Communion

This Lent I have been reading David Cole's "Celtic Lent: 40 days of Devotions to Easter."  Celtic spirituality with it's full and wholistic understanding of God, Christ and Holy Spirit speaks to my soul deeply.  This weeks devotions were focused on the act of communion as it was practiced in early days of Celtic Christianity and as described in the Stowe Missal. As we enter into Holy Week moving from Palm Sunday, to Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday to Easter I found my thoughts centering in on Communion and all that it is and it could be.  So I leave you with this reflection of my soul as perhaps an entry point for you into the coming Holy Week and all the experiences that accompany it.


COMMUNION

You say, "This is my body broken for you."
You say, "This is my blood shed for you."

With this symbolic meal
You invite me to
take You intimately, wholistically into myself.

Yet I am hesitant to share in this
as fully as You invite me to.
I only take a nibble - Bread.
I only take a sip - Wine.

I want to eat my fill of
Your grace, Your mercy - Bread.
I want to be sated with
Your salvation - Wine.

Yet I am reserved,
fearful of what others may think,
uncertain of how it may change me
If I were to

Rip off a chunk - Bread.
Drink a mouthful - Wine.
Savor Your sacrifice for ME.

May THIS meal be different.
May THIS time be Communion.
May THIS time be the time I
take my fill and savor
ALL that my Savior has done for me.

AMEN

Noisy and Crowded or Silent and Spacious

I try to pay attention to rhythms of work and rest in my life and the life of the blog. There seems to come a natural time to slow down, do less and create Sabbath space. I have been reflecting deeply the last week as I prepared for Ash Wednesday and Lent to arrive. I have been discerning what my Lent practice needs to be. This time of discernment has made it clear that my life has been fairly noisy and busy of late and I have been craving quiet and spaces of silence more and more.

It is this awareness of my fairly noisy life that has led me to decide to take Lent to explore silence and space. To find a better balance of both in my life and let myself rest and restore for a busy season of caregiving that will arrive post Easter.

As I enter this season of silence and space I have decided to have Chaplainhood take a Sabbath rest as well. I will return to sharing my words and heart with you all sometime after Easter.  Until then one last poetic reflection



FORGIVE MY NOISE 

God, Christ, Spirit,
Forgive me for not hearing
Your words of wisdom and guidance.

Forgive me for filling my life
with so much noise
and "important to dos"
that I have forgotten the
importance of Holy Silence
and just being.

Help me to be passionate
about finding space
for this Holy Silence and being.
The place that quiets
all my "should dos"
and helps me find the
energizing and co-creative living actions.
AMEN

Emerging

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

What is emerging in you?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?


I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Anxious Waiting

Loss of focus,
Netflix distractions,
Missed Obligations,
Is this what anxious waiting looks like?

Over planning the unknown,
Seeking control where one can,
Brain constantly on and whirring,
Is this what anxious waiting looks like?

God, I hate waiting!
Coping with the unknown is hard.
I know You are here with me
in this anxious waiting.
Still I just can't seem to
fully let go into
Your calm and unwavering presence.

To let go feels like
I am abdicating my ability
to do something.
And when life is going topsy turvey
I so need to do something.

God, help me to remember
that letting go into You
is doing the best something I can.

Help me remember and find
that peace that passes all understanding
in Your working presence.

Help me to truly know that You
are working in this for me, with me.
Wanting to make the waiting less anxious,
if only I would let go to You a bit more.

God, help me to wait with you.

AMEN.

Colorful Connectedness

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

How do the connections in your life give your life color? How might you color other's lives through connection?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?


I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Breath of Life

God You breath of life into me.
A divine kiss so precious in its expression
of my belovedness to You.

My borning cry was Your song of praise
for a new part of creation come.
A new part of Your image here on earth
to express belovedness to Your creation.

God help me to respond to this
beloved gift of life from You
in a way that carries forth
this gift of life to
all my path crosses.

God help me to see and hear clearly
how Your breath of life in me
calls me to be a full participant in
Your Kingdom work in all of Creation.

AMEN

Taking Flight

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

How do you want to take flight?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?


I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.