Weekly Practice 10/27/25

Hey, all. You know the drill. Try to do/discuss this week’s practice with others.

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Scripture

Here’s a link if you want to read all of Isaiah 49. If you have the time, you should.

Isaiah 49:15-16 ESV

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

    yet I will not forget you.

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

    your walls are continually before me.”

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Practice

“Being Marked”

What an image: God, so lovingly committed to his people, carves our names into his hands. We are tattoo-worthy to our Maker. Inconceivable. When Jesus says to pray in his name, he’s inviting us except his mark. “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). 

Part of the work Jesus tasks us with is to share him with others. If Jesus Christ is your Lord, you have been marked. Like a full sleeve tattoo, this should be hard to cover up. This week, ask God if there are ways you can “show off your ink.” This might be in what you say. It might also be in the decisions you make, in how you work and play, or in how you treat others. You and me, we’re marked. Let’s not be afraid to let others see.

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Regrettable

Weekly Practice 10/20/25

Hey, all. Try to do/discuss this week’s practice with others, if at all possible.

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Scripture

Here’s a link if you want to read the lead up in Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 12:1-3 MSG

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

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Practice

Offload

Strip down. Other translations say, “throw off everything that hinders,” or, “lay aside every weight.” There’s a sense of lightening our load so we can follow Jesus more freely. This week, ask God to highlight something tangible that might be weighing you down (food, drink, phone, tv, news, podcasts, whatever), something that gets in the way of you being fully present to God, yourself, and others. Prayerfully consider offloading this thing for a whole day, or maybe the entire week. Whatever you decide, the goal isn’t to just abstain. It’s to create space to notice what is true, to better hear God’s voice, and to respond.

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Good to know

I like this song.

Weekly Practice 10/13/25

Hey, guys. Remember to try and do/discuss this week’s practice with others. It’s good stuff alone, but even better together.

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Scripture

Psalm 139:1-6 MSG

God, investigate my life;

    get all the facts firsthand.

I’m an open book to you;

    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back;

    I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say

    before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there,

    then up ahead and you’re there, too—

    your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful—

    I can’t take it all in!

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Practice

Examen

Examen is a “noticing” kind of prayer. At its most basic, you look back at your day (or week) with God and pay attention to two things: consolation and desolation. Consolation is when you feel yourself moving towards God in moments of increased faith, hope, and love. Desolation is the opposite: moments when you feel yourself drift, when anger or sadness or distraction keep your attention from what is true about yourself and others and God. This week, as God helps you notice these things, offer them back to him. Let him recenter you in his loving presence. Listen to whatever he might say to you.

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For those who like options

Here’s another version of the examen prayer, with some helpful steps to guide you through it.

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And for those who are counting

Only 73 more days! We’ve already got snow, people!

Weekly Practice 10/6/25

Hey, all. The scripture and practice are a little long this week. There’s even a link for the overachievers who want to read all of 2 Samuel 7.  Try to do/discuss this week’s practice with others.

Scripture

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 17-21 NLT

When King David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies, the king summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!”

Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

But that same night the Lord said to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’

“Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth! And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings!...

So Nathan went back to David and told him everything the Lord had said in this vision.

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord? What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord. Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.”

Practice

“Not Doing”

This week, find or schedule times to cease from doing things. This could be practicing Sabbath (resting from work and productivity). It could be times of silent prayer, just being with God. It could also mean “pressing pause” between activities, for just a moment, to acknowledge God’s presence with you. Here is a quote from my patron saint:

“Modern Christians are characteristically much afraid of being caught out doing too little for God, let alone nothing. But there are moments, far more frequent than we suppose, when doing nothing is precisely the gospel thing to do… When David sat down before God, it was the farthest thing from passivity or resignation; it was prayer. It was entering into the presence of God, becoming aware of God’s word, trading in his plans for God’s plans, letting his enthusiasm for being a king with the authority and strength to do something for God be replaced with the willingness to become a king who would represent truly the sovereignty of God the high King.”

Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall

And now for something completely different

Some of us have been listening to this series from the Bible Project. Check it out, if you want.