After a month of listening and communal discernment (June), a staff retreat (July), and a series of incredibly helpful conversations with many of you in the community (August), we are thrilled to share the direction for this year at The Practice…
RHYTHM: Learning to align our rhythms with God’s Eternal Rhythms, for the sake of the world.
The Creator of the Universe has hard-wired certain rhythms into all of Creation: Six on and one off…inward reflection and outward mission…solitude and community…humble listening and courageous risk…withdrawing and engaging…etc. And Jesus invites us to align our entire lives to these deep rhythms. He calls out to every one of us: “Come to me. Walk with me and work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace.” (Matt 11)
Like a musician listening for the groove so we can play along.
Like an athlete learning to hear the coach’s voice so we can join the game.
Like a child falling asleep in his mother’s arms, allowing our hearts to sync as one.
Like a disciple, keeping in step with her teacher, breaking ourselves open for the world God desperately loves.
The month of September will be the VISION and INVITATION to align our lives with God’s eternal rhythms, and a tangible way to help us SELF-ASSESS our current rhythms. In many ways, the first two weeks will frame the entire journey, so please dive in deeply with us.
October and November will lead us into three foundational practices for a life aligned with God: SILENCE, EMBODIED EXAMEN, and SABBATH. Silence helps us hear God’s still small voice and align with God in each moment of our day. The Examen helps us look back upon each day and find God’s fingerprints in the most unlikely places. Sabbath helps us reorder our days into the rhythm God established in Creation: 6 on and 1 off.
In December, we will align with the church calendar and celebrate the season of ADVENT. This will be a very worshipful month as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, and also helpful to give a vision for why the church calendar is so helpful.
And as you can see, we’re thrilled to include three Sundays of “Community Listening” this fall: Oct 11th, Nov 22nd, and Dec 20th. On each one of these nights, we’ll rearrange the chairs into smaller circles and practice communal listening together. Our desire is that these gatherings will (1) Help us to process the journey and carry each other along the way, and (2) Teach us the skills to create transformational community in our relationships, small groups, and whole lives. These nights are really important, and we can’t wait to see how God uses them to form us!
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The journey begins this Sunday, September 13th, 6pm, in the Willow Creek chapel.
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Friend, the invitation of Christ is LIFE to the full. It’s not easy or without heartbreak, of course, but it is the Way of deep peace, connection, healing, rest, and true freedom. And you are being invited.
If The Practice can help you “say YES” this fall, please join us. We’re all in this together.
Grace and peace,
Aaron and The Practice Team
Hey there,
As worship leader of a church plant, I wondered where, if and how children fit into The Practice worship experience. I know many of you have younger children – as we head into year 3 of our Spirit-led movement how to include younger members is something we’re still discerning. Thanks!
Hi Liz,
Thank you for your inquiry! We are very much still figuring out Family and Children Formation as a part of what we do. At this time we’ve had to accept that we don’t have the resources to offer the kind of family formation we would like – right now we don’t offer childcare or child formation during our service. It is however, something we’re deeply interested in and prayerful for in our own future. Last Palm Sunday we had an ‘all ages’ service in which children were a welcome and included part of the service, and we hope to keep experimenting more with opportunities like that in the future as we discern how to grow towards a fuller family experience. We’d love to hear what you are discerning about the process too! Let’s learn from and journey together. Blessings!