In our fast-paced, ever-changing world, the spiritual life can feel increasingly fragile. We are inundated with new resources, voices, and strategies for growing in faith. And while there is great blessing in today’s accessibility to Scripture and spiritual tools, it’s also easy to feel overwhelmed or unmoored. What’s trustworthy? What truly helps us grow in Christ? What sustains us when our practices feel dry and our faith feels thin?
As Kelly Kapic points out in his article on Christian spirituality, we don’t walk this road alone, and we never have. Christians throughout history have asked the same questions, faced similar struggles, and leaned on practices that formed them deeply in the love of God. We have a spiritual family that stretches across continents and centuries. And that family has left us stories, practices, and insights that can still speak to us today.
The gift of history is not that it gives us perfect models, but that it grounds us in the lived wisdom of those who followed Christ before us. People who prayed through plagues, who fasted during exile, who served faithfully in obscurity, who sought justice in unjust times. They may not look like us, and they surely made mistakes, but they also knew something about following Jesus that we need today.
Engaging with the Church’s past doesn’t mean becoming stuck in tradition or mimicking ancient routines. It means learning to recognize our blind spots, to test new ideas with wisdom, and to see our own lives in the context of something much bigger than ourselves. In a world obsessed with the new, history invites us to remember that holiness isn’t about novelty—it’s about faithfulness.
So, how might this shape your spiritual life today? Perhaps it begins with reclaiming a practice like Sabbath rest, not as a rule to follow but as a rhythm to receive. Or reading a psalm slowly, as Christians have done for generations, and letting the words shape your prayers. Perhaps it means revisiting a classic like The Imitation of Christ or exploring Gerald Sittser’s Water from a Deep Well.
In this season, I invite you—whether you’re a pastor, a layperson, or searching soul—to return to the deep wells of the Christian tradition. Learn a name. Try a practice. Read a story. Let God’s wisdom, expressed through the voices of our spiritual ancestors, nourish you.
