Fast: Week of November 14
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
What?
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
Why?
We constantly seek to fill our emptiness by consuming food and other comforts. We ignore the state of our soul and our neighbor’s need by medicating with food and drink. Regular fasting turns us from our tendency to consume. In our hunger, it exposes who we really are, helps us sympathize with those who often go without, and opens us to feast on the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the nourishing bread and water of our souls.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide how long you will fast, whether that will be one to two meals or one or more days. Prior to fasting, be sure to consider any personal health risks (e.g., if you are diabetic, pregnant or nursing, etc.) and consult a doctor if necessary. Make sure to stay hydrated. It is best to ease into and out of a fast: Reduce your meal size prior to fasting, and do not engorge yourself when breaking the fast.
Plan what you will do rather than eating, such as praying or reading Scripture. This is what makes the practice most spiritually edifying. Also, plan on how the lack of food will likely affect you both physically and emotionally and prepare to counter these. For example, you might be tired and irritable. If you expect this, pray that the Lord would give you strength and a calm demeanor.
Time of Silence: Week of October 31
Spend 15-30 minutes each day in silent reflection away from distractions.
What?
Spend 15-30 minutes each day in silent reflection away from distractions.
Why?
We live in a loud age. White noise envelopes us from the house to the car to work to the store and everywhere in between. All of the noise demands our attention, distracting us from the inner workings of our hearts and minds and, more importantly, from the voice of God, who often speaks with “the sound of a low whisper (1 Kings 19:12). Intentional moments of silence allow us the opportunity to hone in on that voice, to pay special attention to his words rather than the competing calls for our hearts.
How?
Decide on an appropriate time of day. Let any necessary individuals know that you will be unavailable for a short time. Turn off or silence phones, computers, TVs, music players, etc. You might find it helpful to find a place of solitude, whether in your home, in a closed office, or at a park.
In that time, silence your own voice, and ask the Spirit to speak. Or, meditate on a passage or verse of Scripture or on an attribute of God. When your mind begins to wander, do not be discouraged. Acknowledge that your attention has strayed and refocus on listening or meditating.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline and hold each other accountable.
One Day Without Media: Week of October 24
For one day, refrain from all non-essential applications, including social media, sports, news, and shopping.
What?
For one day, refrain from all non-essential applications, including social media, sports, news, and shopping.
Why?
Scrolling, on any digital platform, rewires us to crave connectivity, the urge to place ourselves in the middle of all that is going on. But our mind becomes a landfill of mess, and we lose ourselves to anxiety, envy, and distraction, drowning out the voice of the Lord. Abstaining from media, reminds us that the world does not revolve around us but that the Lord holds all things together. By disconnecting from the noise, we are better positioned to connect to God.
How?
Set reminders on your phone the night before and the morning of. If needed, go into your phone’s settings and manually pause non-essential apps for the day. When you find yourself wanting to scroll, pray instead. Thank God that he governs the world by his own power, and ask that he align your heart with his.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline. Ask your partner to text you at the beginning of the day to remind you about your practice and a follow up text at the end.
Simplify Your Schedule: Week of September 12
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
What?
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
Why?
Busyness and clutter plague our culture, distracting our attention and confusing our desires. Pulled in a thousand directions and burdened by a million commitments, we have become a fragmented people with unclear purpose, shallow devotion, and countless anxieties. A practice of external simplicity resists this tendency in our culture and allows us, by the power of the Spirit, to train towards the kind of internal simplicity that characterized Jesus — that single-minded intention to glorify God with one’s whole life.
How?
Plenty of blogs can teach you how to declutter your life. For advice on acknowledging your priorities, distinguishing what is essential from what is extra, and making necessary cuts in your schedule, you should do a Google search and see what you find. But as believers in Jesus Christ, our purpose in practicing simplicity runs deeper: We want to utilize external disciplines to cultivate our spiritual life so that at our core we look more and more like Jesus. That means supplementing the blogs’ advice with spiritual insights. Prayer ought to accompany this practice in several important ways.
1. In prayer, we must acknowledge that we are finite creatures who cannot be at all places or do all things and that only the Lord is God. We must lay aside our culturally-imposed ideal of playing God.
