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Day 31: Wakens My Ear to Listen

March 27, 2012

Wakens My Ear to Listen
Image: Wakens My Ear to Listen © Jan Richardson (click image to enlarge)

Morning by morning God wakens—
wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
—Isaiah 50.4

From a lectionary reading for Palm/Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50.4-9a

Reflection for Wednesday, March 28 (Day 31 of Lent)

Even when in pain. Even when enduring insult and injury. Even when his attackers try to shame him and make him less than he is. Even then, the speaker in this passage—the third of what are known as the “Servant Songs”—does not turn away from God. The Servant, whom interpreters have variously identified as the nation of Israel or as a single individual (the Christian tradition often viewing the Servant as Jesus), continues to place his trust in God.

In the midst of suffering, it can be tempting to turn away from God. We may blame God for our pain. We may turn inward upon ourselves when the most important thing we can do is turn toward those who can help us, including the One who does not will our suffering but who, as the Servant sings, stands with us when others are arrayed against us.

I am struck by how, even as the Servant sets his face “like flint” (verse 7) and is resolute in his convictions, he begins each day—”morning by morning”—by listening to the God who “wakens my ear to listen” and who has “opened my ear.” I am intrigued by the Servant’s combination of willingness and strength, by his desire to turn his ear toward God in patient listening even as he stands his ground.

The poet e. e. cummings closes his poem “i thank You God for most this amazing day” with these words:

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

In these Lenten days, how do we listen in this way? How do we turn toward the God who, morning by morning, desires to open our ears, our eyes, ourselves, that we may be fully awake in this world, and offer a word that will sustain those who are weary?

Blessing to Open the Ear

That as we wake
we will listen.
That as we rise
we will listen.
That before our first words
of the day
we will listen.
That when we meet
we will listen.

That at noontime
we will listen.
That at dusk
we will listen.
That at the gathering
of night
we will listen.
That entering sleep
we will listen still.

—Jan Richardson

[To use the image “Wakens My Ear to Listen,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent | 5 Comments »

Day 30: Blessed Is the One

March 26, 2012

Palm Sunday II
Image: Palm Sunday II © Jan Richardson (click image to enlarge)

Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
—Mark 11.8-9

From a lectionary reading for Palm Sunday: Mark 11.1-11

Reflection for Tuesday, March 27 (Day 30 of Lent)

Lately I have found myself thinking about procession and pilgrimage: how we move with mindfulness across a landscape that transforms us along the way; what propels us to set off down paths made sacred by those who have traveled before us; which roads draw us closer to God, and which ones draw us farther away from being aware of God’s presence.

There are times for venturing down a holy path that has physical substance, giving ourselves to traveling a real road that will alter us in ways we cannot predict. And then there are times for committing ourselves to a way that will not take us far in terms of physical distance but will draw us down interior pathways we have not explored before. The desert mothers and fathers of the early church well knew this latter journey. They often counseled staying put, wanting to make sure that physical travel wasn’t being treated as a substitute for interior work rather than an aid to it. Reflecting on this in her book The Forgotten Desert Mothers, Laura Swan writes, “The desert journey is one inch long and many miles deep.”

The road that Jesus traveled to Jerusalem in order to make his entrance that we celebrate on Palm Sunday was not terribly long in terms of physical distance. Yet it was miles deep, marked by years of preparation and prayer, discernment and courage as Jesus traveled farther into the fullness of who he was meant to become.

And what road do we travel to meet the Christ who comes toward us on that ancient way of procession and pilgrimage? What journey do we need to take, by inches and miles, in order to welcome him?

“My life’s work,” my Franciscan friend Father Carl once said, “is to go on a pilgrimage to who I am.” This week and beyond, may we make that pilgrimage.

Blessed Is the One
For Palm Sunday

Blessed is the One
who comes to us
by the way of love
poured out with abandon.

Blessed is the One
who walks toward us
by the way of grace
that holds us fast.

Blessed is the One
who calls us to follow
in the way of blessing,
in the path of joy.

—Jan Richardson

2016 update: “Blessed Is the One” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. You can find the book here.

For previous reflections for Palm Sunday, please click the images or titles below.


