The invitation of Jesus to “love your neighbor” is misaligned if we hear that we should care for our neighbors, friends, family, or coworkers at the expense of caring for ourselves. This unhealthy approach can generate anxiety about our performance rather than abiding as the Beloved.

Sharing plants is more than just sharing the organic material. It is sharing a living connection with family, friends, and neighbors. Geoff Ledgerwood’s roots are in rural Washington state. It’s there that he inherited generational wisdom about the neighborly practice of dividing plants. 

Most of us don’t consciously choose our screens, we drift into them; first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and in every moment of stillness in-between. Stillness becomes uncomfortable, like entering a room with the lights on, where worry, grief, or restlessness might be waiting. Our screens offer a quick and painless escape—a thousand tiny distractions that keep us from simply being.

A Rule of Life is ancient language for spiritual practices to organize your life around what you love. We all have, consciously or unconsciously, created rhythms of life to protect and preserve what we value. Regardless of our age, gender, or personality type, we all have a Rule of Life. We all have practices we form. And those practices form us.

On the anniversary of my grandfather’s death, I called my Mom to ask how she was. She said, “People don’t really mention my parents to me anymore. Maybe they are afraid it would make me sad, but I’m already thinking about them all the time.” I began to reflect on the loneliness of grief and how layered the pain can feel when we have no means of sharing it. Shortly after, I came across the ancient practice of observing All Saints Day—a day to honor all holy people who lived faithful lives in Christ. Not martyrs, but those saintly, hidden lives known only to God.

On Thursday nights every summer, something remarkable happens in Dan and Stephanie Lagerborg’s backyard—people show up. They bring something to grill, a side dish to share, and an openness to relax and connect. There’s no formal invitation, no sign-up. Just a grill, beverages, a beautiful backyard, and a rhythm of weekly welcome.

For more than a decade Josh Haynes has been inviting men to the practice of sharing a drink and sharing a conversation about life and faith. Josh shared the origin, “We would pick a Thursday night once a month, everyone would show up on their bike, and we'd ride to a local brewery.”

Our family first joined a community garden when our kids were in elementary school. At the time, we didn’t know much about growing food, and we lived in a townhome with a small shady yard that had yielded two seasons of disappointment. We quickly discovered that gardening in the company of others gave us access to a wealth of knowledge and opportunity. Alongside neighbors—many of whom we might not have met otherwise—we dug, planted, watered, and weeded, and slowly learned the rhythm of life in the garden.

My mother, Marilyn Mackey, called her mother every Saturday morning for 30 years. “We would call to stay connected and know what was going on in each other's lives.” My mother reminds me, “That was when we paid for long-distance calls too.” But the practice of staying connected begins a generation before her. “My mother’s relationship with her mother, Grandma Miller, was that we saw them every weekend. We would go to their house on the farm and have a meal and play games.”

A labyrinth is an ancient and embodied prayer practice. It is a way for your body to help restore your focus and attention on God. Labyrinths have been created by Christians across the centuries and countless civilizations. The lessons from the practice of walking a labyrinth are essential to our time that is marked by distraction and hurry.

A Rule of Life is ancient Christian language for practices to organize your life around what you love. We all have, consciously or unconsciously, created rhythms for our life to protect what we value. Regardless of our age, gender, or personality, we all have a Rule of Life. We all have practices that shape us and form us.

Pausing is an invitation to interact with our lives, our neighbors and neighborhoods, with intention. It is a practice to be present to the sacredness of the people and place around us.

Hundreds of pancakes are served at the Gilley house every other Tuesday morning before students leave for Arapahoe High School. It began for Jill Gilley with a simple question, “What if?”

Eastertide is 40 days (50 when combined with Ascensiontide) in the liturgical calendar. It is a season for Christians to contemplate, celebrate, and explore the implications of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus of Nazareth.

Creating space prioritizes hearing and responding to what God is doing in and around us. It is an intentional way to open ourselves to receive the extravagant love of God, and then extend that love to our neighbors and neighborhoods.

People who live in the neighborhood who may attend different local congregations or participate in various expressions of the Church, can come together to pray in and for the neighborhood. The simple practice of praying in a park will help guide your prayers for people and ground your prayers in place.  

Chalk is ordinary material of the earth. This practice takes common elements and makes them holy. Chalk does not make a permanent mark. It fades with time, but each time we enter our home and see the inscription, we are reminded of our desire for our homes to be places of hospitality, welcome, and peace.

A question to consider is what could the practice of Sabbath—stopping, resting, delighting, and worshipping—rooted in your place cultivate inside you?

Being a regular is an ordinary, but intentional, practice to love your neighbors and neighborhood. It is arranging everyday activities with consistency. Being a regular provides a rhythm to build relationships.