For me, the Jericho Road is a transformative place to consider
my walk with God and how I am doing in loving
the people God places in my life.
Right after the first liturgical audit work we did in 8 Bible, I reflected with my principal. He wisely commented that regular liturgical audits can be a practice, too. As I considered what I desire for my students to take with them when they graduate, I saw that practicing liturgical audits regularly together could be a powerful opportunity. So a couple of weeks later we tried a liturgical audit that Professor Jamie Smith suggested at the CSI Worldview Summit. We took a look at the practice of going to the mall. We thought about what we do at the mall, and about what being at the mall does to us. As you can see from the picture below, this topic generated a lot of discussion!
The liturgical audit of being at the mall helped frame our thoughts for the work ahead. This week we took a look at some of the spiritual disciplines we have been participating in as a class so far this year. We took two class periods to "liturgically audit" some Christian practices. I divided students into groups of 3-4 and gave each group one of the following habits/practices: praying with others, praying Scripture over others, reading the Bible, and viewing daily pictures taken in the lands of the Bible. A fifth group of students completed a liturgical audit on attending youth group.
When we took time to make observations, the students noticed:
- "All of these activities are some form of worship."
- "Some of these things we do in community, and others we do alone." (This comment led to a great discussion on the importance of having solitude and time away from distraction.)
- "These things lead to humility and thinking of others, not just ourselves."
- "All of these have something to do with being closer or being in relationship."
- "Each of the these affect us in good ways."
Today's lesson brought me great joy as I continue in the good work of walking with God and being His in a fallen, broken world. As Professor Jamie Smith pointed out, "Practices invite me into God's story in a repetitive motion over time." God's story is truly one of relationship. When I look at the students in this class with me, I see that our practices together are indeed inviting us into ever more beautiful relationship with God and each other.
