Session 7 — Crafting a Rule of Life
PREPARATION:
01 Where did you experience resistance in your practice of confession?
02 Where did you feel delight?
03 How does confession impact or change your view of God or yourself?
SESSION PLAN
Gather:
Pray
Video: [CLICK HERE] (18 minutes)
Pause for Discussion:
01 What makes up your current Rule of Life?
02 As you think about designing a Rule of Life, how would you describe the spiritual needs of your personality and stage of life?
03 What practice do you want to include in your Rule of Life?
04 Who would be important to incorporate in the process of building your Rule of Life?
Continue Video: Practice: Craft a personalized Rule of Life (7 minutes)
Continue the Conversation:
01 As you contemplate crafting a Rule of Life, what are some deep desires that come up for you? What changes could bring more flourishing to your life?
02 Imagine some practices you might tend to do individually. What would it look like to experience these in community? What does it feel like in your body to envision that?
Pray
FOR NEXT TIME
Preparing for Session 8:
01 Share about your process of creating a Rule of Life. What worked for you?
02 What feelings came up for you as you worked through this exercise?
03 What do you anticipate will be the most life-giving and transformative practice you came up with?
Crafting a Rule of Life
Now we’re ready to take all the ideas we’ve been learning and “put it into practice” by writing our own Rule of Life.
There’s no “right way” to craft a Rule of Life, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to spiritual formation. The goal is to write a Rule that is customized for your unique personality, situation, and community.
To that end, we’ve created a digital tool called the Rule of Life Builder.
01 Go to practicingtheway.org and log in.
02 Click on the Rule of Life Builder and follow its prompts. It will guide you through daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal practices in a number of categories.
03 You can utilize the suggestions, write yours completely from scratch, or do a mix of both.
Remember, start small. Your Rule can begin with just a few small practices and rhythms.
In this Course, we’ve covered three basic rhythms:
- A daily prayer rhythm that includes the reading of Scripture in the quiet of solitude.
- A weekly Sabbath.
- And next session, we’ll invite you to a weekly touchpoint in community.
You can continue these practices and add, subtract, and edit as you sense the Spirit’s direction.
A Rule of Life isn’t static, but dynamic. It changes with the seasons of our lives and stages of our discipleship. This digital template is easy to return to and modify. As time goes on, revisit your Rule and take the next step in your spiritual journey.
You can do this exercise one time before the next session, or every day. It’s also an exercise you can practice for the rest of your life, to open deeper and deeper parts of your inner world to God.
A Rule of Life from Practicing the Way
01 A community of rest in a culture of hurry and exhaustion, through the practice of Sabbath.
02 A community of peace and quiet in a culture of anxiety and noise, through the practice of solitude.
03 A community of communion with God in a culture of distraction and escapism, through the practice of prayer.
04 A community of love and depth in a culture of individualism and superficiality, through the practice of community.
05 A community of courageous fidelity to orthodoxy in a culture of ideological compromise, through the practice of Scripture.
06 A community of holiness in a culture of indulgence and immorality, through the practice of fasting.
07 A community of contentment in a culture of consumerism, through the practice of generosity.
08 A community of justice, mercy, and reconciliation in a culture of injustice and division, through the practice of service.
09 A community of hospitality in a culture of hostility, through the practice of witness.