March 2025
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.
From Curse to Blessing: A Guided Lenten Practice
Mar. 19, 2025 11:22 Filed in: Spiritual Practice | Audio
Week of Lent III, March 23: From Curse to Blessing
Luke 13:1-9 “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all others?” In this passage, Jesus wrestles with a belief common in his time, and in ours – the notion that God causes bad things to happen to people as revenge for their sins. Using an image of garden fertilizer, Jesus calls us back to the story of the first garden: he invites his listeners to put their energy toward bearing fruit.
Where has an image of a punishing God taken root in your life? How might you ask God to heal that image? In a violent and unpredictable world, how might we put our energy into God’s original blessing, God’s dream of shalom for the earth and all its creatures?
[ 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.
Now, into this soft, supported space, consider the notion of God as ultimate judge and punisher. Is this image of a vengeful God familiar to you? Notice any stories or history that come to mind as you examine this notion.
How do you relate to this notion of an exacting God – one that doles out retribution for our sins? What happens in your body when you bring this fearsome image of God to your awareness? Does your belly tighten? Your heart race? Your face flush?
Spend a moment feeling into the conditioned response to a retributive God.
Keep breathing.
Choose one place in your body that can feel the impact of the version of God that is punishing. Gently place a loving hand there – belly, heart, forehead, feet. Breathe into your own gentle touch and invite that place to start to relax and soften. Stay with this sensation and breathe into it – returning if your mind wanders.
As your body starts to relax and release this fear into your breath and gentle touch – intentionally choose to shift your attention to Jesus’ invitation to set down the debate about sin and punishment and instead turn towards bearing the fruit of God’s love. Feel into this shift with your senses – look towards the bearing of fruit, feel the turn away from vengefulness and towards love.
Really orient your awareness to this – the fruit to be borne by your human gifts.
What shifts for you as you change your awareness and intention in this way? How can you notice, in real time, that you have oriented to being a bearer of fruit in this world instead of an exacter of judgment?
Consider your week ahead – as you scan the days and hours, let opportunities for bearing loving fruit present themselves – what chances do you have to choose this way of being? What is one concrete offering you have for the world this week in the spirit of fruitful love?
As you move through this week – commit to noticing when you’re in the energy of judgement, punishment, and fear. When you find yourself there, practice gently turning energetically and heartfully towards the bearing of God’s fruit – over and over again. Without perfection but with steadfastness of purpose.
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 13:1-9 “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all others?” In this passage, Jesus wrestles with a belief common in his time, and in ours – the notion that God causes bad things to happen to people as revenge for their sins. Using an image of garden fertilizer, Jesus calls us back to the story of the first garden: he invites his listeners to put their energy toward bearing fruit.
Where has an image of a punishing God taken root in your life? How might you ask God to heal that image? In a violent and unpredictable world, how might we put our energy into God’s original blessing, God’s dream of shalom for the earth and all its creatures?
[ 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.
Now, into this soft, supported space, consider the notion of God as ultimate judge and punisher. Is this image of a vengeful God familiar to you? Notice any stories or history that come to mind as you examine this notion.
How do you relate to this notion of an exacting God – one that doles out retribution for our sins? What happens in your body when you bring this fearsome image of God to your awareness? Does your belly tighten? Your heart race? Your face flush?
Spend a moment feeling into the conditioned response to a retributive God.
Keep breathing.
Choose one place in your body that can feel the impact of the version of God that is punishing. Gently place a loving hand there – belly, heart, forehead, feet. Breathe into your own gentle touch and invite that place to start to relax and soften. Stay with this sensation and breathe into it – returning if your mind wanders.
As your body starts to relax and release this fear into your breath and gentle touch – intentionally choose to shift your attention to Jesus’ invitation to set down the debate about sin and punishment and instead turn towards bearing the fruit of God’s love. Feel into this shift with your senses – look towards the bearing of fruit, feel the turn away from vengefulness and towards love.
Really orient your awareness to this – the fruit to be borne by your human gifts.
What shifts for you as you change your awareness and intention in this way? How can you notice, in real time, that you have oriented to being a bearer of fruit in this world instead of an exacter of judgment?
Consider your week ahead – as you scan the days and hours, let opportunities for bearing loving fruit present themselves – what chances do you have to choose this way of being? What is one concrete offering you have for the world this week in the spirit of fruitful love?
