Updated on April 19, 2024
Born of the Spirit
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A meditation with John 3:1-10, Nicodmus seeks out Jesus, using imaginative contemplation and Lectio Divina.
Art by Elsie Anna Wood (1887-1978)
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
Zeal For Your House
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A meditation in John’s Gospel, Chapter 2, Verses 13-22, using imaginative contemplation.
This episode looks at the story of Jesus overthrowing the traders in the temple.
I’m not in a position to offer authoritative information on the background of this story, but my understanding is that Jesus’ anger here is around the financial barriers that have arisen between the poor and worship.
The Torah law and customary religious practice required attending the temple and making sacrifice of particular animals at particular moments in the year, or at particular moments in a person’s lifetime. People would travel to Jerusalem from all directions in order to observe religious festivals. On those occasions, in order to pay the temple tax, they would change their local or Roman currency into currency which could be used for religious purposes. They would also buy their sacrificial animals within the temple walls.
Clearly a significant amount of profiteering had crept in, and Jesus, who had attended festivals in the Temple every year since he was a small child, had likely seen first hand the burden this put on his family, and other families whose means were tight.
This week, I’m seeing Jesus’ zeal here as having quality of a mother who, when the need arises, can sweep in with an unexpected ferocity, to defend and protect her little ones.
I wonder where this meditation will take your thoughts and responses.
Blessings, always, as you pray.
Lissy x
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
To The Brim
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A meditation with John 2:1-12 (Water into Wine or the wedding at Cana), using imaginative contemplation.
I encourage you to have a quick read of the scripture passage before starting this meditation, if you have time. You can find it in the NRSV here. One line that I don’t really offer in the meditation, but is in the text, (and I think quite helpful) is “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.” (verse 11)
I’d love to hear how you found this meditation – I find the approach particularly helps me to taste and feel the dynamic between Jesus and his mother. Interestingly, John only ever refers to Mary as Jesus’ mother in his gospel.
The blessing at the end is one I made up as I was saying it, I do want to acknowledge that the phrase “strange graces” is from Jan Richardson’s Beloved is Where we Begin, a blessing/poem that I bring to groups and individuals regularly.
Blessings on YOU, dear one. Thanks for being here, and may this be alive for you in a new way today.
Lissy x
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
Under the Fig Tree
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A meditation with John 1 verses 43-51 using breath work, body awareness, and imaginative contemplation.
This is our seventh and final meditation in the remarkable chapter one in the book of John. The story opens with the wide, sweeping lens on the dawn of time as the word, the light births all of creation into being. John melts into the poetic “Word became flesh” (v14) and “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (v16) and then we are into John the Baptist’s sermons at the Jordan where he points to Jesus as Messiah to swelling crowds and investigative Levites, always testifying “Behold! The Lamb of God” (v35). The focus of the lens become much more granular then, as we now see Jesus in his very ordinary human life, being asked “where are you staying?” (v38). And now, with all the power and energy of the first 3/4 of the chapter setting the stage, ordinary people are meeting Jesus in their ordinary lives and being invited to “Come and see” (v39, 46) and responding in a number of ways to this person who sees and ignites their deepest souls.
In today’s meditation, Jesus leaves the Jordan to travel back up to the Galilee, and finds Philip (from the same city of fishermen and farmers as Andrew and Simon Peter). Philip is immediately compelled to follow Jesus and invite his friends, too, to come and see. Nathaniel is a little hesitant until Jesus accurately sees and names his heart, his spirit.
Jesus’ words close the chapter with a camera pan back out to the bigger, wider narrative “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you,[o] you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
I invite you to engage with these verses as an imaginative contemplation, becoming present to the text and the story in your imagination and putting yourself in the scene.
Blessings, always, 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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
Encounter
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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 symbol of readiness to step into a new, fresh movement of the spirit. Thousands of people come from all over to hear what John is preaching, to go down into the water and physically express their availability for this new thing.
Simon and Andrew, brothers and fishermen, have travelled across from the Galilee, Jesus has come from Nazareth. Perhaps there are hundreds of tents, or campsites, circled by various gatherings. A bit of a festival feeling.
And here we learn that Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter who would be among Jesus’ 12 disciples, was first a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew is right at the centre of this movement, staying close to John, following him closely, entirely ready to encounter the coming One John speaks of.