Palm Sunday: The Way It Makes
(includes “Blessing of Palms”)


Palm Sunday: The Temple by Night
(for Mark 11.1-11)


Palm Sunday: Where the Way Leads

This reflection is part of the daily series “Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.” If you’re new to the series, welcome! You can visit the first post, Teach Me Your Paths: Entering Lent, to learn more about the series and see where we’ve traveled this season.

[To use the image “Palm Sunday II,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of Mark, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | 2 Comments »

Day 29: God Has Given Us Light

March 25, 2012

Has Given Us Light
Image: Has Given Us Light © Jan Richardson

The Lord is God, and has given us light.
—Psalm 118.27a

From a lectionary reading for Palm Sunday: Psalm 118.1-2, 19-29

Reflection for Monday, March 26 (Day 29 of Lent)

As if to confirm God’s penchant for revelation that we reflected on yesterday, Psalm 118 sings of light that comes as a blessing and gift from God. Light, the psalmist tells us, is one of the ways that God provides and cares for God’s people.

The last of the psalms that comprise what’s known as the Hallel (Hebrew for “praise”), Psalm 118 is part of the song of praise offered during festival times. Encompassing Psalms 113-118, the song is sometimes called the Egyptian Hallel and is a joyous telling of what God has done in the life of the people of Israel: how God has provided for them, what God has given to them, what God has brought to pass through them. During the festival of Passover, the first part of the Hallel (Psalms 113 and 114) is sung before the Passover meal, and the second part is sung following the meal (Psalms 115-118). It’s likely that it was the song that Jesus and the disciples sang as they left the Last Supper. What hope it must have given them, as they went into the night, to sing of the God who does not let darkness have the final word.

In John O’Donohue’s book Anam Cara, he writes, “If you had never been to the world and never known what a day was, you couldn’t possibly imagine how the darkness breaks, how the mystery and color of a new day arrive. Light is incredibly generous.” The psalmist knows the gift of light and does not take it for granted. How about you? At this place in your Lenten journey, how do the words of this song find a home in you? What light has God given to you as blessing and gift?

Blessing of Light

Let us bless the light
and the One who gives
the light to us.

Let us open ourselves
to the illumination
it offers.

Let us blaze
with its
generous fire.

—Jan Richardson

[To use the image “Has Given Us Light,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, The Psalms | 2 Comments »

5th Sunday in Lent: Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls

March 24, 2012

Into the Earth
Image: Into the Earth © Jan Richardson

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
—John 12.24

From a lectionary reading for Lent 5: John 12.20-33

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (March 25)

The lectionary texts this week have set me to thinking about how God works in hidden spaces: in the inner being, in the secret heart, in the earth. There is work that God needs to do in us in secret; out of sight, away from the glare of day, removed from public view. Yet God has a penchant for revelation, for bringing into the open what is within us. God’s inward work is for the purpose of opening us outward. God draws us deep inside, then draws us back into the world to bear the fruit that comes when our inner lives are congruent with our outer ones.

Blessing the Seed

I should tell you
at the outset:
this blessing will require you
to do some work.

First you must simply
let this blessing fall
from your hand,
as if it were a small thing
you could easily let slip
through your fingers,
as if it were not
most precious to you,
as if your life did not
depend on it.

Next you must trust
that this blessing knows
where it is going,
that it understands
the ways of the dark,
that it is wise
to seasons
and to times.

Then—
and I know this blessing
has already asked much
of you—
it is to be hoped that
you will rest
and learn
that something is at work
when all seems still,
seems dormant,
seems dead.

I promise you
this blessing has not
abandoned you.
I promise you
this blessing
is on its way back
to you.
I promise you—
when you are least
expecting it,
when you have given up
your last hope—
this blessing will rise
green
and whole
and new.

—Jan Richardson

2016 update: “Blessing the Seed” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. You can find the book here.

P.S. For a previous reflection on this passage—which features my inner Barbie, the observation that “Lent is not for sissies,” and encouragement to cheer you on at this point in the Lenten path—click the image or title below:


Lent 5: Into the Seed

This reflection is part of the daily series “Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.” If you’re new to the series, you can visit the first post, Teach Me Your Paths: Entering Lent, to pick it up from the beginning.

