What we have been doing in our virtual worship service is a guided arriving meditation.
And as always,
I invite you to engage in this in ways that are most accessible to you.
This isn't supposed to be a forced thing or even a challenging thing.
It's an opportunity for you to sit and be.
Maybe this is your only time this week to sit and be.
To listen deeply to your thoughts,
To feel deeply your feelings,
To explore the perceptions that may arise within you.
May it be so as we arrive in this place.
So as you're comfortable and as it's accessible to you,
I invite you to find a position that is a posture of dignity,
A posture that is prayerful and mindful,
A posture of expectation,
Wanting to listen to self and to God all at the same time.
And if it's accessible to you and amenable to you,
I invite you to close your eyes or rest your gaze away from the screen.
We're on these screens all day long anyway.
It's an opportunity to find this present moment,
To be fully here.
I invite you now to sit in silence for just a few moments and follow your breath.
The inhale and the exhale.
Maybe there is something that is arising in you,
A task on your to do list,
A fleeting thought from a television or radio program.
A feeling that is coming up.
Stress,
Excitement,
Whatever it might be.
Let those thoughts,
Let those feelings come and go as you center yourself in this space,
In the here and now.
That task will return.
That feeling will emerge again.
Be here now.
Allow any expectation or interpretation or perception of self or other or even God fall by the wayside.
Let it come and go.
Sometimes for me,
It's hard for me to let go.
So I invite you into a practice of blessing.
Blessing those thoughts and feelings that seem to be persistent.
I see you anxiety.
I recognize you shame.
Oh,
You're back again.
Anger.
Name it.
Claim it.
Bless it.
Now is not the time.
Fear.
Now is not the time.
Shame.
Now is not the time.
Anger.
I bless you and allow you to go along your way and allow myself to be here now.
A few last deep breaths.
Arrive fully into the space that you've created.
This time that you've set aside to be with God.
And let us unite our hearts,
Our minds in this prayer.
God with us.
When we privilege our own agendas.
Hurt others in the effort to impose our will.
Or chain ourselves to our fears.
Our shame.
Our anger.
Tumble us off the throne of our pride.
And release us into finding our worth in your love.
Lord have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus Christ,
You know us,
You love us,
You free us,
Then call us to follow you and we bless you.
Your mercy meets us in our confusion.
May your spirit meet us in our everyday living and in every breath that we take.
And now with the confidence of the children of God.
We pray together the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray.
Our Father,
Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
