Holy Habits

A couple of weeks ago, I began a column series on the means of grace. In that first column, I gave an overview on the means of grace in the Wesleyan tradition. We can understand the means of grace as spiritual disciplines, so long as we realize that - in a Wesleyan sense - spiritual disciplines encompass both those works of piety and works of mercy that are constitutive of the love of God and neighbor.

In my second installment of the series, I look at works of piety. It's a pretty old-fashioned sounding name, I admit, but works of piety are nothing more than those holy habits that draw us closer to God through regular worship and devotion practices. For practicing Christians, this is pretty familiar territory: Bible reading, Holy Communion, prayer, fasting, Sunday worship, etc. But I think there is also a great challenge in approaching works of piety in a true Wesleyan sense, and that is to do it with a high degree of rigor and commitment. I know that I am nowhere near I would like to be in my personal holiness. But I also know that I stand in a tradition rich with the resources to help me better respond to the grace the Christ offers me daily.

In the next two columns in this series, I will look at works of mercy and Covenant Discipleship. Stay tuned.