My spiritual practices are what have kept me grounded during this difficult time. Is there interest in a thread where I share some of my spiritual practices?

FYI: These are Christian practices, but there might be some things that anyone can find useful.

Ok so there is definitely interest. I’m pretty sure y’all will get tired of it but here we go.

I again want to state that these practices and some of my recs that go with them are overtly Christian but some can be adapted.

So first of all, I am a dyed in the wool Pentecostal and Charismatic that has become an Episcopalian. I have some intersections with the Baptist, Lutheran, and AME traditions. I was introduced to more of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions while I was in seminary.

I could say more about myself but anyway. Here are my practices. I didn’t invent these and I’m just doing stuff that some folks have done for a long time. Sometimes contextualizing or whatever.

Also, I just want to say that I don’t do all of this stuff every day and that I’m not any better than anyone at anything. Ok enough qualification. Here we go.

Here is one that I do do every day. That’s a pun but you’ll get it in a minute.

While I’m using the facilities, I take time out to center myself and to say a prayer or two. This is also when I take time to pray in the Spirit (speak in tongues). TMI I know, but useful.

Going to the bathroom is something that we do daily multiple times a day. So for me, this is the perfect time to check in with myself and to reflect.

I also do the same thing in the shower. It’s just a good time to think and reflect.

Also, I keep a Bluetooth speaker in my shower. First thing in the morning I listen to morning prayer and a devotional podcast.

I listen to two different prayer podcasts because there are things that I like about both.

This was the first daily office podcast that I ever listened to. It has three episodes a day for Morning, Mid-day, and evening prayer. This podcast uses a hodgepodge of Anglican prayer book stuff (for lack of a better term. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audio-daily-office-the-trinity-mission/id604914110

I also listen to this podcast. It is fairly new. It uses the 1979 Book of common prayer. The book of common prayer is what informs Episcopal worship. It has what’s called “offices” for different times of day (simple explanation). https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-morning-at-the-office-an-episcopal-morning-prayer-podcast/id1488383775

Also, Alexa has a skill that you can teach her called “episcopal prayer” that will do the morning and evening offices.

There’s more that can be said about the book of common prayer but I don’t want to bore y’all.

Anyway, these are the things that I do almost every day.

The other thing that I forgot to add is that the Daily Office has scripture readings to it so you can listen or read along with those. They cover most of the Bible.

Now let me get back to some broader practices.

Breathing. This is huge. Breathing is something that, when done with purpose can be spiritual and a way to get focused.

I have an Apple Watch and so I will do the breathe prompt with that. But you don’t need an app to tell you to breathe. Just take deep breaths in and out.

I use breathing to center myself when I start to feel overwhelmed or when I get too many things going at once. It is a good way to steady oneself. I try to take 3-5 good breaths or to breathe steadily for a minute.

Intention setting is another practice that I use. I set intentions for prayer or other devotional times. I set intentions for my work day. I set intentions for practical stuff like washing my hair or cleaning.

I’ll get back to intention setting in a minute. But I want to talk about my altar for a moment. This is a practice that’s somewhat new to me.

In seminary, I learned about icons and so I got myself Christ the Liberator by Robert Lentz.

I ran into home altars on Pinterest early in the pandemic and so I decided to do something similar when we moved into our new house this spring.

Here’s my altar. You can see my Christ the Liberator icon in the middle. On the right is a Nativity. In the middle is an oil incense thing. Left is a prayer candle. I got myself a legit incense burner for Christmas.

I got my icon from here: https://www.trinitystores.com 

I got the frame off of Amazon.

Here is my new incense burner. I got it from here: https://legacyicons.com