Each week during the season of Epiphany (through February 19), we will explore 2 ‘simple’ words that might help shape the practice of our faith. Each week, we’ll include some ‘take home’ ideas for practices that relate to each word. It is our hope that these ‘practice’ ideas will be useful in your ongoing devotional and prayer life.
Week 4:
When and No
God, sometimes i’m not sure
i don’t understand. i can’t understand. i don’t know what i’m supposed to understand.
i am trying to let go. trying to hold on.
learning. growing. stretching. leaving. coming. going.
what do i leave behind?
what do i move toward?
God, grow my faith, whatever that means.
not in man, not in systems, not in what-someone-else-tells-me-i-am-supposed-to-believe
but in you. the living God. the one who heals. the one who reveals. the one who restores. the one who turns the ways of this world upside down. the one who calls me to mercy and justice and love. the one who stirs us to move.
yeah, that’s all i really want. more of you in me. more of you in us. amen.
Kathy Escobar, Communitas Collective
Week 3: Help and Please
Help
Sit a few moments in quiet. Pray these words:
“Today, I am anxious about these little things…
And I am concerned about these big things…
Help me, Holy One.
To face these challenges, I need help…
Sit for a few moments to name the help you need.”
Body prayer
Imagine your anxieties as a cloud above you and clench your fists to express your anxiety. Then imagine the cloud condensing into a request and capture the request in cupped hands. Raise the request to God in open hands.
Please
Use a Quaker style prayer of intercession – “holding someone in the Light.”
The image of the light represents the mysterious presence of God. We might describe the Light as the Holy Spirit, The Inward Light, “Christ in You” or “that of God in everyone.” To hold someone in the Light is to seek, through prayer, to bring that person into deeper contact with the Divine Presence. Some Quakers imagine the person for whom they are praying actually bathed in beautiful, gentle light. To hold someone in the Light invites us to trust God’s grace and love in all situations, without knowing or demanding a certain outcome.
Week 2: O and Sorry
#1 Prayer of Examen
More than 400 years ago St. Ignatius Loyola encouraged prayer-filled mindfulness by proposing what has been called the Daily Examen. The Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and to discern his direction for us. Try this version of St. Ignatius’s prayer.
1. Become aware of God’s presence. Look back on the events of the day in the company of the Holy Spirit. The day may seem confusing to you—a blur, a jumble, a muddle. Ask God to bring clarity and understanding.
2. Review the day with gratitude. Gratitude is the foundation of our relationship with God. Walk through your day in the presence of God and note its joys and delights. Focus on the day’s gifts. Look at the work you did, the people you interacted with. What did you receive from these people? What did you give them? Pay attention to small things—the food you ate, the sights you saw, and other seemingly small pleasures. God is in the details.3. Pay attention to your emotions. One of St. Ignatius’s great insights was that we detect the presence of the Spirit of God in the movements of our emotions. Reflect on the feelings you experienced during the day. Boredom? Elation? Resentment? Compassion? Anger? Confidence? What is God saying through these feelings?
God will most likely show you some ways that you fell short. Make note of these sins and faults. But look deeply for other implications. Does a feeling of frustration perhaps mean that God wants you consider a new direction in some area of your work? Are you concerned about a friend? Perhaps you should reach out to her in some way.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to something during the day that God thinks is particularly important. It may involve a feeling—positive or negative. It may be a significant encounter with another person or a vivid moment of pleasure or peace. Or it may be something that seems rather insignificant. Look at it. Pray about it. Allow the prayer to arise spontaneously from your heart—whether intercession, praise, repentance, or gratitude.
5. Look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you light for tomorrow’s challenges. Pay attention to the feelings that surface as you survey what’s coming up. Are you doubtful? Cheerful? Apprehensive? Full of delighted anticipation? Allow these feelings to turn into prayer. Seek God’s guidance. Ask him for help and understanding. Pray for hope.
Source: Ignatianspirituality.com
#2 Meditate on Ghandi’s Seven Social Sins
- Politics without Principle
- Wealth Without Work
- Pleasure Without Conscience
- Knowledge without Character
- Commerce without Morality
- Science without Humanity
- Worship without Sacrifice
#3 Prayer of Confession used in worship on January 22
Holy God, you have called us to live in faith and freedom, but I we live with tightness in my chest. You have called us to move in a new direction, but I cling to the path we know. You have called us to reach outward in love, but I draw inward for protection. You have called us to live with abandon, in trust, but I live carefully, in fear. God, forgive me. God, help me to focus not just on what I am, but what you have called us to become. Amen
#4 The practice of “O” – awe and worship
Turn your open eyes toward the sky and open your hands upward, gradually bringing your hands to your heart, lowering your head, and closing your eyes, mirroring a glance toward the greatness of your Creator God, leading to a humble, heartfelt response. If you practice yoga, you may use this attitude and approach as you practice the opening part of the “sun salutation.”
Week 1: Here and Thanks
Here
#1
Here I am, O Holy One (take a moment to reflect on where you are right now – physically, emotionally, personally, socially, spiritually. Try to do so without judgment, but just with awareness)
And here you are, O Loving One (take a moment to pause and become aware of your experience of, or feelings about, God at this moment. How would you name God today?)
Here we are together
#2
With palms open and facing down – I am here in this place, now.
Then turn them upward – I am here in this place, open to you, God.
Thanks
Raise your fists in defiance (against the greed and ‘never enough’ system) and then open them as a gesture of thanksgiving to God, appreciating the abundance you already possess.
Source: Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words; Brian McLaren, HarperOne, 2011)
