Breath Prayer: “Watching" listening” “for you” Reflection It’s hard to imagine being led into the wilderness. I know that we find ourselves there sometimes, but being led seems cruel. It is scarce there, barren. It’s cold there, isolated. It’s lonely in the wilderness. The place that is far away from what has been routine, from what has been familiar. In the past when I have found myself in the wilderness of spirit, I have felt so lost. As I read of this wilderness time of Jesus reminds me of my own time when I have felt disoriented and so very much alone. I remember the times when I have lost my way. Those times when there was no comfortable position for my body. I’d felt restless whether sitting or pacing. Stops and starts. My spirit was anxious and restless, without direction. It was the feeling of a compass spinning without a true north. But I know I can’t stay here, won't stay here. I know I am on a journey. My spirit longs for the One who will lead me on to what is ahead, what will bring life. So I find myself picking up yesterday’s map and I begin to make my way. Entering in I know there are some mile markers and if I pay attention, more will appear. This journey in and through is done by putting one foot in front of the other. Left foot, right foot, left and then right. Prayer: Leading God, guide my feet in the desert. May this time of restlessness hone my listening for you. Calm my anxiety when I don’t know what to do next, when I don’t know where to go next. Remind this weary pilgrim of your promise of presence. Hear my prayer to you this day in Jesus’ name. Amen. A Daily Musing: Creating a Map for the Journey Your Invitation: Begin thinking (and possibly creating) a map for these coming days. Begin by drawing the following: · a place for where you are starting out, · your notion of where God is, · your emotional / spiritual terrain, · your landmarks and mile markers along the way, · places for rest, · places for refreshment, (you get the idea) Will it be in color or in black and white? Narrative or images? Bodies of water? Actual places from your history? Or only those you’ve imagined? Breath Prayer: “Guide me” “show me the way” Prayer: Companioning One, as we begin these Lenten days we look to you. May we have strength enough, courage enough, resources enough to follow you on this path. As you have led our ancestors, lead us now. Hear us, we humbly pray. Amen. Led by the Spirit Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ~ Matthew 4:1(entire reading is 1–11) Breath Prayer: “Holy Spirit” “lead me” Reflection In Matthew’s gospel we are reminded that Jesus’ ministry took steps in and through the wilderness. Closely paralleling Moses’ forty years in the desert, we are told that Jesus walked for forty days. Through these mornings into evenings perhaps he listened for the words from Deuteronomy, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” In this season of Lent as we take our first steps into the wilderness, may we carry nothing more than what we need. Set aside the extras for this will be a time when we are asked to walk farther and longer than we are used to. Leave behind all the things we bring `just in case.’ These days will have enough for us to carry in our hearts. This time is set aside to prepare us for what matters most to our faith. As Jesus was tested, so we will be asked to look deeply into what is at the heart of our faithful walk with God. Prayer: Precious Jesus, take our hands. Companion us on this journey of 40 days. We pray to follow you and with your loving presence, may our faith be strengthened and renewed, one step at a time. Amen. Budding into Blossom And the time came when the risk to remain tight in bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin Breath Prayer: “our time” “has come” Moments shape our lives. They are mileposts along the way that give us perspective and mark significant times in our life story. Great joy and deep sadness. Lessons learned along the way, and sometimes places where those same lessons have been learned a second or even third time. These moments are ever connecting our life story to the greater one. There comes a time when we know we must risk stepping into what is next for us. This time when we know that we can no longer stay where we are and that it is now time to move on. Here in this moment, we know that the fear of what is next is great, but the pain of staying in this place is even greater. Taking that next step can sometimes feel as though it costs us our lives to do so. Just that one move from left foot to right will put something in motion that is beyond our control. In just that one act, we sense that nothing may ever be the same again. We have been held-in long enough. We have been held in the bud of this flower, slowly now turning her face to the warmth of the sun. It is as though this season has brought us here, to this place of transformation. How to follow? What is being asked of us? Will we be able to do what is next to be done? How will we know if this is right? We surrender this moment, from bud to blossom. Not because we must, but because we may. Prayer: Holy Spirit, guide us this day. Lead us from this place of being known into what is next. Transform what has always been into what has always been meant to be. Show us where to place our next step and we will follow with thankful prayers. Amen. A Daily Musing: Offering Our Hands for Your Blessing Breath Prayer: “Blessed” “this day” Your Invitation Trace each of your hands overlapping at the thumbs. Inside the hands write words and phrases that speak to disconnections, disengagements that you bring with you on this Lenten journey: · don’t take time to pray, · feel abandoned, · weariness of spirit On the outside of your hands, write verses from songs or scripture that are living love, blessings from the Spirit. You might consider: · See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49: 16) · Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, (Mt 5: 3) · The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8) · Morning