Tonight is the first game of the 2013 NFL season, and anybody who knows me knows that I am very excited. I figured this would be a great time to introduce a series of blog posts that I will be writing dealing with spiritual practices. Why, you might ask, is the first day of the football season the right time to talk about spiritual practices. Let me explain...
Football is actual one of my favorite metaphors for explaining what spiritual practices are. I am a New England Patriots fan. I follow all of the personnel moves that the Patriots make each offseason in order to see what the team will look like in the fall. I also follow along with everything the Patriots do in practice. Why? Because good practices mean good performance during games. Practice helps teams to develop rhythm, muscle memory, football intelligence, etc...
That is what spiritual practices do for us. They help us to exercise our spiritual muscles, develop our spiritual intelligence, develop spiritual rhythm, etc... All of this is practice for the big game; life. Spiritual practices help us to live in such a way that we are in tune with God, ourselves and our neighbors so that we will be able to be prepared to respond with love and grace to whatever life throws our way.
Each week I will be writing a blog post focusing on a different spiritual practice. I will probably take some creative license with what I consider spiritual practices by including both traditional practices and perhaps some less traditional practices. I will reflect on the meaning and purpose of each practice and then provide resources of one sort or another that will hopefully help folks begin incorporating these practices into their lives. Eventually, spaces will be built on both the Community UMC and People's UMC websites to bring together all of these resources.
So, look for a blog post on the first spiritual practice I will be introducing, simplicity, tomorrow.
Enjoy the football season. Go Patriots!
Football is actual one of my favorite metaphors for explaining what spiritual practices are. I am a New England Patriots fan. I follow all of the personnel moves that the Patriots make each offseason in order to see what the team will look like in the fall. I also follow along with everything the Patriots do in practice. Why? Because good practices mean good performance during games. Practice helps teams to develop rhythm, muscle memory, football intelligence, etc...
That is what spiritual practices do for us. They help us to exercise our spiritual muscles, develop our spiritual intelligence, develop spiritual rhythm, etc... All of this is practice for the big game; life. Spiritual practices help us to live in such a way that we are in tune with God, ourselves and our neighbors so that we will be able to be prepared to respond with love and grace to whatever life throws our way.
Each week I will be writing a blog post focusing on a different spiritual practice. I will probably take some creative license with what I consider spiritual practices by including both traditional practices and perhaps some less traditional practices. I will reflect on the meaning and purpose of each practice and then provide resources of one sort or another that will hopefully help folks begin incorporating these practices into their lives. Eventually, spaces will be built on both the Community UMC and People's UMC websites to bring together all of these resources.
So, look for a blog post on the first spiritual practice I will be introducing, simplicity, tomorrow.
Enjoy the football season. Go Patriots!