How long has it been since you found yourself in a solitary place on purpose with the intent on quieting out the noise of life that distracts you from your relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Solitude at its heart is the call to Sabbath rest- time established in the pattern of your life set aside for cultivating your relationship with the persons of the Trinity.

Solitude and Sabbath are part of every day in the life of a disciple in pursuit of that relationship.  It is part of every week, each month, and every year.

Practically what does this look like?  Each day you are setting aside prime time to spend in the presence of God, setting aside all distractions, you focus on the relationship with Him.  Each week there is a day given for the same purpose (ring a bell?).  Each month a personal overnight retreat.  Each year an extended retreat.

If you want a life in Christ that is on fire, if you’re tired of the way it has been going, this is the cure.  If you want something different you must do something different.  I pray that you will.

When you go to a remote place, climb to the top of a lonely hill, or sit on a rocky shore in an unknown place along the coast, it doesn’t bring you closer to God.  It simply has removed the noise from your life so you can hear the whispers of God’s Spirit.  The sooner you realize that you are not going into solitude to meet God, the sooner you will likely choose to enter it into it.  Solitude simply allows your attention to be directed where it was and is always intended to be.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

Psalm 139:7

The pace of North Jersey life gets to me.

Hearing the voice of God in the busyness of my world is increasingly difficult.  The problem has always been my ability to respond to the presence of God.  And that is the way it is.  For everyone.  The haste and pace of the world around us chokes out our ability to listen and respond to the relationship that matters most.  Too often we let that be the way.  I do.  But I don’t want it that way.

There is another way.  A way of devotion that is miles above morning commute CDs and iPods on the train alongside a quick reading of a snippet of Scripture.  And the way I am speaking about connects every sojourner to the One who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life…

The sacred way is through the practice of ancient disciplines that help us to relate to Jesus Christ, our master and God.  The disciplines fall into two parallel paths.  They are the via contemplativa- the engaging of silence and solitude, prayer, meditation, and self examination; the via activa- taking a pilgrimage, fasting, and praying the Stations of the Cross (not just for Roman Catholics BTW).

Each of the ancient roads (vias) creates the opportunity for us to know Jesus Christ in ways that we were created for relationship, both in knowledge about the person of Jesus and understanding based in experience with Jesus.

Let’s walk now on these highways of ancient discipline.