“You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

I find it important (and fun!) to talk about the ways that we live our faith.  Partly, because it makes us aware of the work of the Holy Spirit in our life.  And, partly, so that we KEEP living our faith now and into the future.  Living our faith takes practice.  Prayer, scripture reading, worshipping, being in conversation and authentic community with others, it all takes practice.  When I teach confirmation I like to have the youth participate by using “worship notes” on Sundays.  The notes are questions, drawings, or diagrams that help them practice engaging in worship, listening to hymns, picking out the main point of a sermon in connection with scripture, and hearing the gospel in different ways.  I love to see their comments & questions and often I come away with insights that I hadn’t thought of on my own!  I always tell the confirmands, “I promise, I don’t ask you to do this to torture you!”  Just like learning to read, you have to learn the alphabet first.  The same is true when learning about faith and then living it.  We need a foundation taught/learned and then continually practice these skills.

One outline to help us engage with our spiritual development is through Vibrant Faith Frame.  This is:  Six Places where faith formative relationships happen, Five Principles to guide those relationships, leading to Four Key faith practices of all AAA Christians, who are Authentic, Affirming, and Available.  This frame guides our understanding of living as a Christian community where as followers of Christ, we learn to love and live to serve.  Over the next weeks I’m going to write more specifically about each of these aspects with stories and examples given, in order to help us explore and understand what it means.  Plus, hopefully, it will help you imagine and/or remember the special people and times when you have had your spiritual life fed and deepened and/or where you have done that for others.  We are continual learners as we live our faith in the world.  Blessings to you in your learning and exploration.