Contemplative at Home

An audio meditation in John's Gospel using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation, John 1:39-42. In these verses in John 1, we get a short glimpse of a brief, rather ordinary, and entirely transformative meeting. I picture this story happening near the Jordan river where John is baptising, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, inviting people to go down into the water as a symb...

An audio meditation on your own belovedness and your existence as an expression of love. "I belong to my Beloved, and my Beloved belongs to me. He brought me to the banqueting house, his banner over me is love." Song of Songs 2:4, 6:3 This meditation invites you to take a little pause from all that is on your plate just now, to step aside and to remember that you are the beloved of Love Itself. As...

A meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 35-39, using Imaginative Contemplation. In this meditation we meet Andrew (the brother of Simon Peter) who is not yet a disciple of Jesus, but at this stage in the story, is a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew is standing with John (likely at the Jordan River, where he has been baptising, and preaching his message about the one who comes after hi...

An audio meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28. As an undergrad at Whitworth College, I took a class in John's Gospel with  F. Dale Bruner . I vividly recall Dale opening each session by translating the text into animated English out of the original Greek, which he held entirely memorised in his brain. I particularly remember his arm gestures as he put across the point: "he who come...

An audio meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28. The text for today's meditation records a conversation between priests and John the Baptist. John has been baptising at Bethany at the Jordan, and huge numbers of people are coming to respond to his message that "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 4). The chief priests send representatives from Jerusalem to ask some questions, to...

A meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 14-17 These words in my old paper Bible have so many little side notes, one word circled in the text with an accordion file of notes on the greek root and its myriad translations spilling into the margins. The unfolding possibilities in the meaning of these words is so rich, so beautiful and compelling that I have taken the liberty of adding them in...

A meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 6-9 . In this meditation on John's Gospel, I invite you, as Jesus does in Mark 6, to "come away with me to a quiet place". I invite you to a quiet place within yourself, a place where your wonder and curiosity are allowed to take the lead. I invite you to behold these words of text, not from your critical, analytic, outward-functioning self, but fro...

A meditation in John's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5 In this meditation on John's Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a 'long, loving look' at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave aside your dogma, your creed, even your thoughts,...

May grace and peace be yours in abundance! (1 Peter 1:2) Peter's letters are addressed to communities throughout Asia Minor, and the notes in my study Bible say that we can assume the members are "Gentiles, resident aliens and household slaves." They face persecution and social ostracism for identifying as Christian. This meditation looks at verses 2-4 and 8-9. There is talk of heaven in this chap...

In Matthew 26:36-46 we are with Jesus, late in the evening after they have celebrated the Passover, Jesus has washed their feet, and broken the bread with his friends. Now they have gone to Gethsemane, a garden they may have stopped in regularly together on their way into Jerusalem. The irony is not lost on me that I found myself heavy with sleep as I was trying to record this podcast. I have stru...

We continue our Lenten exploration of the mess and the trouble , this week looking at Romans 5:1-11: sin, grace, love, suffering, reconciliation, death and life.  The text is read from the NRSV with verse 11 from the Message. As always, blessings as you pray. L 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 fo...

Friends, As we continue our Lenten look at the mess we are always moving through, we come to the story Jesus told of a rich man and a poor man. (Luke 16:19-31) I found myself wondering about the ways in which I construct 'chasms' or false distinctions between me and others whom I deem unworthy or unappealing. I also wondered about the ways in which I try to cut off parts of myself which I find una...

Dear Friends, Lenten greetings. When choosing which passages to work with in these meditations, I tend to lean towards the most positive, hopeful and encouraging bits of the Bible that I can find. In the midst of all that we struggle with, I feel that we primarily need hope and love and peace spoken over us. I also have a wild faith in the power of Love to transform us, and in Christ's beautiful i...

A gentle practice to rest in God's love, using a combination of lectio divina and centering prayer.  Blessings as you pray. Lissy 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. Sign up for Lissy's monthly newsletter " The Contemplati...

It is no wonder the the community founded by John, "the one whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23), would go on teach at length about the profound love of God. John is often referred to as the beloved disciple. I can't help but wonder how much of this belovedness, this identity as  the beloved , is a function of John's capacity and willingness to recieve the Love that was offered to him. How might you be...

A meditation with John 10 I have come that you might have life to the full. Blessings as you pray 🙏🏽💙☺️ Lissy 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.   Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter " The Contemplative Window " or j...

In the spirit of the imaginative contemplation, I invite you into this guided meditation based on Matthew 4:18-20. In imaginative contemplation you are invited to offer your imagination and your perception as tools through which God might speak to you in a new way. May you see Jesus in a slightly new way here. Blessings as you pray. Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer - spa...

Dear Friends, Today a meditation with the gifts of winter. In this guided meditation, you will imagine yourself in a winter scene, listening to the wintry landscape as it teaches you about how to live in the cold and fallow seasons. Job knew that the natural world understood the fundamental truth of things, understood who God is and how God works Job: 12:7 But ask the animals, and they will teach...

In this 18 minute meditation, you are invited to remember the baptism of Jesus, and to explore where you are at just now, how you stand on the brink of something new and possible, and how you might like to open yourself to the Spirit of God at this juncture. You may want to use this meditation to pray about the next few months, or the next year. No matter who we are, or where we are headed, we all...

This is a 20-minute meditation with the magi, who studied the stars, and followed a star whose rising signified the birth of the King of the Jews.  This mindful meditation gives you space to prayerfully reflect on Matthew 2:1-3 & 7-12, the visit of the magi, and to consider what insights the account may have for you. I find this a particularly helpful new year meditation, though it is by no means...

A meditation for the fourth week of Advent, with the prophecies of Isaiah 11. Blessings 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. Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter " The Contemplative Window " or join our F...

A meditaiton with Isaiah 9 Advent blessings 🙏🏽🕯🕯🕯 Lissy 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. Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https:...

Advent is a time for preparing, for making space (though as Tsh Oxenrieder says in her Advent book "Shadow and Light", to be still, to make space is an almost subversive act our culture's December). I do pray that you might find some space today to breathe, to be still, to listen and to ask yourself the question, what might it mean for my heart to prepare room for the Christchild? Much love and ev...

We begin the liturgical year now, in Advent, starting with the cries of our hearts out of the profound need within and around us. The need for restoration, for justice, for wholeness, for peace. Isaiah 35, (read here from the Message), points to a time of healing and life, blossoming and singing. It invites us to dare to hope, in the bleakest of places. Come, thou long-expected Jesus Born to set t...

This is a meditation with Luke 6:46-49. I hope that this slow and mindful approach to the story of the houses with and without foundations will open something new and relevant for you today.  Wishing you peace like a river. Lissy x PS: I've had a few conversations this week with people who mentioned using these meditations with a small group, so I've added a couple of brief 'if you're in a group'...