, my work inbox has has gone from hundreds to dozens of daily emails.

Tottenham’s “win or tie even when it’s ugly” approach has finally caught up to them. I would not want to be sitting near Antonio Conte on the flight back to England…

I still think they wind up on top of their Champion’s League group, but this is a much needed wake up call.

One of the benefits of following the Church calendar is the nearly constant reminders that it brings. Holy Cross Day (September 14) is a great example of this: squarely on the other side of the calendar from Good Friday, we are reminded again of the centrality of the Cross.

September 14

Calendars, by their very nature, are reminders of important things we already know but that we risk forgetting in the business of life. One of the benefits of adopting the practice of following the Church calendar is the nearly constant reminders that come along with it.

Holy Cross Day, celebrated on September 14, is a perfect example of this.

On a day that falls squarely on the other side of the calendar from Good Friday, we are reminded again of the centrality of the Cross.

The Triune God revealed throughout the Scriptures is many things: Creator, Judge, Healer, Comforter, source of all Wisdom and Mercy. But at the center of this story is a crucified Savior, who took on the sins of the world.

Christians have done many things throughout the ages to ensure their lives are—at times quite literally—marked by the cross. Tertullian was known for making the sign of the cross on just about every physical object he interacted with. It was his way of ensuring that everything he did—from writing a letter to getting dressed—was done in light of the Gospel. In many churches, the congregation makes three small crosses using their thumb—one on their forehead, one on their lips, and one more over their heart—whenever one of the Gospels is read aloud. This is a physical reminder that the Good New of God in Christ is to be always on our mind, on our lips, and in our hearts.

When Christians began to build their own churches, the vast majority of them were designed with a cruciform layout. This is not the most practical of designs, but it did ensure that the people of God were cross-shaped when gathered together for worship. (This practice is still very much alive in many corners of the church today.)

There is also a rather impressive history of variants in the cross design itself, with each rendition signifying an important aspect of the Cross of Christ.

So, on this Holy Cross Day, how can you be shaped by the cross?

Habit to Adopt: Find somewhere to display a cross, perhaps where you need to see it most. It can be as simple as a sticky note on your dashboard, or an ornate crucifix in your study. Allow this visual reminder to orient your thoughts back to the forgiveness extended to you by God himself. Sometimes this is what we need if we have any hope of extending the same to others.

Historical Note: The origin of celebrating this Holy Day—which was originally called the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross—dates back to the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem) in AD335 by Emperor Constantine. Within a few decades of this dedication, this feast had also became associated with a growing number of stories that St. Helena (Constantine’s mother) had discovered the original cross at the Sepulchre. A 4th century Christian text is the first to associate the date of September 14 with both the discovery of that cross and the celebration of this feast.

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O earth, how like to heav’n, if not preferred

The opening line of Satan’s soliloquy in Book IX of Paradise Lost.

Grass: the great American contribution to world soccer this fall.

The seed, developed by a Georgia-based company, has been selected by FIFA, which has instructed Qatar 2022 organisers to use it for playing surfaces at all stadiums and training grounds.

I am thrilled to introduce Rhythms of Habit, a newsletter about approaching the Church Calendar as an apprenticeship in Holiness.

In addition to (hopefully) being a helpful and informative newsletter, this project is also a means of finalizing the draft of my next book, called Rhythms of Habit: The Church Calendar as an Apprenticeship in Holiness.

If you are already sold, head on over to Substack to join as a free or paid subscriber. If you need to hear more, read on!

A little more about the Rhythms of Habit project:

As we live out the Christian Year together, three types of posts will be published:

• Introductory: these posts explain how following the calendar is good for your growth as a Christian. The first three of these are free to everyone, and help give a foundation for why you might want to start following the Church Calendar.
• About the Church Calendar: these posts share the history of the church calendar, some things that are helpful to know, and help answer common questions. Why do we celebrate saints? What is Epiphany really about? How did these seasons develop? What is a Triduum?
• Holy Day / Holy Season Reflections: these posts are the real core of the newsletter. As we encounter Holy Days and Holy Seasons throughout the year, you will be given habits to consider adopting that are rooted in who or what is being celebrated by that day or season.