[To use the image “Into the Earth,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of John, lectionary, Lent | 14 Comments »

3rd Sunday in Lent: Speaking of the Body

March 5, 2012

The Temple of His Body
Image: The Temple of His Body © Jan Richardson

They said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of
the temple of his body.
—John 2.20-21

From a lectionary reading for Lent 3: John 2.13-22

Reflection for the Third Sunday in Lent (March 11)

Years later, Jesus’ words will echo in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. “Do you not know,” the apostle will ask them—and us—“that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3.16). We are the body of Christ, both broken and beautiful; in us God’s Spirit makes its home.

How is it with your temple this day?

Blessing the Body

This blessing takes
one look at you
and all it can say is
holy.

Holy hands.
Holy face.
Holy feet.
Holy everything
in between.

Holy even in pain.
Holy even when weary.
In brokenness, holy.
In shame, holy still.

Holy in delight.
Holy in distress.
Holy when being born.
Holy when we lay it down
at the hour of our death.

So, friend,
open your eyes
(holy eyes).
For one moment
see what this blessing sees,
this blessing that knows
how you have been formed
and knit together
in wonder and
in love.

Welcome this blessing
that folds its hands
in prayer
when it meets you;
receive this blessing
that wants to kneel
in reverence
before you:
you who are
temple,
sanctuary,
home for God
in this world.

—Jan Richardson

This reflection is part of the series “Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.” If you’re new to the series, welcome! You can visit the first post, Teach Me Your Paths: Entering Lent, to pick it up from the beginning.

P.S. For a previous reflection on this passage, click the image or title below:


Lent 3: The Temple in His Bones

[To use the image “The Temple of His Body,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of John, lectionary, Lent | 12 Comments »

Day 15: A Tent for the Sun

March 3, 2012

A Tent for the Sun
Image: A Tent for the Sun © Jan Richardson

In the heavens God has set a tent for the sun.
—Psalm 19.4

From a lectionary reading for Lent 3: Psalm 19

Reflection for Friday, March 9 (Day 15 of Lent)

Sun Blessing

That what it reveals
we will have no cause
to fear.

That what it illumines
we will greet
with joy.

That each place
where it rises
will be at peace
and every place
where it sets
will be at rest.

That we will bless
what lives in its path.

That we will blaze
with its gracious light.

—Jan Richardson

[To use the image “A Tent for the Sun,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, The Psalms | 6 Comments »

Day 12: Remember the Sabbath Day

March 1, 2012

On the Seventh Day
Image: On the Seventh Day © Jan Richardson (click image to enlarge)

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy….For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
—Exodus 20.8, 11

From a lectionary reading for Lent 3: Exodus 20.1-17

Reflection for Tuesday, March 6 (Day 12 of Lent)

Today’s reflection is from In the Sanctuary of Women, from the chapter “A Way in the Wilderness: The Book of the Desert Mothers.”

But there is this too. Respite. Rest. Letting the desert be the desert, without feeling compelled to bulldoze our way through it. I think of a long stretch when I found myself in a soul struggle that had caught me entirely by surprise. Consumed by the wrestling and working and searching, I felt exhausted. After a time, my spiritual director, Maru, gave me this phrase: holy absence.

There are times, she said, sometimes seasons, for removing ourselves from the struggle. Time for sabbath. Time for rest.

Blessing

Even in the desert,
even in the wilderness,
sabbath comes.
May you keep it.
Light the candles,
say the prayers:

Welcome, sabbath.
Welcome, rest.
Enter in
and be our guest.

—Jan Richardson

This reflection is part of the series Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.

[To use the image “On the Seventh Day,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | 1 Comment »

2nd Sunday in Lent: For the Sake of the Gospel

February 28, 2012

For the Sake of the Gospel
Image: For the Sake of the Gospel © Jan Richardson

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
—Mark 8.35

From a lectionary reading for Lent 2: Mark 8.31-38

Reflection for the Second Sunday in Lent (March 4)

Blessing in the Round

This blessing
cannot help it;
it’s the way
it was designed.

Lay it down
and it rises again.

