I continue with prayer and focus on teaching children to pray. This week I use the article: “How Adults Can Nurture Children in the Christian Faith” by  Mary Alice Gran former Director of Children's Ministries for the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville. 
 
Adults can nurture children in the Christian faith. Below are listed some of the ways: 
 
In Families:
• Read Bible stories together.
• Talk about pieces of their faith journey and your own faith journey.
• Make a regular habit of doing good for others and talk about "why."
• Pray together.
• Read the Bible and pray at times when children can see you.
• Include God and the use of religious ritual at special family celebrations.
• Stop and pray together when having a family disagreement.
• Sing songs of faith. 
• Practice spontaneous prayers together — when hearing a siren, seeing the first bird in the spring, after a joy-filled moment, or when feelings are hurt.
• Work at keeping religious holidays religious (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost).
 Write letters to children who are away, telling them about God, your faith, your prayers for them, their importance to God. Include something of your faith in each letter (or e-mail). • Include age-appropriate Christian symbols, Bibles, Bible storybooks, or Christian music when giving gifts. 
 
In the Church Family:
• Learn children's names and use their names when having conversations with them. 
• Seek out children to include in conversations.
• Sit with families at church dinners. Visit with the children as well as the parents.
• Smile at children during worship. Encourage their attendance and inclusion in worship.
• Plan for the inclusion of children for every event.
• Offer to share your interests and talents with children and youth in the church. (Take a small group fishing, help them make wooden crosses, teach them needlework, share your backyard for a Sunday school class outing, tell Bible stories, and so on.)
• Become a mentor for a child or youth who is not related to you. Develop an ongoing, supportive relationship. 

With Neighborhood Children:
• Be a loving, caring neighbor.
• Invite children (and their parents) to join you in attending a church event.
• Bring children with you to Sunday school and church every Sunday. (Make certain you have a parent's permission.)
• Share Bible stories with children, as appropriate.
• Share Christian gifts with children, as appropriate. Write prayers for children, and give the prayers to them (particularly important for a life event — birth, death, marriage, first day of school, getting driver's license, losing first tooth)
​

  As mentioned last week, there are many ways to pray. This week, I want to introduce you to some ways mentioned at www.beliefnet.com in an article entitled: 21 Ways to Pray.

· Pray on the move going from place to place
· Pray over your favorite foods
· Pray through a family photo album using the pictures  to remind you of those relatives for which you can pray.
· Pray while holding your dog or cat
· Pray doing household chores
· Pray while brushing your teeth
· Pray while listening to your favorite song
· Pray the words of the Bile: i.e. Psalm 23, Romans 8
· Pray on a solitary walk in nature
· Pray gazing at the stars on a dark night
· Pray out loud
· Pray with a friend about a secret or burden you ar carrying
· Pray while reading the newspaper
· Pray while exercising
· Pray with silence and stillness
· Pray over a good meal with family and friends
· Pray on a special day
· Pray through written words– journaling
· Pray with emotion: laughter, crying, anger
· Pray with simple triggers (tools  such as a small stone in your pocket. Whenever you touch the stone offer up a prayer.)
· Pray NOW — why put it off!!

To this list I can add…
· Pray in the checkout line at the grocery store
· Pray while waiting in the doctor’s office
· Pray before worship begins at church

   I now challenge you. Come up with some other places or reasons to pray and write them in the space below. It would be nice if you would share them with me. I’d like to see what you came up with.

   For those of you reading this blog post, I encourage you to share via comments so that others might learn from your answers. 

    I continue this week with the act of piety referred to as studying the scriptures and offer the following advice as found at www.biblestudytools.com in an article entitled: “3 Simple Steps for Studying the Bible” (edited to fit format). This is a continuation of last week’s lesson.

Step 2: Interpretation

“Interpretation is discovering the meaning of a passage, the author’s main thought or idea. Answering the questions that arise during observation will help you in the process of interpretation. Five clues (called “the five C’s”) can help you determine the author’s main point(s):

● Context. You can answer 75 percent of your questions about a passage when you read the text. Reading the text involves looking at the near context (the verse immediately before and after) as well as the far context (the paragraph or the chapter that precedes and/or follows the passage you’re studying).

● Cross-references. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. That is, let other passages in the Bible shed light on the passage you are looking at. At the same time, be careful not to assume that the same word or phrase in two different passages means the same thing.

● Culture. The Bible was written long ago, so when we interpret it, we need to understand it from the writers’ cultural context.

● Conclusion. Having answered your questions for understanding by means of context, cross-reference, and culture, you can make a preliminary statement of the passage’s meaning. Remember that if your passage consists of more than one paragraph, the author may be presenting more than one thought or idea.