If you are new here or new to the Church Calendar, you may want to explore the free introductory posts. Think of these as the introductory foundation of the newsletter.

• Why holiness matters
• Why we need habits
• Why we need a calendar

More of these Introductory posts, along with many About the Church Calendar posts will be sent throughout the year to subscribers.

But here is the real core of the newsletter: Holy Day and Holy Season reflections.

As we progress through the Church Calendar year after year, reflections on major and minor Holy Days will be shared. Yes, you will learn more about the calendar itself. But more importantly you will be given daily or seasonal practices and habits to adopt, in hopes that these habits will help you grow in Christ. You can find a free preview of these sort of reflections here: Feast of St. Joseph.

Why Subscribe?

Free subscribers have access to some of these posts throughout the Church Year. If you like what you are reading, consider becoming a paid subscriber to make sure you receive all new reflections as they are published, and gain access to reading all old reflections, too.

The first Holy Day reflection will be on September 14th, when we celebrate Holy Cross Day. Subscribe by then to make sure you don’t miss a post!

St. Joseph is a model of quiet, often thankless work that paves the way for Jesus to be known and loved.

George Weigel describes the history of God’s dealing with humanity as “an extraordinary story involving some utterly ordinary people.”

An adopted son of a slave with a speech impediment is used by God to accomplish the greatest saving act of the Old Testament. The King of Persia’s bartender is used by God to restore the city of Jerusalem after its destruction at the hand of Babylon. A group of ragtag fishermen and rabbinic school dropouts are used by God to establish the Christian Church, and are told by Jesus that they will spend the rest of their lives doing “greater things than these.”

And right in the middle of this extraordinary story lies Joseph of Bethlehem. An ordinarily quiet dad who works hard, forsakes his legal freedom to dismiss Mary, and instead bears the brunt of communal shame so his new wife doesn’t have to. (Not to mention that his first experience in parenting involved raising the Son of God.)

I am the proud owner of multiple pairs of socks that feature Saints from the Scriptures and Christian history. The side of each sock bears the image of the Saint, and on the bottom of each foot is a famous quote from their life and work.

As a (sometimes) quiet dad myself, I naturally own a pair of Saint Joseph socks.

And printed on the bottom of each foot is the following quote:

“                       ."

- St. Joseph

Joseph has no recorded words in the Christian Scriptures. He is visited by an angel. He leads his family on several journeys: first to Bethlehem for the less-than-glamorous birth of Jesus, then to Egypt, this time as refugees. And after several quiet years in Egypt, Joseph leads his family once more to settle down in the podunk town of Nazareth. And from this point on, we know very little about how Joseph spent the rest of his days. 

We see in St. Joseph a model of quiet, often thankless work that paves the way for Jesus to be known and loved.

Habit to Adopt: At some point throughout our week, we all have quiet, thankless work to do. We are washing the dishes, or filing papers, or taking out the trash. The next time you catch yourself doing this routine work, turn off the TV, take out the headphones, or otherwise limit distractions. Allow the quiet—and the noise of the work itself—to remind you to pray that God will use your otherwise menial task to somehow make Jesus known and loved.

You are what you schedule

Imagine today is January 2nd, and a friend bumps into you in the produce aisle of the local grocery store. After picking up the groceries that fell out of your hand you make eye contact and say “Happy New Year” followed by an awkward smile. Your “Happy New Year” is interpreted appropriately by your friend as “Seeing as we are only two days into the new year according to the Gregorian Calendar, I wish you well in the 364 days ahead of us.”

So far no surprises.

Now imagine that it is August 12th, and you have just returned to school as a teacher. You are greeted by a parent of one of your students as you are walking out of an orientation meeting. After asking about your summer, and waiting the appropriate amount of time to show just the right level of interest in your answer, they look you in the eye and say “Blessings on your new year.” You and this parent both interpret the words “Blessings on your new year” to mean “I wish you well in the school year ahead of us, which begins tomorrow and ends in the middle of May.” Neither of you assume that the words “Blessings on your New Year” shared in August refer to the Gregorian New Year celebrated on January 1st. It is clear that the School Calendar, and not the Gregorian Calendar, are in mind here.

