The Practices

There is a case to be made that’s since the advent of Facebook and our “friends” pages, the concept of real-life fellowship and tactile relationships has changed for the worse. Who does inhabit our world? Where is true community to be found in the digital age?

Swimming in the world of digital reality has replaced much of our mental and emotional energies. Ubiquitous information has poured down upon us and almost drowned our ability to discern and filter through what is worth our attention and what is pure entertainment and nonsensical blather.

Fasting helps us keep balance in our life as we can allow nonessentials to take precedence. We can crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them. Our cravings and desires are like a river that tends to overflow its banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channel. 

As believers, we believe that God is inclusive. It is the core teaching of the Beatitudes in Jesus’ great discourse on the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5) God cares about those who are left out. Our world tends to be strongly exclusive in its gatherings and politics.

Jesus prayed in times of trouble, especially in the Garden of Gethsemane and from the cross. He prayed in times of temptation and especially for the common, every day things, such as daily bread and broken relationships. He often lifted up others in prayer – for children, for Simon Peter in a time of testing, and from the cross for his persecutors. 

The antidote to the culture of busyness. It is God’s megaphone to stop. We will never stop on our own because our work is never done. We will never stop on our own because we will always be looking for more stimulation.

The Bible speaks to us of the actions of God with his people. It is read to bring us to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God that we may enter into his presence. The scriptures testify to the person of Jesus Christ - cover to cover. Reading the scriptures draws us into an intimate and nourishing freeing ship with e living God.

Dare we move into uncharted territory and create the willingness to pay attention to the stirrings deep in the soul. Would we even be aware of hearing our own voice speaking into places that were dying to surface… places where the presence of God makes itself known beyond words.

We all hunger for love. It is the story we all carry. No matter what we accomplish, how much we possess, or how much power we wield, we all long deeply to be heard and to love. All of us hunger to receive love but few are taught the grace of expressing it to others.