As you move through this week – commit to noticing when you’re in the energy of judgement, punishment, and fear. When you find yourself there, practice gently turning energetically and heartfully towards the bearing of God’s fruit – over and over again. Without perfection but with steadfastness of purpose.
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 Doom to Clarity: A Guided Lenten Practice
Mar. 16, 2025 12:49 Filed in: Spiritual Practice | Audio
Week of Lent II, March 16: From Doom to Clarity
(Luke 13:31-35) “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” In this passage, Jesus weeps over the self-destructive patterns that seem to doom a beloved city, bemoaning their refusal of help. We too grieve over the self-destructive choices of our own lives, of loved ones, of our society. We see Jesus wrestle a clear mission out of this grief: he sets his face toward Jerusalem, knowing his own death is at the end of the road.
Where does grief over self-destructive patterns show up in your life? What is yours to change in this situation? How might you pray for the courage to change what you can?
[ Listen to 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with the shadows of the human experience – the ways we act that move us further from God, further from love, further from community.
With curiosity as your companion, consider the actions and patterns you notice in the world right now – what is it like to intentionally feel and grieve the ways that humans act against our common good? Be gentle and incremental – let in as much or as little as feels manageable in this moment. What arises as you turn your awareness fully towards the painful truth of our human capacity to act in ways that work against God’s wishes for us?
Keep breathing… Now release your awareness from the world at large – perhaps move a bit or gently shake to reset the moment and the nervous system.
And breathe and settle. Let us rein in our awareness and focus now on our own actions and patterns. Consider ways in which YOU treat yourself or others that are in contrast to God’s call to love, consider our own behaviors that destruct and destroy.
Be gentle, be curious. Again, use choice here – take in drop by drop of this awareness, and keep breathing. It is not our job to account for all of humanity’s shadow and destruction. God doesn’t ask us to hold it all or to fix it all. We know that as humans we wander from God’s path as individuals and as a collective.
And, God invites us, again and again, to RETURN ourselves to the path to Jerusalem. By sitting with and grieving the ways we turn away, we allow space to consciously CHOOSE to return, to turn back towards God’s love and God’s way. Feel into that return here and now.
As you use your present moment awareness to turn back towards God’s invitation to return to the path of loving and right action – what is yours to claim? What is yours, truly yours, to do in this moment?
Use your senses to bring this change that IS yours to enact to life – what does it look like, sound like, feel like? Let your heart be filled with the courage of those who have returned to God’s path again and again. Feel into the collective strength of the shared faith that even when our self-destructive tendencies are laid bare, we can choose again and again to return to love, return to action, return to one choice that connects us to God and our fellow humans.
Once you’ve identified your action step, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Podcast
(Luke 13:31-35) “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” In this passage, Jesus weeps over the self-destructive patterns that seem to doom a beloved city, bemoaning their refusal of help. We too grieve over the self-destructive choices of our own lives, of loved ones, of our society. We see Jesus wrestle a clear mission out of this grief: he sets his face toward Jerusalem, knowing his own death is at the end of the road.
Where does grief over self-destructive patterns show up in your life? What is yours to change in this situation? How might you pray for the courage to change what you can?
[ Listen to 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with the shadows of the human experience – the ways we act that move us further from God, further from love, further from community.
With curiosity as your companion, consider the actions and patterns you notice in the world right now – what is it like to intentionally feel and grieve the ways that humans act against our common good? Be gentle and incremental – let in as much or as little as feels manageable in this moment. What arises as you turn your awareness fully towards the painful truth of our human capacity to act in ways that work against God’s wishes for us?
Keep breathing… Now release your awareness from the world at large – perhaps move a bit or gently shake to reset the moment and the nervous system.
And breathe and settle. Let us rein in our awareness and focus now on our own actions and patterns. Consider ways in which YOU treat yourself or others that are in contrast to God’s call to love, consider our own behaviors that destruct and destroy.
Be gentle, be curious. Again, use choice here – take in drop by drop of this awareness, and keep breathing. It is not our job to account for all of humanity’s shadow and destruction. God doesn’t ask us to hold it all or to fix it all. We know that as humans we wander from God’s path as individuals and as a collective.