2. In prayer, we must ask for the discernment to identify the areas in our life in which we have busied ourselves, whether in productive ways (meetings, activities, house care, etc.) or in unproductive ways (“scrolling,” binge watching, shopping, etc.).
3. In prayer, we must lay our anxieties about not doing and going at the Lord’s feet and ask that he build our trust in him.
4. Finally, in prayer, we must ask for the focus to seek first the Kingdom of God. With fewer distractions, spend time away from the doing and going and simply be with God in silence and prayer and the Word. Ask him how you can glorify him more fully and make that the entire goal of your life.
Sabbath: Week of August 8
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
What?
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
Why?
Our constant doing and connecting trains us to believe that the world needs us to function. The weekly practice of Sabbath, however, teaches us that God sustains the world and that we don’t. To make a countercultural embrace of our limitations, we stop our usual work for one day of rest. Sabbath is a gospel practice because it reminds us that the world doesn’t hang on what we can accomplish, but rather on what God has accomplished for us.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Think about what your average day consists of — checking emails, making phone calls, cleaning the house, running errands, etc. For one twenty-four-hour period, refrain from these activities. Consciously step away from the noise and bustle of daily life.
Resting does not necessarily entail refraining from all activity. (Remember that Jesus healed on the Sabbath!) Plan to do something refreshing. That will look different for every person and family and might include arranging an extended period in the Word or in prayer, spending time with friends, grabbing a good book, or heading to the park.
Some Christian leaders have recognized that, since we have a body and a mind, our Sabbath rest ought to refresh that part of us that lies stagnant throughout the week. That is, if you tend to work with your hands, something restful or restorative will engage the mind, and if your work involves a lot of brain power, consider a more physical activity.
Curate Media: Week of July 11
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
What?
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
Why?
Humans are created for stories, which root themselves deeply into our hearts. We slowly begin to view the world according to the stories we absorb. Resisting the constant stream of addictive media forces us to curate what we watch. Curating stories with an eye towards spiritual formation means that we seek stories that uphold beauty, that teach us to love justice, and that turn us to community.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide first what days you will watch media. On the other days, choose a few activities you can do when you would normally sit in front of a screen. (Consider some activities you can do alone and some with others.) Alternatively, set aside only thirty minutes to an hour each day to watch a documentary, show, or video.
Before the week begins, do a little research and create a little catalogue of shows or movies that uphold beauty, teach us to love justice, or turn us to community. Then, during your media time, pick something from your catalogue. Resist the urge to scroll.
You might consider adding sports and news to this practice in addition to streaming videos if you find yourself constantly before these media sources.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline and hold each other accountable.
Simplify Your Possessions: Week of June 6
Purposefully choose some of your possessions to give away.
What?
Purposefully choose some of your possessions to give away.
Why?
Busyness and clutter plague our culture, distracting our attention and confusing our desires. Taken by the lie that the quantity and quality of our possessions reveal our worth, we have become a fragmented people with unclear purpose, fragile identity, and countless anxieties. A practice of external simplicity resists this tendency in our culture and allows us, by the power of the Spirit, to train towards the kind of internal simplicity that characterized Jesus — that single-minded intention to glorify God with one’s whole life.
How?
Plenty of blogs can teach you how to declutter your life. For advice on evaluating your possessions, distinguishing what is essential from what is extra, and making necessary cuts, you should do a Google search and see what you find. But as believers in Jesus Christ, our purpose in practicing simplicity runs deeper: We want to utilize external disciplines to cultivate our spiritual life so that at our core we look more and more like Jesus. That means supplementing the blogs’ advice with spiritual insights.
To that end, prayer ought to accompany this practice in several important ways:
In prayer, we must confess that we are creatures, not the Creator, although we often pretend to be. We do not own or possess anything in the ultimate sense as he does but are, at most, stewards of his good gifts.
In prayer, we must ask for the discernment to identify that which we truly need from that which we simply want. We take Proverbs 30:8-9 as our prayer: “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”
In prayer, we must lay aside our anxieties that come with a mentality of scarcity — the mentality that believes the world’s resources are scarce and must be gobbled up and held onto at all costs. Instead, we pray for a mentality of abundance, trusting that the Lord is bountiful in his provision.
