The Old Stuff

When it comes to our diet of spiritual readings, we often settle for authors we have already read, or the ones recommended by a friend, or maybe, a book that has had a hot advertising campaign.  It is easy to be captivated by the trendy presentations of the books found in the religious section of the bookstore.  For most readers of our day something written within the last few years by someone marketed as an insightful writer of genuine faith is bound to be a better read than something written a hundred years ago by someone unknown to us.    

With such a criteria for reading, we are likely to miss out on some really good stuff.  This good stuff is the stuff which has stood the test of time.  It is not marked as trendy, but something which has given several generations of readers guidance and help for their spiritual journey.  Something old, but still around to be read might be worth a second look.   It would be a shame to finish the journey of faith without reading "Pilgrim's Progress," one of Charles Spurgeon's sermons, or "Practicing the Presence" by Brother Lawrence, or some other writing deemed of no value simply because it is a hundred years old.     

Lent is a time of spiritual practices.  In addition to the disciplines we normally practice, there might be some value in laying aside the familiar for something we might not normally choose to read.  Most likely even a not so serious search will reveal some writings and some authors we have heard about, but have always figured to be either too hard to read, or so old it could not possibly still have relevance.  An older book may have to be read a little more slowly if the language is difficult, but getting slowed down a bit may be just the thing we need to get our spiritual ears open to the new things God may be trying to say to us through some old stuff.