Andrew was one of the two who heard John say “Look, here is the Lamb of God”, and it was Andrew who followed Jesus that day, asking where he was staying, and going to spend the day with him.
As the afternoon draws towards evening, Andrew is convinced that this Jesus is the Messiah (though his understanding of Messiah would continue to grow for decades to come), and he goes to his find his brother Simon in the crowd, and brings him back to Jesus.
Jesus sees Simon, identifies him, and there in that moment, gives him a new name: Cephas, which translates to Peter and means rock.
A few side facts and legends about Andrew:
Andrew, whose name is not Hebrew but Greek, as Pope Benedict pointed out, suggests that his parents were fairly broad-minded. Andrew was one of Jesus’ closer disciples, and would eventually be subject to death by crucifixion. Legend has it that Andrew refused to be martyred in the same manner as Jesus, so his cross was turned a few degrees to be an X. This is reflected in the white X on the Scottish flag, as St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. Now you know!
Blessings, always, 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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
10 Minute Meditation: Beloved
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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 I sat with these words today I imagined a big banner flying over my kitchen with the word LOVE emblazoned on it. Although this may sound trite, it is actually the most serious truth we can hold as we engage with ourselves, the other people in our kitchens, and the world at large.
You are the beloved, and your Divine Beloved delights in you.
That is the whole story.
BLESSINGS, DEAR ONE 💙💙💙
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
Come and See
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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 him), when Jesus walks by.
And so the first encounter, the first dialogue with Jesus in John’s Gospel unfolds.
“What are you looking for?”
“Rabbi, where are you staying?”
“Come and see”
For me this exchange holds both the soul-searchingly deep and the very ordinary, physical stuff of our everyday lives, a pairing that holds the essence of incarnation.
I hope this encounter will reveal something new to you as you pray with it. I’d love to know what you hear in it for you today.
Blessings, always, dear ones.
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
The Lamb and the Dove
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An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 29-34.
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 comes behind me, ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.” (John 1:15, 1:30)
A final assignment for the class was to make some kind of representation of each chapter of John’s Gospel. I made a small book of water colour paintings. One of the very few University assignments that is still with me, today it sits on my desk to guide me as I travel through John’s Gospel with Contemplative at Home,
For the text in this meditation (which could be called John the Baptist’s sermon on the identity of Jesus) I have used Dale’s own translation as recorded his Commentary on the Gospel of John (Eerdmans). I find the language to be full of life and I hope it will open a new door for you as you listen, with the ears of your heart open.
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.
Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
A Voice in Wilderness
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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 find out what the buzz is all about.
They want to know if John is someone they are expecting, based on their reading and interpretation of the scriptures. Is John the Messiah, is he Elijah who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind and will return before the Messiah returns, or is this the prophet who Moses said would come before the Messiah?
John says he is none of these, and instead seems to be inhabiting his own unique voice, his own unique vocation. I’m neither Elijah, nor anyone else you are expecting, in the way you are expecting them. I am myself, and I’m here to point towards something that is at hand, someone who is among you on whom the Spirit rests. (Jesus later says in Mt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”)
I sense John inviting the interrogators to get out of their heads, to stop trying to puzzle out answers to match their expectations, and to open their hearts with curiosity to how the Spirit of God is at hand.
I invite you to open yourself to this sense of the Holy, to let go of trying to puzzle it all out in your brain, and even as you listen and pray, when you sense the Spirit hovering, to allow yourself to receive it. Let it wash over you, let your self be immersed, even baptised, in Presence of the Holy, even if it comes in an unexpected guise.
Every Blessing
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
You can support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, making a one-off donation or becoming a member. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.
Updated on April 19, 2024
Grace upon Grace
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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 into my reading of the text for you today.
My added words, are all based on the notes of (a) a scholar in Seattle whose name I did not record, teaching circa 1998 (b) the footnotes in my Oxford Annotated NRSV and (c) Strong’s notes on the greek in the MOUNCE translation on Bible Gateway.
May the unfurling of these words, as they try in their own limited way to speak of the Word, the original breath of all that is, nestle into your heart and ignite some small fire of insight, of hope, of love.
With every blessing,
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 newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here
Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!
All music by Pete Hatch.