Palm Sunday
Apr. 16, 2025 15:27 Filed in: Commentaries
Friends,
In yesterday's sermon, I preached about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Jesus and his followers would have known that another procession was entering Jerusalem in the days before Passover. Pontius Pilate's imperial motorcade, with centurions and chariots and soldiers, came into the city around the Passover to ensure that the holiday, celebrating the escape of the Hebrews from another oppressive regime, didn't repeat itself. So Jesus' demonstration, with a king on a donkey and followers shouting about peace, was more than a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm. It would have been a demonstration calculated to evoke a response from the governing authorities. You can watch the sermon here.
If you're curious to learn more about this reading of Palm Sunday, I recommend The Last Week: What the Scriptures Really Teach about Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.
And now, we're in Holy Week: the most sacred days of the Christian year. You can see all the details for our Holy Week services on our website calendar .
If you can't join us in person, I invite you to take time each day to read the texts for worship. Walking with Jesus to the cross, with all of the beauty and violence in that story, is one way we can build our own courage to practice the way of Jesus today.
See you in church!
Susan+
In yesterday's sermon, I preached about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Jesus and his followers would have known that another procession was entering Jerusalem in the days before Passover. Pontius Pilate's imperial motorcade, with centurions and chariots and soldiers, came into the city around the Passover to ensure that the holiday, celebrating the escape of the Hebrews from another oppressive regime, didn't repeat itself. So Jesus' demonstration, with a king on a donkey and followers shouting about peace, was more than a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm. It would have been a demonstration calculated to evoke a response from the governing authorities. You can watch the sermon here.
If you're curious to learn more about this reading of Palm Sunday, I recommend The Last Week: What the Scriptures Really Teach about Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.
And now, we're in Holy Week: the most sacred days of the Christian year. You can see all the details for our Holy Week services on our website calendar .
If you can't join us in person, I invite you to take time each day to read the texts for worship. Walking with Jesus to the cross, with all of the beauty and violence in that story, is one way we can build our own courage to practice the way of Jesus today.
See you in church!
Susan+
From Palms to Olive Branches: A Guided Lenten Practice
Apr. 11, 2025 14:47 Filed in: Audio | Spiritual Practice
Holy Week, April 13: From palms to olive branches
Luke 19:28-40
In the journey of Holy Week, trees take a quiet but important role. The stately palm branches we wave at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday remind us of kingly power. But just a few days later, as he prays in the garden, he is surrounded by the ancient, twisted, low crowns of olive trees: a symbol of peace, of reconciliation, of an end to war. These two trees symbolize two approaches to power and glory.
As we tell the stories of Jesus last meal with his friends, his violent death at the hands of the state, and his triumph over death, reflect: How does God use power in these stories?
How do these stories show up in our world, our lives today? How might you join in?
[Download the audio version of this practice]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this open and relaxed space, bring to mind the notion of power in these stories of Jesus’ last few earthly days. Consider the triumph, the palms, the branches waved in adoration and exultation. Where does this form of power show up in your body? What is its vibration? Its pattern? Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now consider the more intimate, quiet, olive trees of power. The reconciliation of and with all that is human and all that is eternal. Where does this version of power live in your body – what is its shape, its vibration. Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with these various forms and embodiments of power, how might you relate to or harness them in your life. How can you exercise choice around power? Perhaps there are opportunities to notice power being wielded in the world that fits one or both of these models Jesus displays for us - how do you interact with it?
Or perhaps an opportunity arises to channel and utilize your own power – can you consciously choose to adorn yourself with a certain version of power based on what you’ve found in your body?
Move forward into Holy Week with this felt sense relationship to different forms of power - invite your consciousness to be aware, to choose, to engage or not from a place of connection to your own body and to the teaching of Jesus as he moved forward in his own intense and unprecedented times.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Luke 19:28-40
In the journey of Holy Week, trees take a quiet but important role. The stately palm branches we wave at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday remind us of kingly power. But just a few days later, as he prays in the garden, he is surrounded by the ancient, twisted, low crowns of olive trees: a symbol of peace, of reconciliation, of an end to war. These two trees symbolize two approaches to power and glory.
As we tell the stories of Jesus last meal with his friends, his violent death at the hands of the state, and his triumph over death, reflect: How does God use power in these stories?
How do these stories show up in our world, our lives today? How might you join in?