And, God invites us, again and again, to RETURN ourselves to the path to Jerusalem. By sitting with and grieving the ways we turn away, we allow space to consciously CHOOSE to return, to turn back towards God’s love and God’s way. Feel into that return here and now.
As you use your present moment awareness to turn back towards God’s invitation to return to the path of loving and right action – what is yours to claim? What is yours, truly yours, to do in this moment?
Use your senses to bring this change that IS yours to enact to life – what does it look like, sound like, feel like? Let your heart be filled with the courage of those who have returned to God’s path again and again. Feel into the collective strength of the shared faith that even when our self-destructive tendencies are laid bare, we can choose again and again to return to love, return to action, return to one choice that connects us to God and our fellow humans.
Once you’ve identified your action step, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Podcast
From Control to Trust: A Guided Lenten Practice
Mar. 09, 2025 12:44 Filed in: Spiritual Practice | Audio
Week of Lent I, March 9: From Control to Trust
Luke 4:1-13
In this passage, Jesus refuses the temptations of security, affection, and control and puts his trust in God. The desire for control is normal, a part of the human experience, and often a response to hurt or trauma. But often, that control is an illusion, an idol that keeps us from receiving what God has to give us.
What’s one thing you find yourself trying to control?
What’s one step you could take to trust God with that issue this week?
[ 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with God.
Bring to mind the notion of security, of affection, of control. What do you notice in your body as you consider each of these words: security, affection, control.
This week, God is asking us to practice relinquishing control, to unclench our grasping fingers and hand over our efforts into divine hands.
Bring to mind one situation or life circumstance that elicits a perceived need for control. Pay close attention to your body, breath, and mind as you consider this specific piece of your life. What does your breath do as you grasp for control? Where does holding and tightness show up in the body?
Take some time bringing this situation into full resolution, imagine holding the fullness of it all in your hands – emotions, stress, unknown, fear, hope. Tune into all that is there as your human self tries to hold it all in your two hands.
Now, imagine reaching your hands out to hand that entire situation – complexities and all – to God. Feel God take it from you – not in a way that makes it entirely disappear or dissipate – but in a way where you can rest your arms and have some distance from carrying it all alone.
Breathe into the relief and the unburdening of having handed this over to God, feel the release of the muscles, any space that enters the mind, any new thoughts.
Honor any discomfort that arises. Letting go of control can be uncomfortable. Consider the difference between discomfort and danger. Offering up our imagined control to the hands of God can be uncomfortable – but it is not dangerous. Let the discomfort be with you for a minute, co-existing.
Now, bring to mind the upcoming week of your human life. Scan through the upcoming days, events, connections, and allow opportunities to practice letting go of control arise in your consciousness. Perhaps there is a conversation that now has a different objective, or some tension in the neck that can be stretched and moved. Perhaps there is a prayer to be added to the daily communion with God. Sit quietly until one clear, manageable, and actionable step arises that will help practice letting go of control and letting God.
Once you’ve identified your action step, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Podcast
Luke 4:1-13
In this passage, Jesus refuses the temptations of security, affection, and control and puts his trust in God. The desire for control is normal, a part of the human experience, and often a response to hurt or trauma. But often, that control is an illusion, an idol that keeps us from receiving what God has to give us.
What’s one thing you find yourself trying to control?
What’s one step you could take to trust God with that issue this week?
[ 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with God.
Bring to mind the notion of security, of affection, of control. What do you notice in your body as you consider each of these words: security, affection, control.
This week, God is asking us to practice relinquishing control, to unclench our grasping fingers and hand over our efforts into divine hands.
Bring to mind one situation or life circumstance that elicits a perceived need for control. Pay close attention to your body, breath, and mind as you consider this specific piece of your life. What does your breath do as you grasp for control? Where does holding and tightness show up in the body?
Take some time bringing this situation into full resolution, imagine holding the fullness of it all in your hands – emotions, stress, unknown, fear, hope. Tune into all that is there as your human self tries to hold it all in your two hands.
Now, imagine reaching your hands out to hand that entire situation – complexities and all – to God. Feel God take it from you – not in a way that makes it entirely disappear or dissipate – but in a way where you can rest your arms and have some distance from carrying it all alone.
Breathe into the relief and the unburdening of having handed this over to God, feel the release of the muscles, any space that enters the mind, any new thoughts.
