Contemplative at Home

As Tina rightly said to me the other day, this time of social distancing, much like Holy Week, is a stripping back, a time of loss, but it is at the same time, a way through to something new, for which we are so hopeful. In this meditation, we will be mindful of Jesus at a number of different points throughout Holy Week, closing just after the point of death, where we are present to the sorrow and...

Dear Friends, After last week's episode with Colossians 3:12-17, Tina, who has been offering us Poems for Prayer, sent me a hymn she had written in response to the passage. I found the words of her hymn so very helpful in my devotion this week that, with her permission, I want to share them with you here. I can't thank Tina enough for her faith, her love, her creativity and her generosity. Reading...

Hello Friends! Being in a confined space, with the same mix of people, day after day amplifies all the dynamics, and I thought that these verses might be particularly helpful this week! Colossians 3:12-17 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe your (deepest) self with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against anot...

This week's programming is interrupted (no surprise there) and replaced with a meditation for a time of unknowing and unsettling, which is also a time to take off the lid and ask questions, to throw down the taproots for deep waters, to closely inspect our homes, our relationships, our choices, ourselves. With that in mind I offer you a grounding meditation, to help you find the taproot, to help y...

An imaginative contemplation affords us the opportunity to *play* with the gospel text, to re-imagine the story in a new context, putting ourselves in key roles, with the purpose of helping us to grow in intimacy with Christ. In this meditation I invite you to stretch the well in Sychar, Samaria to a location familiar to you. What do you drink most often, and where do you get it from? Water from t...

Inspired by Nicodemus, today we imagine ourselves seeking out the Lord, in order to bring him our thoughts and our questions. Today's meditation is a bit different, and you may prefer to use the text than to use the audio, so I offer a version of the script to you here. John 3 (NRSV) Nicodemus Visits Jesus Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night...

In this 20 minute meditation we will travel in our imaginations to first century Jericho, home to families with long-established wealth, status and power - the priestly families. Zaccheus, also very wealthy but wholly living apart from any devout practices also makes his home in this affluent town. Luke 19 (NRSV) Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus;...

A guided meditation with the transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9. At the pinnacle of his ministry, Jesus takes his closest friends up a very high mountain. Jesus seems to be considering his next steps, seeking wisdom about the way forward and has come to listen to God, to listen to his own faith tradition and spiritual heritage. The topic of the session is Jesus' departure "which he i...

Jesus said to them "Follow me" The invitation to the spiritual life is always an invitation to move further on, further in. No matter where you find yourself at present, this is not the end of your story. Jesus invites you to continue following on and in. As a pilgrim on the spiritual journey you are invited to an ever-deepening awareness of yourself and God's love for you and an ever-deepening aw...

An imaginative contemplation with Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus in the Wilderness. Every blessing as you pray. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. For more information and show notes please visit www.contemplativeathome.com or fin...

Today we take the text of Matthew 3 and enter the story in our imaginations. Imaginative Contemplation is a different and playful way to engage with scripture and the Spirit, with the aim of growing in intimacy with the Lord. Come out to the Judean wilderness where John is preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven has comes near. See what is happening, who else has come, and decide whether you will tak...

In this episode we pray with Mary and Joseph as they present Jesus in the Temple, in Luke 2:22-39: "When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in...

A meditation with Luke 2:1-8, with children's voices... In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was...

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ's light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ's return. Again, advent is a time to be "present to our longing and vu...

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ's light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ's return. Again, advent is a time to be "present to our longing and vu...

During Advent, we remember and prepare for the coming of Christ in three ways: firstly, we remember the generations who awaited the birth of Messiah, recorded in the prophecy and longing of the Old Testament. Secondly, we prepare our own hearts for dawning of Christ's light in new and deeper ways, and thirdly, we look to Christ's return. Again, advent is a time to be "present to our longing and vu...

Lectio Divina with Mary's Magificat in Luke 1 (NRSV) This is the final in our short series on gratitude, and you are invited to join your own song of gratitude with Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1, NRSV) as you listen to the slow and thoughtful reading of this passage, alert for the gem of insight hidden in one word or phrase from the text. "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my S...

If Christmas is about the dawning of light, the beginning of hope in the midst of painful and difficult circumstances, the season of Advent is a time to "be present to our longing and vulnerable to hope" (Gertrude Mueller, To Dance with God). I love this. Advent's key invitation is to be present to our longing and vulnerable to hope. Amidst the tinselly blur of activity, I invite you to take a few...

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude. In this episode we are with Luke 15:3-10, the shepherd who rejoices over a found sheep and a woman who rejoices for her found coin, stories which point us to the angelic rejoicing when a sinner repents. "Sinner" and "repent" are both slightly loaded words, so I in...

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude. In this episode we are with John 12:1-3. Jesus, travelling to Jerusalem for that fated Passover, stops in Bethany at the house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They put on a meal for him in gratitude for all that he has done for them. "Six days before the Passover Jes...

This November, with a nod to the American Thanksgiving holiday, Contemplative at Home will pray with stories on the theme of Gratitude. In this episode we are with Luke 17:11-19 and the ten lepers who approached Jesus as he travelled through their village. "On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Ke...

A guided, prayerful reading and meditation on an excerpt from St Patrick's well-known prayer, the Breastplate. I imagine myself rising for the day, with the same Spirit who powers the light of the sun, the radiance of the moon, and the depth of the sea also empowering me. I imagine Christ's presence above and below me, behind and before, to my right and to my left. The Breastplate of St Patrick: I...

"For I am convinced," writes Paul in Romans 8, "that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And I myself am convinced that a deepening knowledge and acceptance and trust in the love that God...

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. In this episode we pray with Mark 12:28-34 – considering what Jesus sees at the heart of the law One of the scribes came near and heard Jesus and some Sadducees disputing with one anothe...

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God's love for you today - drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Continuing our meditation on the way Jesus saw, we observe Jesus as he walks along the lake, and sees Levi, son on Alphaeus sitting at the tax collectors booth. Luke 2:13-17 Once again J...