For a final time, imagine with me that it is the end of a particularly disappointing season for your favorite sports team. Slowly making your way out of the stadium, a face-painted stranger bumps into you and says, “there’s always next year.”

Nobody interprets this to mean that as soon as 2017 becomes 2018 your team will be granted immediate success. We know that, in this case, next year simply means next season, whether that season begins in the current Gregorian year or not.

As my grandfather would say, “I hope you are sniffing what I am stepping in.”

It turns out that when we say “Happy New Year” we may actually be referring to a wide range of calendars, each with their own “new year” celebrations. Whether we do so intentionally or not, we all follow a variety of calendars, whether they are national, cultural, personal, lunar, solar, marital, or recreational in nature.

This is the first premise of this chapter: We already follow a variety of calendars.

So far this is merely an observation of the way things are. What comes next begins to reveal why it matters that we pay close attention to the calendars we follow.

You Are What You Schedule

Every Spring I conduct an experiment with a group of students. I did this once with a group of teachers and, to many of the students’s surprise, the results were nearly identical.

I ask the students to respond to what I am about to say with a simple facial reaction. They are to smile if their response to my words is generally positive, and frown if their response to them is generally negative.

Then I ask them to give me a blank facial expression before I utter those words every student longs to hear: “Summer break.”

As you can imagine, the room was full of smiles.

Everyone in the room, whether teacher or student, has spent a good amount of their life following the school calendar. By following this calendar year and year, they have actually learned to love summer.

To an accountant, or an engineer, or a doctor, “summer” is simply the time of year that you go to work when it is hot outside. To those of us in the world of education—even for those of us who work through the summer—there is a sense of freedom, flexibility, and bliss when summer arrives.

The School Calendar has taught us what to love.

We have already agreed that we follow a variety of calendars. But there is more at stake here. Calendars actually have the power to shape what we love, to influence our desires. Whether we are paying attention to them or not, the various calendars we follow are shaping our desires.

This should be at least a little alarming to us. Our affections—what we love and what those loves drive us to do—make up the very core of who we are.

If what I am saying is even remotely true, then our affections are shaped in part by the calendars we follow. And some of the calendars we follow are shaping our affections for things that are not worthy of our affections. This should worry us a bit.

God of the Calendar

But here is the beauty of thinking about things like this as Christians: we worship a God that knows that our affections can be shaped by our calendars. And if we read the Bible carefully, it appears that we worship a God that actually designed our affections to be shaped by our calendars.

Think about some of the great events of the Old Testament: Creation, The Exodus, the Institution of the Sacrificial System, just to name a few.

These events are so important to God’s people—they play such a significant role in the history of salvation—that God does not leave it to chance that his people remember them properly. He does not simply hope that during their spontaneous quiet time His people might happen to stumble upon descriptions of these stories in their Bible reading and then seek to apply them to their lives.

Think back to the Old Testament. What does God do?

God instructs his people to follow a calendar—year after year—that forces them to participate in remembering these events by re-enacting them as a community.

Creation and God’s Sovereignty is a really big deal. So every Saturday God instructed His people to rest from their labor in recognition of the reality that God is in charge of the universe, and they are not. Creation and God’s Sovereignty matter, so the Sabbath was placed on the Calendar.

The Exodus and Freedom from Slavery is a really big deal. So every year God instructed His people to celebrate the Passover by re-enacting the meal and remembering God’s salvation from slavery in Egypt. The Exodus matters, so The Passover was placed on the Calendar.

The Sacrificial system and the forgiveness of sin is a really big deal. So while repentance for sin was to be done continually, once a year God instructed His people to celebrate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Forgiveness of sin matters, so the Day of Atonement was placed on the Calendar.

When things really mattered, they were placed on Israel’s Calendar.

