Sunday, May 16, 2021

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Katie Snipes Lancaster

Scripture: Psalm 104:34
May my meditation be pleasing to God, as I rejoice in the Lord.

Spiritual Practice: Meditation
Christian Meditation places God (and not ourselves) at the center of one’s focus. It exists across seemingly every religion and has been practiced by this name or another for thousands of years. In hundreds of places in scripture, an individual will go out to the wilderness, or a quiet place to connect with God—Jesus does this often—and while it might not be called meditation in scripture, it’s that kind of connection with God that meditation evokes: intentional, sustained, self-emptying.

But meditation isn’t just for those who can take longer chunks of time to escape the rhythms of everyday life. Meditation can be a regular daily practice, before you begin your day, or as you end your day, or at some intentional time in the middle. Listen to the world outside you. Listen to the world within you. Immerse yourself in the known and unknown presence of the divine, focusing on God’s compassion, kindness, patience, and forgiveness. Allow that listening and focus to shift your attention from the expectations-laden, ego-seeking, needing-to-prove-yourself aspects of life, so that your mind and heart can be retrained and reframed, allowing you to embody God’s humility and love.

Daily Prayer
God whose handmade love
Extends across our rumpled, tattered, uneven lives
Let us let go of all that troubles and provokes us
So that we might be returned to your ways.
Amen.