We follow the Common Lectionary as we listen and pray with the chosen passage each week. Sometimes we are faced with texts which are difficult to understand or that frighten us or have been used against us or others. This may be such a text for you.
As you go to prayer, anchor into what you know to be true about Jesus. Ask him to bring you to a safe place to be with him as you listen. What does that safe place look like for you? How does it feel in your body? I like to place my hand over my heart and simply and gently say ‘I am home, I am home with you’. I notice my breath deepen, my heartbeat slow down more rhythmically, and my shoulders soften. Then I ask Jesus to help me hear and see and feel his heart in the text that I will listen to or read. I read slowly. I like to say the words out loud to hear the intonation my voice brings to the passage.
And then I notice how I respond to the text. I pay attention to what is happening within me, even within my body – my felt sense. Sometimes I notice fear or tension or anger – this might feel like a constriction in my throat or a tensing of my shoulders or a knot in my stomach. I have learned to become compassionate with whatever is there and allow it to be there with me and with God. If the sensations feel too intense, I might need to move or breathe more slowly and deeply or stretch or leave the conversation for another time. We get to choose if we want to stay in this conversation with Jesus at this moment. There is freedom to circle back another time when we feel grounded and safe. Then we may talk over our inner reaction to what we heard and ask him the hard questions that surface. Sometimes we need to talk over what we are wrestling with in the passage with a safe person who will listen and mirror back what we are hearing to us. Sometimes the wrestling invites us to further study and reflection.
Jesus is always at work in restoring us to wholeness and an experiential knowing of our belovedness. Over time, his healing and transforming presence changes us and how we are with ourselves and others and ultimately in the world around us. Like Christ and as Christ does, we begin to see the value of each person he has created.
Matthew 10:24-31 (NLT)
“Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master. 25 Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!
“But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
For Reflection and Prayer:
Was there a word, phrase or image which caught your attention you as you listened to or slowly read the text? Quietly reflect on it in your prayer with Jesus. Journal your conversation.
Was there any particular emotion which emerged as you listened to the scripture? Notice it. Be curious about it. Reflect on it. Talk it over with Jesus in your prayer.
Savor any consoling words or pictures as you quietly rest in God.