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Dear Friends

Whether you are in the US or not, I’m sure that the events of the past two weeks have caught the attention of your mind and heart.

Today we meditate with Isaiah 58. God’s people cry out, “we fast and you ignore us, what is wrong?!” And God replies, “your fast has served only yourself… THIS is what I long for…” And here our meditation picks up. We use a hybrid text from the NRSV and the Message.

If you are a member of the white community, in any nation, I do strongly encourage you to seek out resources to help you better understand the perspective of people of colour.

A few resources I’ve found helpful in the American context include:

The Liturgists Episode 34 : Black and White : Racism in America (2016)

Laura Tremaine’s podcast series Bias : a Black and White Conversation Between Friends (2018)

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown I listened to this on Audible many months ago and revisited it this week…

Next on my to-read list are: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, How To Be An AntiRacist by Ibram X Kendi, and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.

If you have other authors, voices or books you’d recommend, please do share in the comments or in our FB community. I’d be particularly interested in listening more deeply to the stories of British people of colour.

Much love, dear ones. Be courageous as you lean in. May our attentiveness to this issue be not momentary, but life-long. May our masks be stripped, may the Lord have mercy.

Much love.

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.

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All music by Pete Hatch.