We don't have to 'go' to church
We're called to be part of the church with our whole lives
I probably say the Jesus Prayer 20 times daily.
It helps when I wake in the night with leg cramps, and this prayer along with YouTube videos has gotten me through countless DIY home repairs.
’Lord Jesus, son of God have mercy on me’.
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I asked Trexo gym members how they use the Practices, and what they mean for their lives.
I love that YouTube and the Jesus Prayer help with home repairs!
And that’s one reason I started this current branch of the ‘gym for your soul’ (I’m not the first person who thought of this!):
Especially in an era when fewer and fewer people go to church, spiritual exercise reminds us that being part of the Body of Christ happens everywhere, all the time.
It’s easy to think that ‘church’ is a building, and we go there on Sunday (and maybe Wednesday), then we go home, and we go on with our lives.
But that wasn’t the case with the earliest church - and it’s not the case today.
The earliest Christians gathered with their families and close friends for worship, prayer, service, witness.
’Church’ was their whole lives!
In today’s world, lots of people like the ‘idea of church’, as Ryan Burge puts it. But they’re not going.
A third of those who belong to a congregation only attend once a month, so many that it’s now considered ‘regular attendance’.
But the hunger is still there - we still want to know God, and we still want to know how much God loves us.
Maybe we’re called to practice our faith even when we’re not ‘in church’.
Maybe we can re-capture the idea of prayer, worship, and practice is the enter of our lives - wherever we are, and whatever we’re doing.
Of course, we’re still in commmunity.
That’s the beauty of being Christian: you can’t be one alone. Community is baked right into the concept of church - starting with Jesus calling a group of unrelated disciples from different walks of life.
Many parts of our faith lives are personal: we definitely pray, fast, keep sabbath, silence, and vigil on our own.
But we always do so in the context of being part of the church.
During the Easter season, we’re talking about the Practice of Eucharist.
Being called to the table - sharing the bread and cup in Jesus’ name - requires others in order to participate.
It usually requires us to be ‘at’ church, at the altar.
The choice isn’t ‘go to church on Sunday’ OR ‘pray, worship, and practice everywhere else.’
The idea is: we’re praying, worshiping, practicing - stretching and strengthening our souls - everywhere, all the time.
Sometimes at church.
So going to the ‘gym for your soul’ means learning to put this in practice: growing nearer in relationship with God, in all parts of our lives.
And that’s a lot of what we hear from Gorgonia this week at Coffee with Coaches. I’d never heard of her, but it turns out she was a respected 4th century spiritual teacher from one of the most influential Christian families in church history.
And she lived a very busy life, being a wife and mother, a sister and daughter, and a devoted follower of Christ.
The Eucharist was central to her faith - and the way she lived, every day.
You were made for more than this.
Find out how much more when you commit to stretching and strengthening your soul. When you discover that your whole life is life with God.
When you join the Trexo gym…
You could find life-altering levels of love, peace, contentment and JOY.
ARE YOU READY?