[Download the audio version of this practice]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this open and relaxed space, bring to mind the notion of power in these stories of Jesus’ last few earthly days. Consider the triumph, the palms, the branches waved in adoration and exultation. Where does this form of power show up in your body? What is its vibration? Its pattern? Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now consider the more intimate, quiet, olive trees of power. The reconciliation of and with all that is human and all that is eternal. Where does this version of power live in your body – what is its shape, its vibration. Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with these various forms and embodiments of power, how might you relate to or harness them in your life. How can you exercise choice around power? Perhaps there are opportunities to notice power being wielded in the world that fits one or both of these models Jesus displays for us - how do you interact with it?
Or perhaps an opportunity arises to channel and utilize your own power – can you consciously choose to adorn yourself with a certain version of power based on what you’ve found in your body?
Move forward into Holy Week with this felt sense relationship to different forms of power - invite your consciousness to be aware, to choose, to engage or not from a place of connection to your own body and to the teaching of Jesus as he moved forward in his own intense and unprecedented times.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
From Obligation to Devotion: A Guided Lenten Practice
Apr. 06, 2025 12:16 Filed in: Audio | Spiritual Practice
Week of Lent V
John 12:1-8 “Mary took a pound of costly perfume, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair.” The sensuality, emotion, and excess of this story make us uncomfortable. And yet Jesus offers this invitation – to move from all the duties and ‘shoulds’ of our lives, along with the resentment and exhaustion they bring, to a place of heartfelt, passionate devotion. Where does resentment and exhaustion show up in your calling or your life of faith? What might those feelings be telling you? How might you turn toward ardent devotion to God this week?
[ Download audio version ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this gentle, open space, bring to mind the image of your life’s organization. Perhaps it’s a calendar, planner, or an app. Imagine yourself pulling up your calendar or planner or to do list and use your awareness to scan the endless upcoming tasks and obligations. Go day by day or page by page, noticing what happens in your body as you account for all of your human responsibilities.
What changes in your body? Does your chest tighten, your shoulders round forward? Does your mind start racing or do you get the urge to move and run? Spend a few moments really turning towards all the places that your responsibilities reside in your body.
Now that you’ve given your responsibilities, tasks and obligations some good attention, let’s experiment with setting them down – even if by a matter of degree.
Bring to mind an image or sensation of something that soothes – try to engage all 5 senses to bring it to life. Imagine a soothing color or shape, a soothing texture, vibration, scent, etc. Maybe it’s a ball of gently vibrating golden nectar that seeps and soothes and softens. Or perhaps it’s a dark blue soft and heavy blanket that you can wrap around yourself. Use your imagination and let your senses want what they want as nourishment.
Once the soothing image is nice and strong, invite it in to do its work. With ease and curiosity, move from head to toe, pouring this soothing, sensual idea into all the spaces where your body holds its shoulds, musts, and have tos. Let it melt into the tension across the forehead, let it warm and slow the racing heart, let it turn down the volume of your thoughts by 3 levels. Take your time – apply this balm to all the holding.
Good.
Now, keeping that same sensate notion of care and holding – with its felt, embodied, spirit of offering care and love, and turn it away from the calendars, the lists, the apps, the stress and towards God. Apply this nectar of care and love and devotion to the felt relationship with the spirit. Offer this warmth, this care.
There is responsibility in our relationship to God, in our task of following the ways of Jesus. And there is also love and devotion. When we get bogged down in the day-to-day tasks we can lose sight of that healing nectar of love and offered care.
Spend the next few minutes quietly arranging yourself in front of God and reaching towards them with these offerings of the senses – bring colors of love, vibrations of devotion, images of care and surrender. Perhaps imagine a gentle warming offering of touch or even a favorite, beautiful flavor to your tastebuds. Stay here, returning again and again to the offering of gifts of love and devotion to God. If your mind returns to tasks and shoulds, gently notice and return to God’s presence and devote yourself again.
Good.
Bring to mind your week ahead. Where can you insert pauses or intentional moments of sensual, embodied, devotion to God and God’s love? Perhaps you can schedule in some time to be face to face with God’s glory, or perhaps you can put a post it note up in the kitchen, reminding you to shine the felt nectar of your devotion to God. This practice isn’t about perfection, it’s about making contact – opening a channel of pure offering so that we may be that much closer in love with the divine.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
John 12:1-8 “Mary took a pound of costly perfume, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair.” The sensuality, emotion, and excess of this story make us uncomfortable. And yet Jesus offers this invitation – to move from all the duties and ‘shoulds’ of our lives, along with the resentment and exhaustion they bring, to a place of heartfelt, passionate devotion. Where does resentment and exhaustion show up in your calling or your life of faith? What might those feelings be telling you? How might you turn toward ardent devotion to God this week?
