This is the last of my articles on the Lenten Disciplines. We have looked briefly and sequentially at Self-Examination & Repentance; Fasting; and Self-denial. We come now to the final disciplines mentioned in the Ash Wednesday’s Invitation in The Book of Common Prayer for the observance of a holy Lent””“Reading and Meditating on God’s Holy Word.” A recent Gallup Survey noted that only 10% of Americans read the Bible daily, and only one in five Christians belongs to a study group of any kind. Only 31% of committed Christian men have read a Christian book of any kind in the past year. Women who are committed Christians do significantly better here. It is important to realize that the mind will always take on an order that conforms to the order of whatever it concentrates upon or has in the past focused upon. Mind-pollution is a reality. Just consider the way a jingle from a commercial can stick in your mind sometimes even when you do not cultivate it.
St. Paul’s words are most appropriate in regards to this when he writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”¦” That’s the goal we’re after in the discipline of Reading and Meditating on God’s holy Word. And since we have entered into Holy Week during which some of our parishes have a service every day and when each day brings us ever deeper into Christ’s redeeming work, it is the most appropriate time for me to take up these two disciplines.