Practices for Life
Most of us want more than we have — in a good way: more depth, more presence, more of whatever it is that makes life feel like it's actually being lived. We reach for that more in the usual places: a new routine, a better habit, a book that promises to help. And sometimes those things help, for a while.
But followers of Jesus have always believed that the life we're hungry for isn't something we produce. It's something we receive. And receiving it, it turns out, requires becoming the kind of person who can.
That's what practices are for. Not to earn God's attention — we already have it. Not to become impressively spiritual. But to gradually become people whose hands are open, whose pace is slow enough to notice, whose lives have enough space in them for something other than the urgent.
Dallas Willard used to say that grace is not opposed to effort — it's opposed to earning. Spiritual practices are the effort that doesn't try to earn anything. They're the ancient forms that human beings have used, across centuries and cultures, to journey in the way of God.
The practices here aren't a curriculum — and they’re certainly not an exhaustive list. They're an invitation. Try one. Try it imperfectly. Start where you are and see what happens.
How to use this page
The practices are organized into three movements, each with its own character and set of practices. You don't have to follow the order. Each card has a brief reflection and one thing to try. Start wherever something catches you, and come back when you're ready for more.
Movement I — Drawn In
Core Practice: Worship
Before we can be formed together or sent into the world, something has to happen in us — a reorientation, a slowing, a willingness to be met. These practices create interior space.
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"Lord, teach us to pray." — Luke 11:1
The disciples watched Jesus pray and asked to be taught. Prayer is about connection to God — in conversation and in quiet. Prayer is also a practice, which means it can be learned, and even done badly! Start where you are.
Find a quiet moment — morning, commute, lunchtime, before bed.
Name one thing you're grateful for, one thing you're worried about, and one thing you don't know how to carry.
Sit quietly for a minute and see what comes. If it’s helpful for you, write it down.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Prayer Practice here.]
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"Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road?" — Luke 24:32
Scripture can be studied in ways that miss the point entirely. The goal isn't to know more — it's encounter with God so that we might become more loving. This practice, called lectio divina (“holy reading”), slows you down and invites you not just to understand the word but to stand under it, allowing it room to speak into your life.
Choose a short passage — a psalm, a few verses, a story you think you already know.
Read it through once. Then read it again, slowly. Notice one word or phrase that catches you.
Read it a third time. Ask: what is this saying to me, right now? Write it down or simply carry it.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Scripture Practice here.]
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"And after the fire — a gentle whisper." – 1 Kings 19:12
We are louder than we know. The noise isn't just around us; it's the constant chatter we carry — the planning, the worrying, the narrating. Silence doesn't empty us. It makes room.
Set a timer for five minutes.
Sit without your phone, without music, without agenda. When thoughts come — and they will — notice them and return to stillness.
Close with one slow breath and note whatever word rises.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Silence & Solitude Practice here.]
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"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice?” — Isaiah 58:6
Hunger is information. When we fast, we let our bodies teach us what we actually depend on — and we discover we're hungrier for some things than we realized. And it also helps us feast — celebrate — more intentionally.
Skip one meal this week. When the hunger comes, don't distract yourself from it. Let it prompt a moment of prayer.
Give the cost of the skipped meal to someone who is actually hungry, or to an organization that cares for those in need.
Choose another meal to eat slowly and with thanksgiving, ideally with others. Enjoy each other’s company.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Fasting & Feasting Practice here.]
Movement 2 — Held Together
Core Practice: Community
We were not made to practice faith alone. These practices happen in the spaces between us — at tables, in the telling of stories, in grief and joy shared with people who know us.
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"Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you." — Romans 15:7
The secret of Christian hospitality is that we are not the initiators — we have already been welcomed, and what we offer others is an extension of what we've received from God. The table is not ours to control.
Invite someone to your table this week — a neighbor, a colleague, someone you've been meaning to have over.
Keep it simple. Order pizza. Make tea. The point is not the food.
Ask one good question and let them talk.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Hospitality Practice here.]
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"I was blind. Now I see." — John 9:25
The man born blind didn't have a theology degree. What he had was a before and an after. Your story doesn't need to be dramatic or polished. It needs to be honest and true.
Write three sentences — no more — about something God has done in your life. Not a full testimony. Just a moment, a turning, a mercy you didn't expect.
Read it back to yourself.
Find one person to share it with this week.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Testimony Practice here.]
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"Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." — Psalm 30:5
We are not very good at holding both. We rush grief toward resolution, or we let it crowd out every reason for joy. This practice is about learning to stay with sorrow when it's real, with delight when it's given.
Name one grief you're carrying right now — write it down, speak it aloud, or simply hold it without rushing past it.
Name one thing you genuinely delight in.
Hold both without collapsing either one into the other. If you can, share them with someone.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Grief & Celebration Practice here.]
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"I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing before God always." — Proverbs 8:30
Play is not a reward for finishing your work. Delight is woven into the structure of creation — Wisdom herself was there at the beginning, playing. You were made for this too, and you don't have to earn it.
Do one thing this week purely for the pleasure of it — ideally with someone else!
Let it be small. A walk with no destination. Sharing a song you love. A meal cooked slowly together.
Notice what it feels like to do something that doesn't produce anything.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Play Practice here.]
