Practical Faith

We all know that our kids need to eat, sleep, play, take a bath, and brush their teeth - but even if we cover all of these bases, there is much more to raising a whole human from child to adult. We can sometimes view parenting as a gauntlet and any misstep will ruin our kids forever. But the truth is that kids are being formed largely by small moments, that tally into hours, days, and years. So how do we make the most of the time that we already have with our kids? Today we are learning to leverage distinctive opportunities to impact the future of our children.

It’s June and we are here at the edge of summer - for parents with students in their homes, we’re looking at the end of a school year and the beginning of something new. Even if you’re not a student or don’t have kids, summer just feels different. Entering into a new season can energize us and motivate us to create new routines in our homes and in our lives. OR the thought of having to abandon the structure that comes with tardy bells and car rider lines makes us want to hide in the closet stress eating peanut m&ms. Wherever you are on this spectrum, today I get to have a conversation with someone who is here to help us see that a change of season doesn’t have to completely reshape our lives when we learn how to be intentional with the time we already have.

Psalms is a place in scripture I turn to on a regular basis - whether I’ve reached the end of some bible reading plan and don't know where to go next or I’m looking for reminders of who God is or I need words to help me communicate what my heart can’t get up to my lips, Psalms is a deep well of truth that never runs dry. For the moment, I’m not ready to move into the next thing on the Practical Faith podcast, so we are going to turn together for a couple of weeks to Psalms. Today we listen to and meditate on Psalm 103.

We’ve spent eleven episodes moving through the topic of Spiritual Disciplines, exploring specific ways that we make space for God to shape us, and how to build these spiritual faith muscles through incorporating them into our everyday lives. And that’s what this podcast is for - we want to consciously build & live out our faith - remarkable, extraordinary faith - in everyday life. Our growth as a disciple cannot be solely dependent upon an hour of time within the walls of a church building on Sundays. Following Jesus is an every day, every moment, endeavor and this space serves as a way to give you tools to do that. Sometimes it’s a practice, an idea, a conversation. Today it’s a reflection as we wrap up this series on Spiritual Disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines help to root us more deeply and also press us on in our following of Jesus. Walking in the way of Jesus instinctively feels like a forward kind of motion - a hand to the plow movement - and so it is. But what happens when you don’t know which way is forward or why you want to go that way at all? What do you do when fear holds your feet to the floor, when lies whisper that you shouldn’t trust the one you are following? In those moments, for me and maybe for you, the way to move forward is to look back. The spiritual discipline of remembrance may feel counterintuitive when you want to move on, but often it is the very thing that will bolster our faith and trust in God and keep us following the one who told us that he is the way.

It’s the week after Easter - Sunday was a world-wide day of rejoicing and celebration, remembering Jesus not only died to pay the penalty for our sins but that he was resurrected from the dead guaranteeing that sin nor death would not have the final word. We spend all day Saturday saying, “Sunday’s coming” - and it does! But then so does Monday. We go back to work. Yes, we are still finding easter eggs tucked in obscured hiding spots, heating up leftover ham for lunch, and eating Reese’s eggs…but the exuberance of Sunday somehow doesn’t make it into Monday. Maybe if we just pray a little harder, spend a little longer in our quiet time, turn up the volume on our worship music - that’ll make us feel the joy of yesterday again, right? Well, maybe. But maybe we need to learn a discipline that often feels like an extravagance: the spiritual discipline of celebration.

Hi friends. We’ve been going full speed through these Spiritual Disciplines episodes - 7 down and a few more to go as we approach Easter in just a few weeks. So, as a way to help you practice what we are learning here, today’s episode is designed to give you some space to meditate on scripture, pray, confess, and be silent in the presence of the Lord.

Our lives are accompanied by endless soundtrack of conversations, notifications, playlists, podcasts, radio stations, tv shows, movies, and messages. Getting away from or turning off this noise seems nearly impossible and may even make us uncomfortable. It is easy to see how silence and solitude can enhance our spiritual journeys and also how it takes discipline and intentional action to incorporate these disciplines into our lives. Today we talk about the benefits of these disciplines, how we can incorporate them into even the busiest of lives, and some ideas for how to use that space of silence and solitude.

The first thing in scripture that God declares holy is the seventh day of creation: Sabbath. A lot has happened since that first Sabbath - and as we get more distant from that place in time the more difficult it is to value it enough to practice it. Today we are opening our Bibles and the doors to our homes to talk about the spiritual discipline of rest and restoration - from why we value it, what it looks like in our real lives, to how you can integrate a regular Sabbath into your life. When we lay down our work to remember and rest in what God has done, we are keeping holy what God established as holy.

Prayer is our means for communicating with God. In our Protestant evangelical tradition, most of our prayers are spontaneous, unwritten, and unrehearsed. This is wonderful and reflects the personal nature of our relationship with God. But sometimes, "borrowed prayers" can be helpful in naming things that perhaps we don't instinctively see or consider. It is no more or less sincere or effective than one that you make-up on the spot, as that is measure by the posture of your heart rather than authorship of the words. This Prayer of Confession that we offer today is a borrowed prayer.

"Litany of Confession" from the Book of Common Prayer is often used as a corporate prayer during Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. You may want to listen through one time, then listen again, pausing after each "Have mercy on us, Lord / We confess to you, Lord / Accept our repentance, Lord" to personally reflect and confess along these same lines. You can read along using the link below, as well as find some corresponding scripture to point you to the practice of Lent.