by morning new mercies I see (Great is Thy Faithfulness) Prayer: Spirit of Grace, we offer our best as well as our most tender places to you. Humbly we lift up our brokenness. Faithfully we open our hands and our hearts to receive your lovingkindness and your blessing. Amen. We are no longer our own, but yours. Put us with what you will, rank us with whom you will; put us to doing, put us to suffering; let us be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let us be full, let us be empty; let us have all things, let us have nothing; we freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. Amen. Scottish Church's Book of Common Order. Breath Prayer: “of love” “of faithfulness" Reflection There always seems to be so many questions when starting out on a journey: What to bring? Will I pack too much? Too little? Will I find my way? Who and what will I encounter? Am I ready? As we begin our Lenten journey we bring many of these same questions. Preparations are now complete and we have stepped out into these 40 days for reflection, for prayer, for fasting from what has kept us apart from the Spirit in the past. The words from this prayer brought me to tears when we spoke them together in worship during Epiphany this past January. I stumbled and bumbled over many of them, “put us with what you will…” They brought me to such a raw and vulnerable place, “put us to suffering.” I soon found a lump in my throat and tears running down my face. “Let us be laid aside for you…” Was it possible to pray these words and actually mean what I was saying? And in the quiet that followed the “Amen,” I remembered the gift of collective prayer. They are words spoken together, as in one voice. I remembered that not all of us at any given time are able to wholeheartedly speak each word. Each speaks what she can and the words are carried, held, prayed by the Body. I give thanks for my community of faith. I give thanks for these words spoken aloud by others who share the journey with me. Even in the echo now my heart remembers again that I am not alone. And as I / we begin this journey, that makes all the difference. Prayer: Loving God, lead us we pray into this season with spirits that can hold on and let go. In these beginning days may we empty ourselves and set aside what has always been. Lead us, shape us, recreate in us this day. And may we know that truly, we have been given more than enough. We give you thanks and follow where you are leading us, Amen. 40 days… Enough to move from winter to spring Enough to move from ashes, to the cross, to the empty tomb Enough to awaken us to the wonder and beauty of springtime Enough to transform us from death to new life Enough to return us to God’s lovingkindness. May these words and pictures companion for you for this Lenten season. May they bring encouragement and reminders of hope along the way. Breath prayers are found with each of the daily reflections. These prayers have a way of slowing us down and at the same time providing a touchstone for our heads and our hearts. The first breath prayer used in this booklet is found on Ash Wednesday. For this day, the breath prayer is “offering ourselves” “offering me.” This invites you to breathe in deeply. As you inhale reflect on the image of what the words “offering ourselves” holds for you. As you are ready, exhale with the image of “offering me” in your heart. Breath prayers can be helpful throughout the day while sitting at a red light or walking from one place to another. They have a way of slowing us down, shifting focus, helping us listen for something greater. As you enter into this Lenten season we wish you grace enough to drink from the deepest wells and to believe (again as if for the first time) that stones holding you captive will be rolled away. Blessings on your Lenten journey, Lesley and Susie (formatting and most of the pictures) For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ~ Psalm 51: 16-17 Breath Prayer: “Offering ourselves” “offering me” Reflection There’s no way out but through. Robert Frost’s words from A Servant’s Servant welcome us into this Lenten season. It is here in these days of winter’s ending and spring’s beginning again that we are invited to step out on this pilgrimage of faith. This journey is not for the watcher or for the one who stands by and waits. Instead it is for one who has the yearning and the courage to return to the One who created and is creating still. Psalm 51 brings also words to help as we begin. Over the centuries we have been reminded that God doesn’t delight in sacrifice alone. Words and deeds looking backward to what has been broken in the past and making contrition for them will not please God. Instead God delights in our being. Here in the psalmist’s words we are encouraged to begin with who we are and whose we are. So let us set out on this 40 day journey, marked as daughters and sons humbled by what has separated in past days from the living love of God. Let us set out with hearts breaking open, with hopes of God’s loving acceptance. Let us set out in prayer and thanksgiving. Let us set out listening for what the Spirit has to say to us. Prayer: Most merciful God, we humbly pray to you this day. Mark us again as your children, acknowledging that we have turned away from you time and time again. We have lost our way. With contrite hearts we enter into this season of Lent listening for you, seeking you, praying that you will guide each step as we begin this journey back to you. We humbly ask your blessing on us and this Lenten journey, Amen. |
Lesley BroganWorking in Family Experience at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Lesley is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. A Candler School of Theology graduate, Lesley has just published her second book, Grief and the Psalms: Companioning the Moon for 29 Days (available on this website). She and her partner, Linda Ellis are raising their two sons, Brogan and Sam in Decatur, GA. Archives
April 2018
Categories |