Sacred Practices

At The Journey we relate to God through the ancient spiritual practices of our forefathers. We take the practices from various spiritual traditions, melding together a holistic understanding of God in our lives. Our goal is to make a lifestyle of Christ. We do not want God to be a compartment in our lives, but a part of everything. At The Journey we do not require anyone to do any of the practices, but simply provide them as possible ways to involve oneself in the life of Christ every day. For more guidance, listen to the series “Sacred Practices” on the teachings page of this website.

Ancient Body Practices

Physical things we can do with our bodies to bring balance to our lives in the midst of a culture of consumption. Scroll down to practice fasting, silence, the rosary, and the sign of the cross. 

Fasting (Centering on God & Limiting Reliance on Self):
-Give up food for an entire day (praying for a certain person or issue whenever you feel hunger pains).
-Give up food and water for an entire day.
-Have an extended fast for a few days (or a week) with just bread and water.
-Give up something for a day, a week, or a month. Examples: driving, television, movies, music, coffee, desserts, video games, sports, magazines, makeup, shopping.

Resting:
-Take time out of your day or week to rest in God. Stop yourself for a morning, afternoon, or even a full day or weekend. Take time to meditate, pray, or even involve yourself with God through his creation. Go for a hike alone.
-Take time at breakfast, lunch, dinner, or during a break to sit in a park for a half hour and watch the creation. Look at the grass, trees, and even other people. Focus on giving grace and not judgment. Let your spirit settle and focus on your soul.

Silence:
Turn everything off in your life for a short time. No friends, family, television, internet, i-pod, or any other distraction. Just let silence permeate your soul for a time.

The Rosary:
Often used by Catholics to pray to the Virgin Mary. We utilize a type of rosary to pray to God specifically about various issues. There are many types of prayer beads used. One example is a prayer bead that has five different colors that we utilize to pray for others in the world:
Red – thanks
Clear – mercy
Blue – peace
Green – healing
Black – justice
Go over each of these with your fingers and as you touch them, pray for these things in your life and for your ability to bring these things to the world all around you.

The Sign of The Cross (A Constant Reminder of Christ & the Trinity)
Crossing ourselves is a pious act, a declaration of our faith and our pride in the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ who allowed Himself to be crucified for our sake and for our salvation. So making the Sign of the Cross is a reminder of the life of Christ, His divinity and His living presence in ourselves who believe and call on His name.
The Sign of the Cross for followers of Christ is made in this way: The thumb, the index and the middle fingers of the right hand are held together, while the remaining two fingers (the ring finger and the little finger) are bent and touching the palm of the hand. The three fingers joined together symbolize the One God in three Persons–the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The two fingers bent to the palm of the hand, signify the union of the two natures in Christ, that is God and man, the divine and the human.
Followers of Christ make the sign of the cross by using their right hand to touch the forehead, then the middle of the breast, then the left shoulder, and finally the right shoulder. As they do this, they say, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.” This one complete gesture makes a cross, an intersection of a vertical line from forehead to breast and a horizontal line from left to right shoulder.
Most importantly, the sign of the cross symbolically reaffirms two essential Christian doctrines: The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and humankind’s gift of grace through the cross of Christ.