Finally, in prayer, we must seek first the Kingdom of God and allow the Kingdom to reorient the way we view our things.
As one practical guide, try giving away not just what you might consider to be “extra” but something that is valuable, meaningful, or necessary. This is one way you can train yourself to have an open hand with your possessions, realizing that you are a steward, not an owner.
One Day Without Media: Week of May 23
For one day, refrain from all non-essential applications, including social media, sports, news, and shopping.
What?
For one day, refrain from all non-essential applications, including social media, sports, news, and shopping.
Why?
Scrolling, on any digital platform, rewires us to crave connectivity, the urge to place ourselves in the middle of all that is going on. But our mind becomes a landfill of mess, and we lose ourselves to anxiety, envy, and distraction, drowning out the voice of the Lord. Abstaining from media, reminds us that the world does not revolve around us but that the Lord holds all things together. By disconnecting from the noise, we are better positioned to connect to God.
How?
Set reminders on your phone the night before and the morning of. If needed, go into your phone’s settings and manually pause non-essential apps for the day. When you find yourself wanting to scroll, pray instead. Thank God that he governs the world by his own power, and ask that he align your heart with his.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline. Ask your partner to text you at the beginning of the day to remind you about your practice and a follow up text at the end.
Fast: Week of Mar 7
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
What?
Abstain from food for a day or more. When you would normally eat, meditate on the Word or pray instead.
Why?
We constantly seek to fill our emptiness by consuming food and other comforts. We ignore the state of our soul and our neighbor’s need by medicating with food and drink. Regular fasting turns us from our tendency to consume. In our hunger, it exposes who we really are, helps us sympathize with those who often go without, and opens us to feast on the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the nourishing bread and water of our souls.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide how long you will fast, whether that will be one to two meals or one or more days. Prior to fasting, be sure to consider any personal health risks (e.g., if you are diabetic, pregnant or nursing, etc.) and consult a doctor if necessary. Make sure to stay hydrated. It is best to ease into and out of a fast: Reduce your meal size prior to fasting, and do not engorge yourself when breaking the fast.
Plan what you will do rather than eating, such as praying or reading Scripture. This is what makes the practice most spiritually edifying. Also, plan on how the lack of food will likely affect you both physically and emotionally and prepare to counter these. For example, you might be tired and irritable. If you expect this, pray that the Lord would give you strength and a calm demeanor.
Sabbath: Week of Feb 28
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
What?
One day this week, rest from your normal activities and engage in a refreshing or restorative activity.
Why?
Our constant doing and connecting trains us to believe that the world needs us to function. The weekly practice of Sabbath, however, teaches us that God sustains the world and that we don’t. To make a countercultural embrace of our limitations, we stop our usual work for one day of rest. Sabbath is a gospel practice because it reminds us that the world doesn’t hang on what we can accomplish, but rather on what God has accomplished for us.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Think about what your average day consists of — checking emails, making phone calls, cleaning the house, running errands, etc. For one twenty-four-hour period, refrain from these activities. Consciously step away from the noise and bustle of daily life.
Resting does not necessarily entail refraining from all activity. (Remember that Jesus healed on the Sabbath!) Plan to do something refreshing. That will look different for every person and family and might include arranging an extended period in the Word or in prayer, spending time with friends, grabbing a good book, or heading to the park.
Some Christian leaders have recognized that, since we have a body and a mind, our Sabbath rest ought to refresh that part of us that lies stagnant throughout the week. That is, if you tend to work with your hands, something restful or restorative will engage the mind, and if your work involves a lot of brain power, consider a more physical activity.
Curate Media: Week of Feb 21
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
What?
Limit your intake of streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, and the like) to five hours or less this week.
Why?
Humans are created for stories, which root themselves deeply into our hearts. We slowly begin to view the world according to the stories we absorb. Resisting the constant stream of addictive media forces us to curate what we watch. Curating stories with an eye towards spiritual formation means that we seek stories that uphold beauty, that teach us to love justice, and that turn us to community.
(The Common Rule, adapted)
How?
