What does it mean to practice our faith? Maybe I need to begin by asking what does it mean to have faith? I will narrow the question further by saying I am talking about faith in the Christian sense of the word.

            What I mean by “having faith” is that we hold onto the belief that a loving God exists, and created the world and all its inhabitants in love, and has a purpose for having done so.  So if that is what I mean by having faith, then what would it mean to practice our faith? In a nutshell, it would mean living our lives very intentionally in a way that is shaped by our Christian faith. It would include learning to live out Christian practices that have been a part of living out Christian faith for centuries.

            In the book Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People, Dorothy Bass defines Christian practices as “things Christian people do together over time in response to and in light of God’s active presence for the life of the world.”  Now that’s a well-thought-out mouthful of a definition, but it may need some unpacking to really help us think about practicing our faith. 

            “Things Christian people do together” seems to say that we as Christians may be expected to live differently than other people doesn’t it? And it says that this different kind of life isn’t possible on our own, but requires living these things out together with others for support, encouragement and accountability. Bass also says these practices are done “over time” meaning that they become habits, or ways of life, that shape and define who we are and how we live.

            Why should we even do these things? Because of the faith we have in God, and the faith that he has our best in mind because of his love for us. And we live these practices out as a response, Bass says, to that love. We have faith that God loves us, so we live in the way that we understand God desires us to.

            So what exactly are Christian practices, you may ask. Some of the ones highlighted in Bass’ book, (and ones I feel we may need to spend more time talking together about) are as follows. Honoring the body. Hospitality. Keeping Sabbath. Saying yes and no. (Hmm…)  Discernment. Testimony. Forgiveness. Healing. Dying well. Household economics.  And there are many others we could mention, but the bottom line is, they are the stuff of everyday life… The things we need to learn to do in order to show the world what life in God’s kingdom looks like.

            I do plan to talk more about these practices in the future, whether in a sermon series or in a group study, we need to think more about what it means to live out our faith together, and we need to begin practicing it. Practice makes perfect, right? Well, we know we won’t reach perfection, but the fact is we won’t get anywhere unless we begin and continue to practice our faith. May we learn to do so together!