We believe we need a recovery of sorts. Contemporary culture has pushed us to think that public life is mostly structured (show up on time, fill your obligations, do your job), but private life is mostly unstructured (free time to use as you see it). What happens then when spiritual life is relegated to the unstructured part of life, to our private “off work” world where there are few obligations? Well, it tends to exist in emotional spurts, through momentary impulses. It tends to lose focus. You know what I am talking about. And so the recovery we need is the wisdom of basic spiritual ritual. Grace is not only a gift; grace is also a way of being. Grace is the life we are called to enter, the life of form and formation. We have talked about spiritual formation, how our spiritual identities are shaped through sustained commitments to gracious practices: practices of time like honoring sabbath, practices of stewardship like generous giving, practices of self-forgetfulness like service. In this series we intend to focus on four specific areas of faith practice: singing, confession, prayer, and use of spiritual gifts.