Personal Spiritual Formation:
The Round Table
established, Pittsburgh, 25 May, 2010; modified for All Souls Church, Bangor, 12-16-10
the Saint Day of Adelide
The Round Tables for Personal Spiritual Formation at All Souls began on the Feast Day of the Epiphany in 2011. This is a discipline of Bible reading, reading of ancient Christian spiritual guides, of personal prayer and reflection. Each day before noon, participants in the Round Tables do their reading and prayers (reflection comes throughout the day) and contact another member of the Round Table by email, text, or phone. The Round Table combines personal discipline with accountability—simply checking in—with another sister or brother in the faith.
The discipline required is as follows:
1. Read four chapters of the Bible every morning (7 days/week):
2 Old Testament
1 Psalm (Psalm 119 can be broken into several parts as you choose.)
1 New Testament
2. Read about 2 pages of the Philokalia (volume One) each day.
3. Pray these prayers:
Gracious Father, we humbly pray to you for your universal Church. Fill her with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where she is corrupt, purge her and where she is in error, direct her; where she is superstitious, rectify her; where anything is amiss, reform her; where she is right, strengthen and confirm her; where she is in want, provide for her; where she is divided and torn apart, repair her, O Holy One of Israel, by your Holy Spirit, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, who is head of the Church. Amen.
O God, may All Souls grow in the faith of the cross and the power of the resurrection. Cover, establish, and enlighten her that she may see through all that darkens the time, and move in the shadow of your wing, with faith, obedience, sacrifice, and godly power, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Speak of the church in the feminine if you understand her as the Bride of Christ; you may speak of her in neuter form “it” if you understand the church as the Body of Christ; or you may alternate the images.)
4. When you can’t think what to pray about during the day, or when your prayers get stuck, pray the Jesus Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
or
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. (Both forms are widely used.)
5. Take time to reflect on the day in light of your Bible and Philokalia readings each evening. Pray that God will help you to fully surrender to his will. Questions to prompt reflections: For what am I most or least grateful? When did I give and receive the most or least love today? When did I feel most or least alive today? When did I have the greatest or least sense of belonging to myself, others and God? What was today’s high and low point?
6. Email, text to call the person ahead of you in the Round Table after you have read your Bible passages and The Philokalia each morning (7 days/week). You may make a brief observation about what you have learned, or about what stands out in your reading, but this is optional. If you have not heard from the person “behind you” by noon each day call or text that person as a reminder.
7. Attend church. Partake of the Sacraments at each opportunity.
*Spiritual growth or formation is more like climbing a mountain than falling out of bed; it is more like a battle than therapy. Our goal is not to become nice or happy, but to become spiritual masters…like Jesus Christ.
*Ralph Winter is quoted as saying: “Nothing that does not occur daily will ever dominate your life.”
*T. S. Eliot writes:
“Even the anchorite (a religious recluse) who meditates alone,
For whom the days and nights repeat the praise of GOD,
Prays for the Church, the Body of Christ incarnate.”
In the Introduction to The Philokalia we are warned:
“To attempt to practice [the spiritual path set out in The Philokalia] apart from active participation in [the church’s] sacramental and liturgical life is to cut it off from its roots. It is also to abuse the intention of its exponents and teachers and so to act with a presumption that may well have consequences of a disastrous kind, mental and physical.”
When you read The Philokalia, remember: we are not monastics and monastic life is not our context. We are Western Christians, Protestants, working and living very much in the world. We must read The Philokalia through our own eyes and adapt it to our context. Church is our context. Vocation is our context. Our spiritual practices are not intended to replicate the circumstances or vocation of desert Fathers and Mothers or to pretend asceticism or hesychasm. Our spiritual discipline is for the strengthening of the church and as a discipline through which we discover and clarify our Christian vocation in the midst of our worldly work and relationships.
As the Introduction to The Philokalia continues:
“Provided that the basic condition of active participation in the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church is fulfilled, then this path is open to all to follow, each to the best of his or her ability and whatever the circumstances under which he or she lives. Indeed, in this respect the distinction between the monastic life and life ‘in the world’ is but relative: every human being, by virtue of the fact that he or she is created in the image of God, is summoned to be perfect, is summoned to love God with all his or her heart, soul and mind. In this sense all have the same vocation and must follow the same spiritual path. Some no doubt will follow it further than others . . . What is essential is that one does not follow it in an arbitrary and ignorant manner.”
“The Devil always seeks the vessel that sails without a fleet.”
“We fall down. We get back up.”
Information on the Round Tables and on any written materials used in this discipline can be found by contacting churchoffice@allsoulsbangor.com. Make your requests in reference to Round Table.
New participants are welcome at any time.