Honor any discomfort that arises. Letting go of control can be uncomfortable. Consider the difference between discomfort and danger. Offering up our imagined control to the hands of God can be uncomfortable – but it is not dangerous. Let the discomfort be with you for a minute, co-existing.
Now, bring to mind the upcoming week of your human life. Scan through the upcoming days, events, connections, and allow opportunities to practice letting go of control arise in your consciousness. Perhaps there is a conversation that now has a different objective, or some tension in the neck that can be stretched and moved. Perhaps there is a prayer to be added to the daily communion with God. Sit quietly until one clear, manageable, and actionable step arises that will help practice letting go of control and letting God.
Once you’ve identified your action step, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Podcast
Falling in Love with Lent
Mar. 05, 2025 15:57 Filed in: Commentaries | Spiritual Practice
Falling in Love with Lent
A Reflection by the Rev. Lydia Gajdel
I fell in love with Lent when I was in college, sitting quietly in a tiny, windowless, incense filled chapel as the Jesuits preached a theology grounded in God’s abounding love for her complex, flawed creatures. Something about wandering into the desert with Jesus and our ancestors made sense to me and continues to feel like a natural way for me to grow closer to God.
That is what we do every year as we enter into the journey of Lent. Stripping down the trappings of existence and grounding ourselves in the fullness of our humanity, the beauty and brokenness inextricably linked, so we may come face to face with God’s redeeming love for us. In Lent, we are given the gift of 40 days to recalibrate ourselves to the rhythms of our created being and who we say we are as Christians. It is important that we do not go straight to Easter. We do not jump to the good part and celebrate our redemption without wading through the muck for a moment. Because for the resurrection to happen, we need death. We cannot have salvation without first standing before that which we need saving from, that which separates us from God. It is a natural part of our very existence. Death and renewal happen every year as the snow melts and the world turns green again, as friendships fade and new ones form, as the death of a loved one cracks us open and ushers in a new part of ourselves we may have never had access to before. And so we spend 40 days peeling back the layers, experiencing our own brokenness, so that we may be able to truly relish in the triumph of our redemption.
Lent this year feels particularly poignant, like our human brokenness is on full display as we wonder silently and aloud how this is all going to get redeemed. When we confess our sins together, we repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done and the evil done on our behalf. We do not have to look farther than our favorite news outlet or social media cesspool to grapple with the evil of which we pray. And just as the world finds another creative way to embrace chaos, we are invited out into the desert, into our Lenten practice. It is because of, not despite, the world in which we live that we intentionally prepare, listening for God’s call through the cacophony of sound and taking another step closer to God and who God created us to be. Lent was never made for self-flagellation, but rather to name and examine the ways in which we are separated from God and to intentionally turn back.
During this time when the world feels big and scary for so many of us, when emotions run high and it feels like we spend our days fighting, fleeing, and fawning, we are reminded of the words and deeds of our faith. On Ash Wednesday, each one of us is invited to the observance of a holy Lent. The liturgy asks us to do so “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” In this time set apart, 40 days to wander in the desert, we are invited to be in the world anew, reconnecting with ourselves and our Maker. No matter what the journey back to God looks like for each of us as individuals, let us take solace in knowing we walk the road together.
A Reflection by the Rev. Lydia Gajdel
I fell in love with Lent when I was in college, sitting quietly in a tiny, windowless, incense filled chapel as the Jesuits preached a theology grounded in God’s abounding love for her complex, flawed creatures. Something about wandering into the desert with Jesus and our ancestors made sense to me and continues to feel like a natural way for me to grow closer to God.
That is what we do every year as we enter into the journey of Lent. Stripping down the trappings of existence and grounding ourselves in the fullness of our humanity, the beauty and brokenness inextricably linked, so we may come face to face with God’s redeeming love for us. In Lent, we are given the gift of 40 days to recalibrate ourselves to the rhythms of our created being and who we say we are as Christians. It is important that we do not go straight to Easter. We do not jump to the good part and celebrate our redemption without wading through the muck for a moment. Because for the resurrection to happen, we need death. We cannot have salvation without first standing before that which we need saving from, that which separates us from God. It is a natural part of our very existence. Death and renewal happen every year as the snow melts and the world turns green again, as friendships fade and new ones form, as the death of a loved one cracks us open and ushers in a new part of ourselves we may have never had access to before. And so we spend 40 days peeling back the layers, experiencing our own brokenness, so that we may be able to truly relish in the triumph of our redemption.
