Holy Habits in Lusaka

While in Lusaka as the guest of the United Church of Zambia, I was invited to speak at devotions at the Synod Office on the Thursday (7^th Dec). It was good to be part of the office staff’s start to the day in that way. As the United Reformed Church in the UK is in the process of initiating a renewed emphasis on discipleship under the title ‘Walking the Way – living the life of Jesus today’, I took the opportunity to say something about that.

In particular, I spoke of the idea, very much part of the programme, of encouraging folk in the churches to develop a series of holy habits, using these as a means of focussed defining of discipleship – though I did depart from the ‘official’ list of ten, drawn from Acts 2.

Instead, mainly because I prefer a briefer list, I identified five ‘holy habits’ which I commended as a good way in to committed discipleship. The first was to ‘bless’ – to do something small as a means of encouraging someone; to ‘offer hospitality/be generous’; to ‘listen’, both to God, and to those we encounter in all sorts of circumstances; to engage in ‘prayer and Bible study’, ensuring these have sufficient priority in our lives; and to ‘celebrate’, giving the note of joy an appropriate place in our lives.

Having shared these thoughts at the Synod Office, I was then invited to go to the radio station run by the United Church of Zambia to be interviewed on what I had shared in devotions. It was an unexpected and enjoyable opportunity to share some of our emerging thinking on holy habits.