[ Download audio version ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this gentle, open space, bring to mind the image of your life’s organization. Perhaps it’s a calendar, planner, or an app. Imagine yourself pulling up your calendar or planner or to do list and use your awareness to scan the endless upcoming tasks and obligations. Go day by day or page by page, noticing what happens in your body as you account for all of your human responsibilities.
What changes in your body? Does your chest tighten, your shoulders round forward? Does your mind start racing or do you get the urge to move and run? Spend a few moments really turning towards all the places that your responsibilities reside in your body.
Now that you’ve given your responsibilities, tasks and obligations some good attention, let’s experiment with setting them down – even if by a matter of degree.
Bring to mind an image or sensation of something that soothes – try to engage all 5 senses to bring it to life. Imagine a soothing color or shape, a soothing texture, vibration, scent, etc. Maybe it’s a ball of gently vibrating golden nectar that seeps and soothes and softens. Or perhaps it’s a dark blue soft and heavy blanket that you can wrap around yourself. Use your imagination and let your senses want what they want as nourishment.
Once the soothing image is nice and strong, invite it in to do its work. With ease and curiosity, move from head to toe, pouring this soothing, sensual idea into all the spaces where your body holds its shoulds, musts, and have tos. Let it melt into the tension across the forehead, let it warm and slow the racing heart, let it turn down the volume of your thoughts by 3 levels. Take your time – apply this balm to all the holding.
Good.
Now, keeping that same sensate notion of care and holding – with its felt, embodied, spirit of offering care and love, and turn it away from the calendars, the lists, the apps, the stress and towards God. Apply this nectar of care and love and devotion to the felt relationship with the spirit. Offer this warmth, this care.
There is responsibility in our relationship to God, in our task of following the ways of Jesus. And there is also love and devotion. When we get bogged down in the day-to-day tasks we can lose sight of that healing nectar of love and offered care.
Spend the next few minutes quietly arranging yourself in front of God and reaching towards them with these offerings of the senses – bring colors of love, vibrations of devotion, images of care and surrender. Perhaps imagine a gentle warming offering of touch or even a favorite, beautiful flavor to your tastebuds. Stay here, returning again and again to the offering of gifts of love and devotion to God. If your mind returns to tasks and shoulds, gently notice and return to God’s presence and devote yourself again.
Good.
Bring to mind your week ahead. Where can you insert pauses or intentional moments of sensual, embodied, devotion to God and God’s love? Perhaps you can schedule in some time to be face to face with God’s glory, or perhaps you can put a post it note up in the kitchen, reminding you to shine the felt nectar of your devotion to God. This practice isn’t about perfection, it’s about making contact – opening a channel of pure offering so that we may be that much closer in love with the divine.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Don't Just Do Something...
Apr. 03, 2025 12:10 Filed in: Commentaries
Dearly Beloved,
In the gospel lesson appointed for this coming Sunday, Jesus and his disciples are gathered at the home of Lazarus a few days before Jesus's arrest. They are no doubt engaged in something that seems important, when Mary barges in with a jar of expensive and pungent perfume, anointing Jesus’ feet, and wiping them with her hair. It’s a scene of disorienting intimacy. The awkwardness in the room is palpable.
Judas raises the obvious objection: why would we waste something so expensive on such a weird and frivolous act, when the money could be given to the poor? There is work to be done, good to accomplish in the world, forces of evil to overcome. Let’s get on with it.
Like Judas, we often draw a hard line between action and contemplation. Especially during hard times, we tend to favor the former over the latter. Prayer is all well and good, we imagine, but action in the world is what really counts. We have to do something!
Mary’s interruption of a church meeting with an act of extravagant contemplation reminds us that the actions we take in the world will always be misguided unless they are grown in the soil of regular and intimate encounters with Jesus. Occasionally, we have to flip the injunction of “Don’t just stand there, do something!” to “Don’t just do something, stand there, with Jesus!”