Movement 3 — Sent Out
Core Practice: Mission
A faith that stays only inward isn't the faith Jesus described. These practices ask what we owe to the world — and what it looks like to live with genuinely open hands.
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"God loves a cheerful giver." — 2 Corinthians 9:7
What we do with our money reveals what we actually trust. Generosity is not primarily a financial practice — it is a practice of loosening our grip on the idea that we are the source of our own security.
Give something away this week — money, time, or an object you've been holding onto longer than you need to.
Make it deliberate, not incidental. Choose it.
Notice what it feels like to let go.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Giving Practice here.]
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"Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God." — Micah 6:8
Lament is what justice looks like before you know what to do. It is the honest acknowledgment that something is broken — and that the brokenness matters to God. You can't work for what is right if you won't grieve what is wrong.
Name one injustice — in your city, in the world.
Sit with it for five minutes. Pray Psalm 22 as if it were your own words.
Ask: what is one small thing I can do?
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Justice & Lament Practice here.]
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“Seek the shalom of the city … and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its peace you will find your own.” — Jeremiah 29:7
Place matters. And every place is particular because it shapes what encounters take place — with God, with strangers, with ourselves. Through going — pilgrimage — and staying — neighboring — God invites us to pay attention to the Spirit at work.
Walk somewhere this week that you would normally drive or rush through.
Go slowly. Notice what you pass — people, doors, signs of life you've never seen before.
Name where you see God at work.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Pilgrimage & Neighboring Practice here.]
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"On the seventh day God finished his work ... and God rested." — Genesis 2:2
God rested not because of exhaustion. The work was complete, and resting was how he honored that completeness. Sabbath is not a pause from life — it is a declaration that we are not the source of it.
Set aside one evening this week with nothing scheduled — no tasks, no catching up, no screens with a purpose.
Eat something good. Rest. Let the work be finished, at least for now.
Notice what you feel when you stop.
[For an image you can use as your phone wallpaper, download the Sabbath Practice here.]
These resources are free to use and share. If something meaningful opens up for you, we'd love to hear about it.
At Home Spiritual Practice
On September 6, we will participate together in some spiritual practices during our Sunday gathering. Here are some ways to join in from home.
Giving & Generosity
To support the work of Christ City, including the Angel Scroggins Memorial Fund (helping teens make the transition to adulthood) and the Benevolence Fund (supporting individuals and families in need), visit christcitydc.org/give.
To give of your time and energy, sign up to volunteer on a Sunday ministry team at christcitydc/volunteer or at an upcoming neighboring event:
H Street Festival (staffing the Christ City tent, offering prayer and handing out popsicles) on Saturday, 9/19.
Miner PTO (providing childcare) every month, beginning on Wednesday, 9/9.
Or apply for a MISSIONAL GRANT — funds available to help you care for your neighbors and neighborhoods in tangible ways: christcitydc.org/missionalgrants.
Prayer & Scripture
Take time to reflect on one or more of the following prompts:
If God spoke right now, what might keep you from noticing?
Name the thing you've been avoiding through busyness in this season. Sit with it for a minute before you write anything else.
What does it cost you to stop being the loudest voice in your own life?
Where are you filling space that isn't yours to fill?
What are you afraid you'd hear if you got quiet enough to really listen?
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ASK: Where do you need God to show up? What are you asking God to do? Then LISTEN: How is God inviting you to respond? Then DO: Take one next faithful step.
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Listen to an episode of our Lectio Divina series, Sabbath & Scripture. These are ten-minute meditations on a passage of the Bible that invites us to rest, recenter, and recalibrate — to reconnect with God, with ourselves, and with our place in the world.
Finger Labyrinths
Download a printable finger labyrinth here.
Trace the path slowly with your finger. As you proceed toward the center, reflect on what you are carrying today — what hopes, what dreams, what fears, what anxieties.
When you reach the middle, pause. Consider what it is you want to talk to God about. Listen.
As you trace the path out, meditate on what God might be saying to you, and how you might need to respond.
Find Your People
A new small group semester is about to kick off!
Small groups are central to the life of our body and our calling to make disciples. Here, we build meaningful relationships by praying for each other, supporting one another, and sharing our faith journeys together.
Find a group close to you or that works with your schedule. Don’t journey alone: christcitydc.org/smallgroups.
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Check out what’s going on in the life of the church at christcitydc.org/events. Or join the listserv to get community updates on events, housing and job postings, and more.
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Join us on Sunday 9/13 for Community Lunch. Bring food to share, bring a friend, or just bring yourself! Sign up here at christcitydc.org/lunch.
Pilgrimage & Neighboring
What people and places are on your heart? Write down a prayer for them.
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Take a prayer walk around your block or your neighborhood, talking with God about where you see signs of life and death, asking where God might already be at work and how you might join in. Pray for the schools, businesses, and neighbors that you see.
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Join a Justice Tour, led by Christ City member Kate D.
The next one is coming up on Saturday 9/12, from 10am-12pm, on “The History of H Street.” Walk one of DC’s most rapidly changing corridors and explore how it became what it is today — tracing the forces of development, displacement, race, and policy that shape the neighborhood. The tours cost $30.
If you’d like to RSVP or want additional information, you can visit: christcitydc.org/hstreettour.