Do devotions keep us shallow?

There are more devotional books and magazines out there than you can shake a stick at. There are blogs you can find and subscribe to (such as this one) which will deliver stuff right in your email box. There is Chicken Soup for every type of soul under the sun (perhaps except the Agnostic or Atheist). From Ellen to Guideposts from Readers Digest to posters with kittens "hanging in there", we can find any kind of devotion to our liking.  

We all have a desire to connect with ourselves and with that which we give our devotion to, which is why devotions of all sorts will always be around.

Perhaps the reason we love devotions is because we do not do devotions that we do not like. Dog lovers don't eat Chicken Soup for cat lovers. Men don't read women's devotional Bibles. Liberals don't listen to O'Riley and conservatives don't listen to Maddow. Devotionals become an habit of confirming the world that we want to see. Devotions magnify confirmation bias and do not challenge us too much, because if they did then I am unsure we would be devoted to them.

Perhaps this is why even a standard text for Christian Spirituality does not have a chapter dedicated to devotions. Devotions keep us where we are and keep us from going deeper into the great mysteries of the world. 

Devotions do not stretch us to the uncomfortable parts of ourselves or our world. Sure the devotion on occasion may convict us, but usually in the sense that we are reminded of something that we already knew, just someone put good words together to express it. Devotions do not challenge us beyond the boarders of our world-view and thus can keep us in the shallow end of our faith.

Unlike devotions, disciplines are not the things we would choose to do. These are the practices that others have taught us to do, these are the things we do even if we do not understand them (because they do not fit our worldview). Disciplines are the habits that challenge us and deeply shape us.  

I have a mentor who each night watches an hour of FOX news for the purpose of trying to understand her conservative brothers and sisters positions. She is the most liberal person I know, yet each night FOX news is on at her home. This is a discipline she has taken on, that challenges her, that she many times does not like.Over her time of doing this discipline she has a greater compassion for her neighbors as well as even been personally challenged on some of her world view assumptions.  

And this is where devotions have a place.  

Devotions are a place we return to, after practicing disciplines, and ask the question - in light of my disciplines how is my devotional life (worldview) different? If our devotions are not challenged by our disciplines then we are not practicing either very well.  

I have yet to find someone who loves to fast from eating. Yet, I know many who do. Few people love to get up and sit in silence for any period of time, yet I know several who do. Few people intentionally try to understand the others worldview in order to learn to love better, yet I know some who practice this discipline.  

Could it be that all our devotions and lack of disciplines are keeping us people of Faith shallow?  

Why we need sermons but not a sermon

The old rule of thumb for sermon writing is to spend one hour in preparation for each minute you are going to speak. Most Protestant churches are set up around the pulpit and the sermon. We write down lines from sermons and share them with neighbors and family. We even sometimes feel that the "point" of worship is the sermon, and everything else is there to support the sermon - the sermon is rarely thought of as supporting the music. 

As a preacher, I can say that for all this work and value we place on the sermon, the shelf life of a sermon is shorter than a peeled banana. I know this. Every preacher should know this. And you know, preachers should be okay with this fact because, truth be told, we do not need a sermon.

We need sermons. 

Any single sermon, even the greatest sermons of all time are still just one drop of water on the stone. One drop of water does not affect the stone very much. One drop of water is not what makes the Grand Canyon. As much as I would love for it to be, one sermon does not change the world. 

Even MLK's "I have a dream" sermon, did not change the world. It may have been a tipping point or a spark, but it surely could not have done anything without the hundred of previous sermons that people like MLK, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and the nameless pulpit preachers of the day.   

If we really desire to be formed by God and the Word of Christ, we do not need a sermon. 

We need sermons.  

The Bible as a lamp?

When talking with children about the Bible often there is a metaphor that is used - the Bible is like a lamp (or flashlight) because it shows us the way to live. We learn in the Bible how we are to love and how we are to live in peace with one another. We talk about the Bible as a tool that is for humans about humans, as though it were just another ethical document like Utilitarianism or Common Sense or The Virtue of Selfishness. 

While the idea that the Bible teaches humans some ethical concepts, the Bible as a lamp that shows us how to live metaphor is incomplete at best. 

The direct object, the protagonist in the Bible is not human beings but God.  

The Bible is a lamp that is more interested in showing humans what God is like.  

This is why the Bible has unique titles like "the word of God" or "inspired". These are titles that attempt to describe the Bible is unlike any other books. While other books are for humans to learn more about humanity, the Bible is for humans to learn more about God.

While the Bible may be like a lamp the Bible is not the Word (capital W). That title remains with Jesus.