It's like a gym for your soul
Your Life with God is Christian Spiritual Exercises
Your Life with God (YLWG) is not a program, and it’s not a course. It's a set of practices. It’s a way of engaging your life of faith, based on how Christians have been engaging their faith lives for centuries.
Using the ‘gym’ analogy, we thought that no matter what ‘sport’ we take part in, there are basic areas of physical fitness to attend to. We’ve divided the YLWG Practices into four corresponding Exercises, and the practices related to them:
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Stretching: Fasting, Silence, Giving, Revelation
Strength: Service, Study, Confession, Testimony
Endurance: Prayer, Sabbath, Witness, Scripture
Teamwork: Worship, Hospitality, Evangelism, Communion
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Each Exercise has four major practices, and each practice - following Ignatius’ pattern - has a four-week outline of engagement.
For instance, we are starting Your Life with God to correspond with the season of Lent. This Lent, we’ll focus on the Exercise of ‘Strength’, and the practice of ‘Confession’.
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Week 1: Scripture and forgiveness
Week 2: Worship and confession
Week 3: Prepare for confession
Week 4: Schedule a time for the sacrament of Reconciliation (or a private confession rite).
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Though we will highlight them at different times, the Spiritual Exercises may be used by individuals or groups at any time and in any order.
Members of YLWG will work to create a ‘Rule of Life’: a pattern or set of practices to deepen our life with God. (‘Rule of Life’ also has its roots in ancient monastic practices, especially the Benedictines).
A Rule of Life can be created by an individual or as a community. This is your ‘workout’ routine for your soul!
How it works
Weekly Reflections: Delivered via email, these are personal essays from your ‘spiritual trainers’ on the Christian life, and how the YLWG exercises work to engage your soul. These are the foundational concepts of the faith. (In the physical gym, this would be your articles about nutrition, hydration, avoiding injury, etc.).
Spiritual Exercises: All YLWG members have access to the exercises (as they are developed) -introduction and encouragement in the rituals and practices of the faith. These are the basics of the spiritual workout, building spiritual muscle and resilience. (In the physical gym, these would be your basic workouts).
Intake and personal training sessions: Those who join a YLWG ‘chapter’ (for a slightly higher subscription) will receive an intake form and a regular meeting with a ‘spiritual trainer’, who will help them choose specific Exercises and practices. Chapter members will also be invited to in-person chapter gatherings.
Monthly Online Gatherings: Virtual community gatherings for connection, sharing, and encouragement. These gatherings provide the support and accountability needed to stay committed to the spiritual fitness journey. We will work on our ‘Rule of Life’ - personal or communal commitment to a particular set of practices for a particular time.
‘Chapter’ gatherings: YLWG ‘chapters’ are encouraged to hold in-person gatherings. ‘Chapter’ subscribers are invited and encouraged to attend. This is the "group fitness class" component, fostering fellowship and shared ministry.
Sharing Your Life with God: YLWG is designed to supplement existing church programs, not replace them. Congregations (and individual members of congregations) can subscribe to YLWG online, or you can subscribe to a ‘chapter’. You can also start your own! We are developing a process for expanding chapters via congregations.
This post grounds us all in the very first attempts to consolidate Christian belief - the Creeds. The earliest Christian creeds were how the community drew together to define belief - based on Scripture and practice.
We invite you to spend some time with this post, which includes the earliest Creeds - embedded with the Scripture each line was taken from.
Use any part of this as Presence - experiencing God reaching out to you.
Consider your own Calling - how do respond to these statements as you say ‘I believe…’? What does this evoke in you?
Your Ritual this week is saying the Nicene Creed itself each day.
This post - and all its links - are free this week as we begin.
We invite and encourage you to subscribe become a ‘gym’ member - subscribe to the ‘spiritual exercises’ experience the transforming power of Love in the world, and live a life of wonder and joy.