Release it
and it returns.

Give it away
and it makes a path
back to you.

There is no explaining
how it delights
in reappearing
when you have ceased
to hold it,
no hiding the sly smile
it wears
when it shows up
at your door,
no mistaking the wonder
when it circles back around
just at the moment
you thought you had
spent it completely,
had poured it out
with abandon
where you saw
the deepest thirst for it,
had put it entirely
in the hands
of those desperate
in their hunger.

But here it is,
the perfect circle of it
pressing into your hand
that curls around it
and then lets go,
receiving
and releasing
and receiving again,
like the breath
that does not belong to us
but sets us in motion.

—Jan Richardson

2016 update: “Blessing in the Round” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. You can find the book here.

This reflection is part of the series “Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.” If you’re new to the series, welcome! You can visit the first post, Teach Me Your Paths: Entering Lent, to pick it up from the beginning.

P.S. For previous reflections on this story (including Matthew’s version), click the images or titles below:


Blessing in the Shape of a Cross


Lent 2: In Which We Set Our Mind Somewhere


To Have without Holding

[To use the image “For the Sake of the Gospel,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]


Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of Mark, lectionary, Lent | 2 Comments »

First Sunday of Lent: And the Angels Waited

February 23, 2012

And the Angels Waited
Image: And the Angels Waited © Jan Richardson

And the angels waited on him.
—Mark 1.13

From a lectionary reading for Lent 1: Mark 1.9-15

Reflection for the First Sunday in Lent (February 26)

How will we see the angels if we don’t go into the wilderness? How will we recognize the help that God sends if we don’t seek out the places beyond what is comfortable to us, if we don’t press into terrain that challenges our habitual perspective? How will we find the delights that God provides even—and especially—in the desert places?

Blessing that Meets You
in the Wilderness

After the
desert stillness.

After the
wrestling.

After the
hours
and days
and weeks
of emptying.

After the
hungering
and the
thirsting.

After the
opening
and seeing
and knowing.

Let this blessing be
the first sweetness
that touches
your lips,

the bread
that falls into
your arms,

the cup
that welcoming hands
press into
yours.

Let this blessing be
the road that
returns you.

Let it be
the strength to carry
the wilderness
home.

—Jan Richardson

2016 update: “Blessing That Meets You in the Wilderness” appears in my new book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons. You can find the book here.

This reflection is part of the series “Teach Me Your Paths: A Pilgrimage into Lent.” If you’re new to the series, visit the first post, Teach Me Your Paths: Entering Lent, to pick it up from the beginning.

P.S. For reflections on this story from previous years, click the images or titles below:

Lent 1: A Blessing for the Wilderness
(Includes a blessing that you’re welcome to use in worship.)

Lent 1: Into the Wilderness

Lent 1: A River Runs through Him

Lent 1: Discernment and Dessert in the Desert
(Includes “Desert Prayer,” which you’re welcome to use in worship.)

[To use the image “And the Angels Waited,”  please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

 

Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of Mark, lectionary, Lent | 4 Comments »

Day 2: Up From the Water

February 16, 2012

Up From the Water
Image: Up From the Water © Jan Richardson
(click image to enlarge)

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
—Mark 1.10

From a lectionary reading for Lent 1: Mark 1.9-15

Reflection for Thursday, February 23 (Day 2 of Lent)

What does a rite of passage look like from the inside?

When I was married nearly two years ago, one of the things I wanted most on my wedding day was to be present to it. Walking down the aisle, I paid attention to taking in the beloved faces of those who had gathered from across decades to surround and to bless. I found myself suddenly overwhelmed, surprised by the tears that momentarily overtook me.

Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, Mark writes in his story of Jesus’ baptism. And I wonder how that was for Jesus: to be inside that moment, to inhabit that space in which the waters break over him as he hears a voice name him Son and Beloved; to be in that place of passage as he moves into the life for which he has been preparing.

[To use the image “Up From the Water,” please visit this page at janrichardsonimages.com. Your use of janrichardsonimages.com helps make the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook possible. Thank you!]

Posted in art, blessings, Gospel of Mark, lectionary, Lent | 2 Comments »

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