Decide first what days you will watch media. On the other days, choose a few activities you can do when you would normally sit in front of a screen. (Consider some activities you can do alone and some with others.) Alternatively, set aside only thirty minutes to an hour each day to watch a documentary, show, or video.
Before the week begins, do a little research and create a little catalogue of shows or movies that uphold beauty, teach us to love justice, or turn us to community. Then, during your media time, pick something from your catalogue. Resist the urge to scroll.
You might consider adding sports and news to this practice in addition to streaming videos if you find yourself constantly before these media sources.
Commit with another person to practice this discipline and hold each other accountable.
Simplify Your Schedule: Week of January 17
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
What?
Reduce the number of meetings, activities, commitments, or outings that you participate in this week.
Why?
Busyness and clutter plague our culture, distracting our attention and confusing our desires. Pulled in a thousand directions and burdened by a million commitments, we have become a fragmented people with unclear purpose, shallow devotion, and countless anxieties. A practice of external simplicity resists this tendency in our culture and allows us, by the power of the Spirit, to train towards the kind of internal simplicity that characterized Jesus — that single-minded intention to glorify God with one’s whole life.
How?
Plenty of blogs can teach you how to declutter your life. For advice on acknowledging your priorities, distinguishing what is essential from what is extra, and making necessary cuts in your schedule, you should do a Google search and see what you find. But as believers in Jesus Christ, our purpose in practicing simplicity runs deeper: We want to utilize external disciplines to cultivate our spiritual life so that at our core we look more and more like Jesus.. That means supplementing the blogs’ advice with spiritual insights. Prayer ought to accompany this practice in several important ways.
In prayer, we must acknowledge that we are finite creatures who cannot be at all places or do all things and that only the Lord is God. We must lay aside our culturally-imposed ideal of playing God.
In prayer, we must ask for the discernment to identify the areas in our life in which we have busied ourselves, whether in productive ways (meetings, activities, house care, etc.) or in unproductive ways (“scrolling,’ binge watching, shopping, etc.).
In prayer, we must lay our anxieties about not doing and going at the Lord’s feet and ask that he build our trust in him.
Finally, in prayer, we must ask for the focus to seek first the Kingdom of God. With fewer distractions, spend time away from the doing and going and simply be with God in silence and prayer and the Word. Ask him how you can glorify him more fully and make that the entire goal of your life.
Love: No Phone While Waiting (Week of Dec 20)
Refrain from pulling out your phone any time you are waiting this week. Instead, engage those around you or silently pray.
What?
Refrain from pulling out your phone any time you are waiting this week. Instead, engage those around you or silently pray.
Why?
We were created to live in loving relationships — with God and our fellow man. We find that our phones, however, often split our attention and distract us from truly engaging others in love. In this Advent season, in which we celebrate Christ’s first coming and long for his return when his love will fully heal all things, let us practice the love he has already shown us (1 John 4:10, 19) by consciously setting our phones down as we wait. This resists the distracted, me-centered world we live in and prepares our hearts to receive our King.
How?
For many of us, pulling out our phone has become habit, something we do without thinking. For that reason, we might need a visible reminder to set it aside, like changing the background on the lock screen or home screen to a picture of a stop sign, a note that reads “wait in His love,” or something that reminds us to set our phones back down.
Use these moments of waiting to practice praying “without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), and recite a breath prayer, a short prayer that one offers while taking slow breaths. For example,
“Father, [inhale] fill me with your love [exhale].”
“Jesus, [inhale] let me know the love of the cross [exhale].”
“Holy Spirit, [inhale] comfort me with your love [exhale].”
Or, pray in your own words.
Ask the Lord for the grace to know and experience his overwhelming love which he has revealed in Christ (Ephesians 3:14-10; Romans 5:6-11; 8:31-39).
Pray also for the strength to return his love with your whole heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Pray that the Spirit would give you eyes to see those in need around you and the ability to extend Christ’s love to them (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 25:31-40).
If you have not prepared in advance how you are to pray in your times of waiting or prepared yourself to act on the Spirit’s leading in demonstrating love to others, more than likely you’ll just be more bored than you typically would be if you had distracted yourself with your phone. Be purposeful in the waiting, and invite the Holy Spirit to grow you in love.