Lent this year feels particularly poignant, like our human brokenness is on full display as we wonder silently and aloud how this is all going to get redeemed. When we confess our sins together, we repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done and the evil done on our behalf. We do not have to look farther than our favorite news outlet or social media cesspool to grapple with the evil of which we pray. And just as the world finds another creative way to embrace chaos, we are invited out into the desert, into our Lenten practice. It is because of, not despite, the world in which we live that we intentionally prepare, listening for God’s call through the cacophony of sound and taking another step closer to God and who God created us to be. Lent was never made for self-flagellation, but rather to name and examine the ways in which we are separated from God and to intentionally turn back.
During this time when the world feels big and scary for so many of us, when emotions run high and it feels like we spend our days fighting, fleeing, and fawning, we are reminded of the words and deeds of our faith. On Ash Wednesday, each one of us is invited to the observance of a holy Lent. The liturgy asks us to do so “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” In this time set apart, 40 days to wander in the desert, we are invited to be in the world anew, reconnecting with ourselves and our Maker. No matter what the journey back to God looks like for each of us as individuals, let us take solace in knowing we walk the road together.
Making Space for God
Mar. 05, 2025 13:51 Filed in: Commentaries | Spiritual Practice
Beloved in Christ,
Lent arrived with a blizzard that has now dispersed almost as quickly as it arrived. I woke up especially early this morning to get ready for a 7:30 am liturgy, and was just leaving the house when I got word of the decision to cancel. There I was, full of the adrenaline-fueled, frenetic energy that comes from trying to get out the door quickly, and suddenly I was forced to just stay put, and sit still. Now, after a few hours, the sun is peaking out, the wind is dying down, and it’s a new world compared to what things looked like this morning.
In just a few hours, Minnesota’s weather has given us the perfect pattern of the journey from Lent through Easter. The frenetic, anxious energy with which we so often approach our lives is rooted in a deeply disordered faith. We, like our original parents in the Garden of Eden, so often live our lives as if we are like God, as if the world depends on our efforts rather than God’s power and love. Human sinfulness, injustice and oppression, and the badness that so often marks our relationship all grows from our desire to possess, control, and force our will upon the world and the people around us.
Ash Wednesday’s reminder of our mortality, and Lent’s call to repentance, is an invitation rightly order our faith. It’s a time to remember that God is God, and we are not. Just like a good Minnesota blizzard, Lent forces us to stop, and to stay put for just a while. We cannot know God’s mighty power to save if we aren’t regularly making space for God in our hearts, lives, relationships, and calendars.
We can’t respond to God’s call in this season of government chaos, incoming injustice on all sides, uncertainty, and fear with more frenetic energy. We can’t live like it is up to us to save the world. Our actions will only be faithful if they are rooted deep in the soil of prayer. So as we travel these forty days waiting for God’s sun to emerge again, how can you heed Lenten’s blizzard call to sit still, to stay put, to dig deep into the soil of God’s power and love, so that together, we might bear the true and lasting Easter fruit of live, justice, peace, and everlasting joy?
Grace and Peace,
Bishop Craig Loya
Lent arrived with a blizzard that has now dispersed almost as quickly as it arrived. I woke up especially early this morning to get ready for a 7:30 am liturgy, and was just leaving the house when I got word of the decision to cancel. There I was, full of the adrenaline-fueled, frenetic energy that comes from trying to get out the door quickly, and suddenly I was forced to just stay put, and sit still. Now, after a few hours, the sun is peaking out, the wind is dying down, and it’s a new world compared to what things looked like this morning.
In just a few hours, Minnesota’s weather has given us the perfect pattern of the journey from Lent through Easter. The frenetic, anxious energy with which we so often approach our lives is rooted in a deeply disordered faith. We, like our original parents in the Garden of Eden, so often live our lives as if we are like God, as if the world depends on our efforts rather than God’s power and love. Human sinfulness, injustice and oppression, and the badness that so often marks our relationship all grows from our desire to possess, control, and force our will upon the world and the people around us.