● Consultation. Reading books known as commentaries, which are written by Bible scholars, can help you interpret Scripture.

Step 3: Application

Application is why we study the Bible. We want our lives to change; we want to be obedient to God and to grow more like Jesus Christ. After we have observed a passage and interpreted or understood it to the best of our ability, we must then apply its truth to our own life.
You’ll want to ask the following questions of every passage of Scripture you study:

● How does the truth revealed here affect my relationship with God?

● How does this truth affect my relationship with others?

● How does this truth affect me?

● How does this truth affect my response to the enemy, Satan?

The application step is not completed by simply answering these questions; the key is putting into practice what God has taught you in your study. Although at any given moment you cannot be consciously applying everything you’re learning in Bible study, you can be consciously applying something. And when you work on applying a truth to your life, God will bless your efforts by, as noted earlier, conforming you to the image of Jesus Christ.
 

   ​I continue this week with the act of piety referred to as studying the scriptures and offer the following advice as found at www.biblestudytools.com in an article entitled: “3 Simple Steps for Studying the Bible” (edited to fit format).

   “One of the noblest pursuits a child of God can embark upon is to get to know and understand God better. The best way we can accomplish this is to look carefully at the book He has written, the Bible, which communicates who He is and His plan for mankind. There are a number of ways we can study the Bible, but one of the most effective and simple approaches to reading and understanding God’s Word involves three simple steps:

    Step 1: Observation—What does the passage say?
    Step 2: Interpretation—What does the passage mean?
    Step 3: Application—What am I going to do about what the passage says and means? “

   This week, let’s look at just the OBSERVATION portion of these steps:

   “Observation is the first and most important step in how to study the Bible. As you read the Bible text, you need to look carefully at what is said, and how it is said. Look for:

● Terms, not words. Words can have many meanings, but terms are words used in a specific way in a specific context. (For instance, the word trunk could apply to a tree, a car, or a storage box. However, when you read, “That tree has a very large trunk,” you know exactly what the word means, which makes it a term.)

● Structure. If you look at your Bible, you will see that the text has units called paragraphs. A paragraph is a complete unit of thought. You can discover the content of the author’s message by noting and understanding each paragraph unit.

● Emphasis. The amount of space or the number of chapters or verses devoted to a specific topic will reveal the importance of that topic. ● Repetition. This is another way an author demonstrates that something is important. One reading of 1 Corinthians 13, where the author uses the word “love” nine times in only 13 verses, communicates to us that love is the focal point of these 13 verses.

● Relationships between ideas. Pay close attention, for example, to certain relationships that appear in the text:
     —Cause-and-effect: (Matthew 25:21).
     —Ifs and thens: (2 Chronicles 7:14).
     —Questions and answers:  (Psalms 24:8).

● Comparisons and contrasts. (Matthew 5:21).

● Literary form. The Bible is literature, and the three main types of literature in the Bible are discourse (the epistles), prose (Old Testament history), and poetry (the Psalms). Considering the type of literature makes a great deal of difference when you read and interpret the Scriptures.

● Atmosphere. The author had a particular reason or burden for writing each passage, chapter, and book. Be sure you notice the mood or tone or urgency of the writing.

    After you have considered these things, you then are ready to ask the “Wh” questions Who? What? Where? When?

Who are the people in this passage? What is happening in this passage? Where is this story taking place? When in time (of day, of the year, in history) is it?

​    Asking those additional questions for understanding will help to build a bridge between observation (the first step) and interpretation (the second step) of the Bible study process.”

  Let’s continue this week  with what are referred to as individual acts of piety. These are things that we are able to do without the presence or assistance of anyone else. We don’t have to be in a certain place. We don’t have to be with a group of people. We can practice them any where and any time of the day or night.

   This week I want us to consider a specific way that we can read the Bible to help us better understand its implications for our lives. I am not talking about a simple cursory reading as I suggested last week. This week I want us to consider a form of Bible Reading called lectio divina.

  Linda Douty, writing  a daily reflection for the Upper Room (Aug 24, 2013), says the following about Lectio Divina:

“THE ANCIENT BENEDICTINE PRACTICE OF lectio divina (literally, “spiritual reading”) can breath new life into our reading of scripture. In the context of this practice the Bible is not fixed set of words and images but the living Word of God, which enters our prayer as something dynamic and alive. In her class book on the spiritual disciplines, Marjorie Thompson’s simple translation of thee Latin words is helpful.

There are four basic phrases in the classic practice of spiritual reading, termed in Latin lectio, meditatio,  oratio, and contemplatio. For a basic English equivalent, add the letter n to each. The ordering of these four phrases represents a general and often neural sequence of progression, not to be understood rigidly. In practice we can experience great fluidity between them, weaving back and forth as the Sprit moves us.

