Hello, my friends.
This week I thought it would be nice for us to sit down and breathe deeply together. Below you’ll find a guiding meditation question and image. Give yourself the time you need with your experience before joining me in a reflection on the importance of contemplative practices in our lives of faith.
Meditation
I invite you to get into a comfortable position and focus on your breath. Begin breathing deeply, focus on your chest as it rises and falls. With each exhalation you can feel your body becoming more relaxed, your mind centered, and your spirit grounded. If your mind wanders, simply notice it and nudge it back by focusing on your breath. When you are ready, focus on the painting and center your mind on its question: What does it mean to be consumed by God? Pay attention to what your spirit sees, hears, and feels as you meditate with this painting.
Soul Afire, oil on canvas
Please give yourself time in silence with your experience before reading on.
Reflection
As many of you probably know, contemplative practices are an important aspect of spirituality. And although the ways we meditate vary, our focused attention and openness to the Spirit is the same. When we create holy space through meditative practice, we intentionally invite God to speak into us, each of us seeing, hearing, and feeling what we need in order to better understand God’s desire for us. I wonder, what did your spirit see, hear, and feel during our meditation that speaks to God’s desire for you?
If we are honest, so often when we speak of healing, we exclude ourselves from the equation. Afraid of our own brokenness, we focus our attention outward in an attempt to save others from feeling the same pain we feel and often refuse to acknowledge ourselves. How can we seek to bring true healing to the world if we ourselves are not willing to receive the healing power of Jesus Christ? I believe that God’s desire for us is healing and reconciliation, and our meditative practices help us to become more aware of and compassionate towards our own brokenness and need. This is a path towards receiving the healing power of Jesus Christ into our own lives. But healing can also feel like a dangerous experience and can require us to first imagine how our life might be different after an experience of the healing power of Christ.
Notice that I said, an experience. In the same way we understand becoming an anti-racist as a life-long practice, healing is not a one-time deal. Engaging in regular meditative practices allows us to draw deeper and deeper into Christ’s healing power, which not only sustains us but also guides us on our long and difficult journey of spiritual transformation. God is a faithful and generous giver; who provides what we need, when we need it – if we are willing to ask. Then it is up to us to respond. What do you ask God for, for yourself? And how is the Spirit empowering you to respond?
I am a believer in “ask, and you shall receive.” And I also believe that what we receive doesn’t always make sense in that moment or year. This painting is now three years old. I was not meditating on healing when I painted it. I simply wondered how I could draw closer to God. I’ve learned we do that through the healing of Jesus Christ. True justice and liberation are incomplete without our own healing. As we continue on this long and difficult journey of healing together, I pray that we are all ever aware that sometimes the greatest miracles of healing are those that happen within ourselves.
Be well, dear ones.
Deacon Megan