Mary’s contemplative perfume is, of course, meant to transform the stink of death. And that’s where the false binary of prayer and action breaks down. We all know the world stinks of death, of injustice, of fear, and of suffering. The time we spend simply being with Jesus in prayer, and in our weekly worship, isn’t about accomplishing anything, or even making ourselves feel better. The time we spend in prayer is about being saturated in the perfume of God’s love, so that we render the scent of it wherever we go. Standing there, doing nothing with Jesus, is the only way we can ensure our acting in the world is really for Jesus, and not just imposing our own will. So beloved, in these late days of Lent, for the love of God, don’t just do something, stand there, with Jesus, until death’s hold on the world is fully and gloriously swallowed by God’s eternal Easter Day.
Grace and Peace,
The Right Reverend Craig Loya
Bishop X
Episcopal Church in Minnesota
In the gospel lesson appointed for this coming Sunday, Jesus and his disciples are gathered at the home of Lazarus a few days before Jesus's arrest. They are no doubt engaged in something that seems important, when Mary barges in with a jar of expensive and pungent perfume, anointing Jesus’ feet, and wiping them with her hair. It’s a scene of disorienting intimacy. The awkwardness in the room is palpable.
Judas raises the obvious objection: why would we waste something so expensive on such a weird and frivolous act, when the money could be given to the poor? There is work to be done, good to accomplish in the world, forces of evil to overcome. Let’s get on with it.
Like Judas, we often draw a hard line between action and contemplation. Especially during hard times, we tend to favor the former over the latter. Prayer is all well and good, we imagine, but action in the world is what really counts. We have to do something!
Mary’s interruption of a church meeting with an act of extravagant contemplation reminds us that the actions we take in the world will always be misguided unless they are grown in the soil of regular and intimate encounters with Jesus. Occasionally, we have to flip the injunction of “Don’t just stand there, do something!” to “Don’t just do something, stand there, with Jesus!”
Mary’s contemplative perfume is, of course, meant to transform the stink of death. And that’s where the false binary of prayer and action breaks down. We all know the world stinks of death, of injustice, of fear, and of suffering. The time we spend simply being with Jesus in prayer, and in our weekly worship, isn’t about accomplishing anything, or even making ourselves feel better. The time we spend in prayer is about being saturated in the perfume of God’s love, so that we render the scent of it wherever we go. Standing there, doing nothing with Jesus, is the only way we can ensure our acting in the world is really for Jesus, and not just imposing our own will. So beloved, in these late days of Lent, for the love of God, don’t just do something, stand there, with Jesus, until death’s hold on the world is fully and gloriously swallowed by God’s eternal Easter Day.
Grace and Peace,
The Right Reverend Craig Loya
Bishop X
Episcopal Church in Minnesota
From Shame to Belovedness: A Guided Lenten Practice
Mar. 30, 2025 12:09 Filed in: Audio | Spiritual Practice
Week of Lent IV, March 30: From Shame to Belovedness
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 “Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” Jesus’ story of the forgiving father and his two sons challenges our notions of who is worthy of God’s approval. Shame tells us the story that we have done something bad and that therefore we are bad. God tells the story that we will never stop being the Beloved, because God is Love. Where has shame taken root in your life? How might you ask for God’s healing? What does Love look like when real harm or betrayal has occurred? This week, how might you practice loving someone else the way God loves you?
[ Audio version of this meditation ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
This human form that is you, that you so gently and mindfully tended to just now, is completely and fully beloved by God.
Completely and fully beloved – from the tips of your toes that sometimes lead you astray to the crown of your head that sometimes surrenders to the earthly whims of the mind. Completely beloved.
What do you experience as you consider this notion of complete belovedness? How does your body receive this good news?
With gentle curiosity and lots of choice, scan your body as you receive this belovedness – what do you find? Where does it land peacefully, soaking in like rain on a spring garden? Are there spaces in your body that contract, tighten, or disappear when you offer them this unconditional positive regard? Consider the idea that tendrils of shame live here – our fear of being bad or unworthy, our hidden shadows that we keep away from the light.
Choose one area that experiences contraction, tension, or blankness at the idea of utter belovedness. Direct your full, soft awareness to that space – maybe placing a hand or a blanket over it to offer some support. And just breathe gently into this tightness, this shame. Let the breath gently find a way in, even if just for the briefest of moments. As you breathe into this constricted shame, invite God in – offer up a prayer. With words or just an open awareness, invite God’s light into this place and ask for softening, for healing, for a drop of belovedness to penetrate and nourish this spot.
Stay with this prayer as you breathe.