Several years ago, The Upper Room produced reminder cards that simplified the method:
​
1. READ a biblical passage, savoring key words.

2. REFLECT on what God may be saying to you as you read the passage again.

3. RESPOND by offering your reflection to God in prayer.

4. REST in God’s presence, being open to God’s word for you.

This time tested way of reading the Bible encourages us to move toward transformation, rather than just information, in our encounter with holy scripture. Rather than trying to capture scripture, this method allows scripture to capture us.”
 

   This week I want to continue the explanation of Acts of Piety. According to the Wikipedia article “Works of Piety”: “John Wesley insisted that the Works of Piety were important because they "further ensconced believers in a spiritual world of conflict in which humans needed to pursue holiness with the same vigor with which they sought their justification.””

   We don’t often think that we are in a spiritual world. We are too easily caught up with the reality of this physical world in which we live. However, it is incumbent upon us to not only acknowledge the spiritual aspect of our existence, but to vigorously engage it. For Wesley, this was a daily-minute by minute kind of encounter. For the people called Methodist, there was the assumption that once one was justified, then he or she was then moving on to perfection (i.e. sanctification). For Wesley, this was done through the pursuit of holiness and a holy living in this world. The way in which this sanctification could happen was through the transforming of our souls and spirits that occurred through acts of piety.

   In other words, as we read the Bible, we are transformed by allowing God to speak to us through the Word. As we engage in prayer, we allow ourselves to come closer to God and enter into that intimate conversation that we need between us and our creator. As we partake of the sacrament of Holy Communion, we allow God’s grace to flow into our lives and transform us more an more into God’s image. As we fast, we learn to deny our earthly desires and open ourselves to God’s heavenly presence. As we engage in Christian community and come together to worship and to fellowship with one another, then we learn to be more and more at home in each other’s presence so that we are, in effect, practicing for that day we all gather as the Bride of Christ in heaven.

    Acts of Piety seek to bring us closer to God and, as we come closer to God, we find that God is able change us and transform us more and more into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. This is what the process of discipleship is all about. We must learn to put aside our own desires and replace them with God’s desires for our lives. We cannot do this if we do not engage in activities that allow God the opportunity to change us.

    So. Practicing Acts of Piety is something that is not optional for the Christian. In the quote at the beginning of this article, Wesley asserts that we need to pursue holiness in our lives in just as strong a manner as we pursued salvation.

​   Are you glad that you have been saved? If so, are you equally striving to now become Holy? 
 

  For the last seven weeks, we have had an outward focus on our discipleship. We have been challenged to engage in Acts of Mercy and do something to aid a person that might be in need. Wesley had a strong desire for the people called Methodist to be in the business of helping others. At Trinity UMC, we are seeking to carry out that mission on a regular basis. For many people, helping someone else is an easy thing to do.

   This week, though we shift to an inward focus by looking at what Wesley defined as acts of piety. Google’s online dictionary defines piety as: “the quality of being religious or reverent .”
It lists the following as possible synonyms—”devoutness,  devotion,  piousness,  religion,  holiness,  godliness,  saintliness.”

You will note from this definition and its synonyms that we are not talking so much about actions that we do towards others when we talk about piety. Instead, we are now talking about an attitude or a way of life that produces within us a form of holiness or godliness. For many people, this is a much more difficult thing to achieve than it is to be merciful. Piety involves the very core of who we are and how we interact with and respond to God and God’s call upon our lives. The scriptures make it clear that we have been called to be holy. Acts of piety help us to achieve that end.

​  According to Steve Manskar at the UM Blog: Equipping Disciples,  piety can be viewed in two ways. First of all through acts of devotion. Manskar states: “Acts of devotion are the personal works of piety. They are practices performed alone with God. John Wesley recommended at least three acts of devotion:
· Personal and family prayer
· Searching the Scriptures
· Fasting or abstinence”
 
Manskar further states: “Acts of devotion keep the heart open to grace that keeps you centered in Christ and what he is up to in your life. When the heart is open to grace it becomes more and more open to the world that God loves, which means that acts of devotion help equip you for acts of compassion and justice. “
 
   Manskar then suggests that “…(A)cts of worship are the social and public works of piety. They are what Christians do together when they gather in Christ’s name.”
John Wesley lists three acts of worship in the third General Rule:
· The public worship of God
· The ministry of the Word, whether read or expounded
· The Lord’s Supper
 
   In the weeks ahead we will take a closer look at these acts of piety and see how engaging in them can make us a stronger disciple of Jesus Christ.