The Church Calendar

The goal of the Church Calendar is to shape our affections for the One most worthy of our affections: Jesus. How so?

Each year, if we follow the Church Calendar, we re-live the life of Jesus.

The Church Year begins with the anticipation of His birth (The First Sunday of Advent) and ends with a celebration of His current reign at the right hand of the Father (Christ the King Sunday). Along the way we commemorate his revelation to the Gentiles (Epiphany), His temptation in the Wilderness (Lent), His arrest, trial, and crucifixion (Holy Week), and His resurrection and ascension (Easter). These Holy Days — which is where we get the word holidays — form the foundation of the Church Calendar.

The preparation for and the celebration stemming from these Holy Days leads to a few major Holy Seasons. Sprinkled throughout the major Holy Days are several smaller commemorations that each help us keep the Good News of God in Christ at the center of our lives throughout the entire year.

Can the practice of following the Church Calendar be abused? Absolutely.

Paul reminds the Church in Galatians 4 that using the calendar to attempt to earn God’s favor is just as foolish as using anything to earn God’s favor.

Does this mean we should not use calendars as part of our discipleship?

No. Think about the other Spiritual disciplines.

Can prayer be abused? Absolutely, see Matthew 6 or Luke 18. Can reading the Bible be abused? Absolutely, see John 5. Can tithing be abused? Absolutely, see Acts 5.

Like any spiritual discipline, the Church Calendar is not immune to abuse.

But to dismiss the Church Calendar because of the potential for it to be abused is to allow other competing Calendars to continue to shape our affections unhindered.

When approached as an apprenticeship in holiness, following the Church Calendar can, by God’s grace, help shape us more and more into the image of Jesus.

Becoming like Jesus by adopting his pattern of life

On Thursday, January 15th, a miracle took place in New York. Or so some people say. Flight 1549 took off from LaGurdia headed for Charlotte, NC only to run into a flock of geese minutes later. The damage to the engines was extensive, and it soon became clear that an emergency landing on the Hudson River was the safest course of action.

In a matter of minutes a number of crucial maneuvers needed to happen in order to avoid a disaster. The Captain and the Co-pilot had to shut down the engines, set the right speed so that the plane could glide as long as possible without power. They had to get the nose of the plane down to maintain speed, but then get it back up again before hitting the water. They had to disconnect the autopilot, override the flight management system, and activate the ditch system which seals vents and valves to make the plane waterproof. Perhaps most importantly of all, they had to glide the plane towards a sharp left-hand turn so that they could land the plane facing south, going with the current of the river. Then they had to level the plane from the tilt of the turn, so that on landing it would be exactly level.

This is a small list of some of what happened in the span of just a few minutes. And as you know, everyone survived the landing. Newspaper headlines across the world described this event as the Hudson River Miracle.

Gary Player, the great South African golfer, was once asked by a reporter after a particularly impressive round if he felt lucky that day.

“Sure,” he responded. “But I’ve noticed that the more I practice, the luckier I seem to be.”1

These two stories—ones I first heard packaged together by N.T. Wright years ago—tell us something about ourselves and the air we breathe: our culture values spontaneity. We prefer a spontaneous miracle, like the successful landing of Flight 1549, and a spontaneous performance, like Gary Players’ amazing round of golf.

But what actually happened in each circumstance? When we look past the headlines and beyond the events themselves, what do we find?

Oddly enough, we find the same thing in both stories:

Decades of training that led to the acquisition of habits that led to an embodiment of goodness when it mattered most.

Learning to do Anything Well

How is it that you learn to do anything well?

What does it take to become a great athlete?

A regimented diet. An exercise routine. A coach, or two, or three. A goal. Practice.

How do you learn an instrument? A new skill? A new language? How do you learn to walk? To speak? To listen in a way that your wife knows you are actually listening? (I’m genuinely asking here …)

None of these things “just happen.” They take work. They take effort. And sometimes they take a lifetime of work and effort to see any real fruit. This is simply how God has created us to learn and grow.

But here is where we sometimes stop thinking clearly about our faith:

What does it take to be a great Christian? In other words: What does it take to respond properly to the free grace we have been given in Christ?