Ash Wednesday’s reminder of our mortality, and Lent’s call to repentance, is an invitation rightly order our faith. It’s a time to remember that God is God, and we are not. Just like a good Minnesota blizzard, Lent forces us to stop, and to stay put for just a while. We cannot know God’s mighty power to save if we aren’t regularly making space for God in our hearts, lives, relationships, and calendars.
We can’t respond to God’s call in this season of government chaos, incoming injustice on all sides, uncertainty, and fear with more frenetic energy. We can’t live like it is up to us to save the world. Our actions will only be faithful if they are rooted deep in the soil of prayer. So as we travel these forty days waiting for God’s sun to emerge again, how can you heed Lenten’s blizzard call to sit still, to stay put, to dig deep into the soil of God’s power and love, so that together, we might bear the true and lasting Easter fruit of live, justice, peace, and everlasting joy?
Grace and Peace,
Bishop Craig Loya
From Superficial to Real: A Guided Lenten Practice for March 5
Mar. 03, 2025 11:16 Filed in: Spiritual Practice | Audio
Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
“Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” In this passage, Jesus calls his friends not to performative religion, but to genuine, humble practice. Our Sunday worship can easily become a superficial ritual without the intention to let God transform our hearts and our daily lives.
[ Listen to Audio Version ]
How might God be calling you into deeper …?
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 fills 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with God.
Where do you spend the most time with God?
As you consider your time with God - in church, in contemplation, in prayer, in community, notice any sensations that arise in your body.
Can you feel your feet on the floor as God holds you up from the core of the earth? Does your heart flutter with hope and grief? Does your hand want to move to your belly to connect with the deepest sense of “I AM?” Or maybe there is sensation at the crown of your head - the celestial antenna reaching to the heavens.
What sensations arise? Colors? Memories?
Using the same flashlight of your awareness, search out God’s dwelling places within your own human body. There is no right or wrong – just be curious.
Now, set your intention to invite your experience of God more fully into someplace specific in your embodied human experience. This might look like focusing on the flutter of hope in your belly and letting that sensation grow more intense, more vivid while inviting God in. Or it may look like finding a secret room in your mind – one that is safe and cozy and private – can you open the door and invite God more fully into that room?
Use your intention of deepening into private relationship with God to draw deeper into this space.
What is it like to invite this sacred relationship more fully into your being, the parts only you know and access? How does this intimacy with the divine change your awareness of your human body? What does this private closeness with God call you to do in the world? Who does it call you to be?
Gently, with curiosity, spend the next 5 minutes inviting God deeper into your felt experience. As your awareness moves away from this, just notice and return, keeping breath steady and body relaxed.
“Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” In this passage, Jesus calls his friends not to performative religion, but to genuine, humble practice. Our Sunday worship can easily become a superficial ritual without the intention to let God transform our hearts and our daily lives.
[ Listen to Audio Version ]
How might God be calling you into deeper …?
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 fills 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.
Now, into this soft, supported, and open human consciousness space, consider your relationship with God.
Where do you spend the most time with God?
As you consider your time with God - in church, in contemplation, in prayer, in community, notice any sensations that arise in your body.
Can you feel your feet on the floor as God holds you up from the core of the earth? Does your heart flutter with hope and grief? Does your hand want to move to your belly to connect with the deepest sense of “I AM?” Or maybe there is sensation at the crown of your head - the celestial antenna reaching to the heavens.
What sensations arise? Colors? Memories?
Using the same flashlight of your awareness, search out God’s dwelling places within your own human body. There is no right or wrong – just be curious.
Now, set your intention to invite your experience of God more fully into someplace specific in your embodied human experience. This might look like focusing on the flutter of hope in your belly and letting that sensation grow more intense, more vivid while inviting God in. Or it may look like finding a secret room in your mind – one that is safe and cozy and private – can you open the door and invite God more fully into that room?
Use your intention of deepening into private relationship with God to draw deeper into this space.
What is it like to invite this sacred relationship more fully into your being, the parts only you know and access? How does this intimacy with the divine change your awareness of your human body? What does this private closeness with God call you to do in the world? Who does it call you to be?
Gently, with curiosity, spend the next 5 minutes inviting God deeper into your felt experience. As your awareness moves away from this, just notice and return, keeping breath steady and body relaxed.