Now consider our human experience – that of the highs and lows of relationship, the glories and sorrows of our time here on earth. While God’s love is unwavering and complete, our human relationships often experience the painful yet completely normal human experience of rupture and repair. We hurt or are hurt and real pain and conflict enter the space between us and another. These ruptures can feel so scary and painful that often hide them away, deep in the shadows and fertilize them with shame – beliefs about our own lack of goodness and worthiness or another person’s lack of goodness and worthiness.
And, if we stay connected to the present moment, to our bodies, to God, we can make choices about how we meet these inevitable human moments of rupture. We can choose to repair and heal in the spirit of God’s eternal belovedness.
Bring to mind a rupture that feels manageable in this moment – perhaps it is one in the past or maybe it’s happening in the current scape. Gently feel into the rupture that happened between you and another – search out the constriction and tightness that lives in your body around it. Try to just observe, not judge the sensation or the relationship. And breathe into this space.
What would it be like to intentionally choose to shine the light of God’s love on this rupture – to offer it some energy of repair? Maybe that means asking for or receiving forgiveness, perhaps having an honest and grounded conversation, perhaps simply reaching out and letting the person know that even though there is still hurt, you are thinking of them and care.
Choose an idea that resonates with you as a way to practice God’s love in human relationship because of the painful yet glorious truth of our imperfection, not in spite of it. Commit to one action of repair, of shining light on a shadow of pain and shame.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 “Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” Jesus’ story of the forgiving father and his two sons challenges our notions of who is worthy of God’s approval. Shame tells us the story that we have done something bad and that therefore we are bad. God tells the story that we will never stop being the Beloved, because God is Love. Where has shame taken root in your life? How might you ask for God’s healing? What does Love look like when real harm or betrayal has occurred? This week, how might you practice loving someone else the way God loves you?
[ Audio version of this meditation ]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
This human form that is you, that you so gently and mindfully tended to just now, is completely and fully beloved by God.
Completely and fully beloved – from the tips of your toes that sometimes lead you astray to the crown of your head that sometimes surrenders to the earthly whims of the mind. Completely beloved.
What do you experience as you consider this notion of complete belovedness? How does your body receive this good news?
With gentle curiosity and lots of choice, scan your body as you receive this belovedness – what do you find? Where does it land peacefully, soaking in like rain on a spring garden? Are there spaces in your body that contract, tighten, or disappear when you offer them this unconditional positive regard? Consider the idea that tendrils of shame live here – our fear of being bad or unworthy, our hidden shadows that we keep away from the light.
Choose one area that experiences contraction, tension, or blankness at the idea of utter belovedness. Direct your full, soft awareness to that space – maybe placing a hand or a blanket over it to offer some support. And just breathe gently into this tightness, this shame. Let the breath gently find a way in, even if just for the briefest of moments. As you breathe into this constricted shame, invite God in – offer up a prayer. With words or just an open awareness, invite God’s light into this place and ask for softening, for healing, for a drop of belovedness to penetrate and nourish this spot.
Stay with this prayer as you breathe.
Now consider our human experience – that of the highs and lows of relationship, the glories and sorrows of our time here on earth. While God’s love is unwavering and complete, our human relationships often experience the painful yet completely normal human experience of rupture and repair. We hurt or are hurt and real pain and conflict enter the space between us and another. These ruptures can feel so scary and painful that often hide them away, deep in the shadows and fertilize them with shame – beliefs about our own lack of goodness and worthiness or another person’s lack of goodness and worthiness.
And, if we stay connected to the present moment, to our bodies, to God, we can make choices about how we meet these inevitable human moments of rupture. We can choose to repair and heal in the spirit of God’s eternal belovedness.
Bring to mind a rupture that feels manageable in this moment – perhaps it is one in the past or maybe it’s happening in the current scape. Gently feel into the rupture that happened between you and another – search out the constriction and tightness that lives in your body around it. Try to just observe, not judge the sensation or the relationship. And breathe into this space.
What would it be like to intentionally choose to shine the light of God’s love on this rupture – to offer it some energy of repair? Maybe that means asking for or receiving forgiveness, perhaps having an honest and grounded conversation, perhaps simply reaching out and letting the person know that even though there is still hurt, you are thinking of them and care.
Choose an idea that resonates with you as a way to practice God’s love in human relationship because of the painful yet glorious truth of our imperfection, not in spite of it. Commit to one action of repair, of shining light on a shadow of pain and shame.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.