Does it take work? Does it take effort? Does it take a regimented day? Or a coach, or two, or three?

Or does it just “happen?”

More often than not, I think you and I trick ourselves into thinking it just happens.

Jesus and Habits

Consider the following passage from the Gospel of Matthew

Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:22-33

There are a number of startling features scattered throughout this familiar Gospel account. This passage includes a ghost sighting and humans walking on water. If I was one of the disciples, those are moments I would never forget.

As I spend more time with this passage, I think the real surprise might just be found in verse 23: Jesus himself took time out of his day to pray.

Now I am too committed to reading the Bible on its own terms to pretend that this is the main point of the passage. It probably isn’t even one of the main points of the passage.

But this sort of thing happens often enough throughout the Gospel narratives that it is worth spending some time considering for a moment: The reality is that Jesus regularly stops what he is doing, goes off by himself, and prays. And he does this even when surrounded by crowds that desperately need his healing and teaching. And I, at times, find this surprising.

Jesus did this constantly. Despite his mission and work, he developed a habit of prayer. We are called, above all else, to become like him.

We have no reason to believe that God will make us more like Jesus simply by zapping us with supernatural, no-effort-on-our-part holiness.

We want convenient store holiness. Conveyor belt holiness. Amazon Prime two-hour free delivery holiness. But the pages of the New Testament are full of calls to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” To “train ourselves for godliness.” You would have to search far and wide to find a command in Scripture to “sit and wait while God makes you holy through no effort of your own.”

Nearly forty years ago Eugene Peterson was able to diagnose one of our culture’s greatest collective diseases today: our preference for the cheap, and the casual, and the instantly-available:

“One aspect of our world that I have been able to identify as harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently.”

So if becoming like Jesus does not happen in an instant, how does it happen? If it is not something that can be done quickly, and efficiently, how can it be done?

I have not read many recent authors who have answered these types of questions better than the late Dallas Willard.

“We can become like Jesus by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”

To become an athlete, you need to live the way an athlete lives: dedicating hour after hour each day to practicing mundane physical actions. Submitting your desires for food, for entertainment, and for sleep to your true desire to become a great athlete. You need to develop the habits of an athlete.

To become a musician, you need to live the way a musician lives: dedicating hour after hour each day to the practice of mundane physical actions. Sacrificing time with family and friends to study music theory. Committing to spend more time practicing music this year than you did last year. You need to develop the habits of a musician.

And to become like Jesus, you need to live the way Jesus lived: dedicating serious time each day to the studying of Scripture. Sacrificing time that you could be spending doing something really good to go off by yourself to pray.

To become like Jesus you and I need to develop the habits of Jesus.

Habits and Ritual

Spiritual disciplines are good works. They are the type of things we are called to do as followers of Jesus. When we structure our lives to include these good works on a regular basis, we are developing habits that God uses to make us more like Jesus.

At this point you might be on board with developing habits that make you more like Jesus. This is great. What I’m worried about is all of this becoming ritualistic.

If this is your fear, I have good new and I have bad news.

So here is the bad news first: If you develop these habits the way the Bible commands, it will become ritualistic. But the good news is that this is actually good news.

Rituals are simply prescribed and communal habits.

They are prescribed, meaning that someone else came up with them. You and I didn’t invent the habit of reading Scripture daily, or feeding the poor, or fasting. When we participate in these habits, we are being incredible unoriginal. This is one of the beauties of Christianity: it is a revealed religion. We are not left on our own to wonder what God expects of us.

Rituals are also communal. When a community of Christians commits to practicing these habits together, they are participating in a ritual.

Behind your initial concern about these practices becoming ritualistic is a valid caution: like anything else in life these habits can become empty. This is a real concern — one that will be addressed throughout the book.

But let’s be honest. Our problem is not that we are faithfully living out the Christian life and have found these practices empty. If that is the case, you are reading the wrong book. Our problem is that we know we should be developing these habits, and on one level we wantto develop these habits, but we simply don’t.

If this is you, keep reading.