Grace Upon Grace

I just began rereading John Kleinig's marvelous book Lutheran spirituality, "Grace Upon Grace." I say "Lutheran spirituality" because the focus here in on the Triune God and the Means of Grace, all of which is outside of ourselves.  Such spirituality is not dependent on the individual but on God.  He draws us closer to Himself.  Through the gifts of God, we see who we are and whose we are. It is unlike any other book about what piety is and how it impacts our lives.

It seems that I found something to mark up or highlight on every page of the book.  Right at the beginning, Kleinig defines what spiritually is:

Christian spiritually is, quite simply, following Jesus.  It is the ordinary life of faith in which we receive Baptism, attend the Divine Service, participate in the Holy Supper, read the Scriptures, pray for ourselves and others, resist temptation, and work with Jesus in our given location here on earth. By our practice of spirituality we are not raised to a higher plane above the normal, everyday, bodily life, but we receive the Holy Spirit from Christ so that we can live in God's presence each day of our lives.

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