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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
Justin Early's The Common Rule lays out a set of guidelines for regulating common life together somewhat akin to a monastic communal rule. His work draws from prior theological work on the formative role of habits and liturgy from Jamie Smith (and others) and offers some practical guidelines ("common rules") for embracing love of God and love of neighbor and resisting counter-liturgies that make it more challenging to love God and love your neighbor. His specific rules and discussions were sometimes helpful, but what I found to be most helpful was the framework.
It made me want to think about practices (which become habits through repetition) that (a) draw me closer to loving God, and (b) help me love my neighbor; and practices that are acts of resistance to practices in my life that tend to colonize and take over my life in various ways. The colonization language is mine, rather than Earley's. I thought Early's daily and weekly practices related to (a) and (b) were helpful, and I thought his awareness of how our smart phones can colonize our lives rang true in my own life.
Previously, I'd tried to use my phone to form me in ways that I wanted to be formed, and in many respects that was successful. It's helped me establish cooking, family life, eating, and spiritual formation routines are bring joy and life (mostly). Yet, on reflection, I think social media use and over use of smart phone gaming had become habits that had colonized my life in malformative ways.
When I say colonize, I mean the logic and structure of something else (the game/social media designer with microtransactions and daily time requirements) takes over an area of my life that it shouldn't--whether it was feeling obligated to doom scroll or play my game during work hours, family time, all recreational time or "down time." Yet it generally wasn't conducive to improving my life.
I think it would be better to think about what practices would help you resist colonization that tends to be problematic for you rather than to use Early's specific resistance strategies. For instance, I think regular fasting from food would make more likely to fall prey to an unhealthy relationship with food (something I'm prone to--e.g., eating as an emotional crutch, for instance, especially when I'm hangry). I also think I tend to retreat toward interiorization due to my personality. So I need practices that would help me resist that particular challenge.
It made me want to think about practices (which become habits through repetition) that (a) draw me closer to loving God, and (b) help me love my neighbor; and practices that are acts of resistance to practices in my life that tend to colonize and take over my life in various ways. The colonization language is mine, rather than Earley's. I thought Early's daily and weekly practices related to (a) and (b) were helpful, and I thought his awareness of how our smart phones can colonize our lives rang true in my own life.
Previously, I'd tried to use my phone to form me in ways that I wanted to be formed, and in many respects that was successful. It's helped me establish cooking, family life, eating, and spiritual formation routines are bring joy and life (mostly). Yet, on reflection, I think social media use and over use of smart phone gaming had become habits that had colonized my life in malformative ways.
When I say colonize, I mean the logic and structure of something else (the game/social media designer with microtransactions and daily time requirements) takes over an area of my life that it shouldn't--whether it was feeling obligated to doom scroll or play my game during work hours, family time, all recreational time or "down time." Yet it generally wasn't conducive to improving my life.
I think it would be better to think about what practices would help you resist colonization that tends to be problematic for you rather than to use Early's specific resistance strategies. For instance, I think regular fasting from food would make more likely to fall prey to an unhealthy relationship with food (something I'm prone to--e.g., eating as an emotional crutch, for instance, especially when I'm hangry). I also think I tend to retreat toward interiorization due to my personality. So I need practices that would help me resist that particular challenge.
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Great system of a rythym of habits to change your life and encounter God more. Read the PDF not the book. PDF has all you need.
Great read. Justin is vulnerable and relatable in his words. Explains the benefit of habits to lead to a deeper relationship with God. Would recommend to anyone for personal development and to those who have been given opportunities to lead others closer to Christ.
A good introduction to or reminder about some of the common spiritual disciplines. I think it was helpful that the author was not a pastor or full-time in vocational ministry - it meant he had good suggestions and helpful stories about what these can look like even in the midst of demanding jobs and schedules.
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
In 2011 I dreamt of writing a book that lead busy lay men and women into traditional #Christian practices. Well, this is that book, only I didn't write it. Earley, a lawyer, tells how his life was broken by busyness. He became physically and mentally ill when he pushed his mind, body, and soul past their limits. When he admitted that he needed a change he gathered with friends and decided upon certain habits that would help restore his health. Those spiritual practices became this book. In this book are daily and weekly habits, like kneeling prayer, eating with others, turning the phone off for an hour, and reading scripture before looking at your phone (daily), as well as one hour of conversation with a friend, curating your media intake, fasting, and Sabbath (weekly). Another impressive thing about this book is the lengths Earley has taken to make this book accessible to anyone and everyone. In the back there are guides for trying the Rule for a week or a month, for trying only one habit or trying it all together with a church. He has modifications for those who are not Christians so that they can practice the Rule too. There are modifications for different vocations and seasons of life. There are modifications for parents, busy businessmen and women, for artists, for entrepreneurs, for addicts, and even for those dealing with mental illness. This is perhaps the best book I've read on spiritual disciplines and habits of faith. Others go deeper or explain more of the spirituality and psychology behind it all. But this book is the best combination of technicality and practicality. From now on this will be the book I recommend. In fact, take this as my official endorsement. If you read only one book next year (outside of the Bible), let it be this one.
This book is a must-read for the modern Christian. Easy to read and implement a chapter at a time, this book gives the foundations for living a life centered on living missionally in a fallen world with clear boundaries that are centered on the gospel. I have recommended this to many people and read it in a day because I am eager to apply it to my life and enjoy the benefits.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced