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Trinity Sunday: Poured Into Our Hearts

May 20, 2013


Image: Poured Into Our Hearts © Jan L. Richardson

Reading from the Epistles, Trinity Sunday, Year C: Romans 5.1-5

And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit
that has been given to us.
–Romans 5.5

“So what do you think about the Trinity?” I ask Gary as we drive to the airport, where he will board a plane bound for Virginia to spend the next few days doing concerts there. As we talk, I find myself thinking about how, in the main, I approach the Trinity not so much as something to be grasped intellectually but as something that wants experiencing, that manifests itself in the dynamism of the relationships that exist within it and flow out from it. I am intrigued by how the Trinity continually lives in the tension between concealing and revealing. Enfolding itself in mystery and eluding our attempts to define it, the Trinity also reaches out to make itself known to us, to engage us in the intertwining relationship that dwells at its heart.

I suspect that God takes delight in our desire to know, to understand, to articulate—to “eff the ineffable,” as my Franciscan friend Father Robert says. Yet the real gift of Trinity Sunday may lie in how it invites us to acknowledge the mystery in which the Trinity lives, and to open ourselves to the love that is the nature and essence of the Trinity—the love that imbues and defines every action and aspect of the Divine, which Paul evokes so beautifully in the Epistle reading for this day.

Even as we stretch our minds in our continual quest to know, to glimpse, to perceive, how will we also open our hearts to the love that is the Trinity’s ultimate gift to us?

Poured Into Our Hearts
A Blessing for Trinity Sunday

Like a cup
like a chalice
like a basin
like a bowl

when the Spirit comes
let it find our heart
like this

shaped like something
that knows how to receive
what is given

that knows how to hold
what comes to fill

that knows how to gather itself
around what arrives as
unbidden
unsought
unmeasured
love.


For previous reflections on Trinity Sunday, click the images or titles below.

blog-DrenchedInTheMystery
Trinity Sunday: Drenched in the Mystery

 


Trinity Sunday: A Spiral-Shaped God

 


Trinity Sunday: Blessing of the Ordinary
(includes “Blessing the Ordinary”)

 

Using Jan’s artwork…
To use the image “Poured Into Our Hearts,” 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, sacred time | 6 Comments »

Pentecost: When We Breathe Together

May 14, 2013


Image: Tongues as of Fire © Jan L. Richardson

Reading from the Book of Acts, Day of Pentecost: Acts 2.1-21

When We Breathe Together
A Blessing for Pentecost Day

This is the blessing
we cannot speak
by ourselves.

This is the blessing
we cannot summon
by our own devices,
cannot shape
to our purpose,
cannot bend
to our will.

This is the blessing
that comes
when we leave behind
our aloneness
when we gather
together
when we turn
toward one another.

This is the blessing
that blazes among us
when we speak
the words
strange to our ears

when we finally listen
into the chaos

when we breathe together
at last.


P.S. For previous reflections on Pentecost, click the images or titles below.


Pentecost: The Origin of Fire

 


Pentecost: One Searing Word
(includes “Pentecost Blessing”)



Pentecost: Fire and Breath

[To use the image “Tongues as of Fire,” 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, sacred time | 7 Comments »

Ascension/Easter 7: Stay

May 5, 2013

Image: Blessing Them, He Withdrew © Jan Richardson

Reading from the Gospels, Ascension Day/Ascension of the Lord, Years ABC: Luke 24.44-53
Reading from the Gospels, Easter 7, Year C: John 17.20-26

So stay here in the city
until you have been clothed with power
from on high.
—Luke 24.49b

So that the love with which you have loved me
may be in them, and I in them.
—John 17.26b

Stay
A Blessing for Ascension Day

I know how your mind
rushes ahead
trying to fathom
what could follow this.
What will you do,
where will you go,
how will you live?

You will want
to outrun the grief.
You will want
to keep turning toward
the horizon,
watching for what was lost
to come back,
to return to you
and never leave again.

For now
hear me when I say
all you need to do
is to still yourself
is to turn toward one another
is to stay.

Wait
and see what comes
to fill
the gaping hole
in your chest.
Wait with your hands open
to receive what could never come
except to what is empty
and hollow.

You cannot know it now,
cannot even imagine
what lies ahead,
but I tell you
the day is coming
when breath will
fill your lungs
as it never has before
and with your own ears
you will hear words
coming to you new
and startling.
You will dream dreams
and you will see the world
ablaze with blessing.

Wait for it.
Still yourself.
Stay.

—Jan Richardson

Update: This blessing appears in Jan’s book The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief. It appears also in her book Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.

P.S. For a Mother’s Day blessing, see Mother’s Day: Blessing the Mothers at my Sanctuary of Women blog. And for previous reflections on the Ascension, click the images or titles below.


Ascension/Easter 7: While He Was Blessing Them

 


Ascension/Easter 7: Blessing in the Leaving
(includes “Ascension Blessing”)

 


Ascension/Easter 7: A Blessing at Bethany

[To use the image “Blessing Them, He Withdrew,” 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, Easter, lectionary, sacred time | 10 Comments »

World Labyrinth Day

May 1, 2013


Image: Saint Catherine’s Labyrinth © Jan L. Richardson

This Saturday, May 4, is World Labyrinth Day. In celebration of the occasion, I thought I’d share this piece of art that I created for a friend some years ago. It’s called Saint Catherine’s Labyrinth, and the words along the path are from Saint Catherine of Siena. (You can find the text here on my main website.)

And of course a blessing for the day as well:

Walking Blessing

That each step
may be a shedding.
That you will let yourself
become lost.
That when it looks
like you’re going backwards
you may be making progress.
That progress is not the goal anyway,
but presence
to the feel of the path on your skin,
to the way it reshapes you
in each place it makes contact,
to the way you cannot see it
until the moment you have stepped out.

Happy World Labyrinth Day to you, and blessings on your path!

“Walking Blessing” © Jan L. Richardson from In Wisdom’s Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season.

For more about World Labyrinth Day, visit The Labyrinth Society.

[To use the image “Saint Catherine’s Labyrinth,” 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, sacred time | 10 Comments »

Lent 1: A Return to the Wilderness

February 11, 2013


For my Ash Wednesday reflection, please see Ash Wednesday: Blessing the Dust.

Reading from the Gospels, Lent 1, Year C: Luke 4.1-13

Almost Lent! As I shared in my previous post, during the coming season I’ll be devoting most of my creative energies to the online retreat that Gary and I will be offering, and we’d love to journey with you in this way. If you haven’t visited our overview page for the Lenten retreat (which you can do from anywhere, in whatever way works for you), please stop by and see what we’ll be about during the coming weeks.

Here at The Painted Prayerbook, I’ll post links to previous reflections and art for the season. After journeying through five Lents here, we have lots of resources for your Lenten path! I also have many images for Lent and Easter. See the Lent & Easter gallery at Jan Richardson Images.

I wish you many blessings as Lent begins.


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


Lent 1: Into the Wilderness


For related reflections on Lent 1 in other years, visit:

Wilderness and Wings
Lent 1: A Blessing for the Wilderness

 

A River Runs Through Him
Lent 1: A River Runs through Him

 

Discernment in the Desert
Lent 1: Discernment and Dessert in the Desert

 

Tempted
Day 3: Into the Wilderness


To learn more about our online Lenten retreat, click the retreat icon below. Group rates are available!

Posted in art, Gospel of Luke, lectionary, Lent, sacred time | Leave a Comment »

Ash Wednesday: Blessing the Dust

February 8, 2013

Image: Blessing the Dust © Jan Richardson

Readings for Ash Wednesday: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17;
2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

As we work together with him, we urge you also
not to accept the grace of God in vain.
—2 Corinthians 6.1

Blessing the Dust
For Ash Wednesday

All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners

or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—

did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?

This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.

This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.

This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.

So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are

but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.

—Jan Richardson

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


An invitation into the coming season…

During Lent, most of my creative energies will be going toward the online retreat that Garrison Doles and I will be offering from Ash Wednesday through Easter (February 13 – March 31). We would love for you to join us for this journey and to stay connected with you in this way as Lent unfolds. Intertwining reflection, art, music, and community, the retreat is designed as a space of contemplative grace that you can enter from wherever you are, at any time that works for you.

We sometimes hear from folks who say, “I’d love to do this but I don’t have time for a retreat!” We totally get that, and so we have especially designed this retreat so that you can engage as much or as little as you wish, in the way that fits best for you. Rather than being one more thing to add to your Lenten schedule, this retreat is created as a way to open up some spaces for reflection and rest in the midst of your days.

If you enjoy The Painted Prayerbook, the retreat will be a great way to experience the kinds of elements you find here in a more frequent and focused fashion, with added features that will weave through the retreat and help to sustain you throughout the coming season. Plus, participating in the retreat is a great way to support the ministry of The Painted Prayerbook. Most of all, Gary and I would be so pleased to have the gift of your company in these Lenten days, and to enter together into the mysteries and gifts of the season.

If you have questions about the retreat, or concerns about things that you think might hinder you from sharing in the journey, please visit our overview page by clicking the retreat icon below. The overview page also has a link to a bonus page with FAQs. Please feel free to be in touch with me directly if you need further details. And please share this link with your friends—we’d be delighted to travel with them, too! (And we do have group rates available, for folks who want to share the retreat together near or far.) If you’d like to provide the retreat for someone as a gift, let me know, and we can easily make this happen.

Wherever your Lenten path takes you, in whatever company you travel: blessings and more blessings to you. Know that I hold you in prayer. Peace.

And for a previous reflection and blessing for Ash Wednesday, click the image or title below.


Day 1/Ash Wednesday: Rend Your Heart

For other reflections, blessings, and art for Ash Wednesday, also see my posts The Memory of Ashes, Upon the Ashes (which features the indomitable Sojourner Truth), The Artful Ashes, and Ash Wednesday, Almost.

[To use the image “Blessing the Dust,” 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 | 17 Comments »

Leaning toward Lent

January 23, 2013

It’s almost Lent, already! Having had such a great time with the folks who joined us from around the world for our online Advent retreat, Gary and I are excited about the online retreat we’re offering for the coming season. We would love for you to join us! Here’s some info that we hope will entice you:

RETURN: An Online Journey into Lent & Easter
February 13 – March 31

This is a Lenten retreat for people who don’t have time for a Lenten retreat (and for those who do!). You do not have to show up at a particular place or time. You can do this retreat from anywhere you are, and you’re welcome to engage the retreat as much or as little as you wish.

Travel toward Easter in the company of folks who want to move through this season with mindfulness and grace. This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your schedule. It is about helping you find spaces for reflection that draw you deep into the mysteries and gifts of this season. This retreat intertwines reflection, art, music, and community, offering a space of elegant simplicity as you journey through Lent.

If you’re part of a group that would like to take the retreat together, we offer group discounts. Whether you’re part of a group that meets together in one place, such as a Bible study or book group, or a network of friends or colleagues stretched across the country or around the world, this retreat is a great way to travel through the season together.

If you’re hungry for a simple way to move deeply into this season, this retreat is for you. For more info and registration, visit Online Lenten Retreat or click the retreat logo above.

Blessings and peace to you as we lean toward Lent!


And in other news . . .

You can now view sample pages from the beautiful new hardcover edition of In Wisdom’s Path! Designed as a companion through the sacred seasons of the year, with reflections, prayers, poems, and color artwork throughout, In Wisdom’s Path includes sections for Lent and Easter. Click the cover below to visit the Books department at janrichardson.com, where you can view sample pages of In Wisdom’s Path and place orders. (And do some browsing around the site!)

 

Posted in Lent, sacred time | Leave a Comment »

A Women’s Christmas Gift for You

January 4, 2013


Image: Wise Women Also Came © Jan L. Richardson

These three wise women are stopping by with a gift for you. In celebration of Women’s Christmas, which is observed in some parts of the world on Epiphany/January 6, I’ve created a retreat for you. Designed for you to use on Women’s Christmas or whenever you need a space of respite and reflection, the retreat (which you can download as a PDF) offers readings, art, and blessings that invite you to take a pilgrimage into your own life.

There’s no cost for the retreat; it’s a Women’s Christmas gift especially for you! You’re welcome to share it with friends. For a link to the retreat and more about Women’s Christmas, visit this page at my Sanctuary of Women blog:

Women’s Christmas: The Map You Make Yourself

A Merry Women’s Christmas and Blessed Epiphany to you!

Posted in Christmas, Epiphany, holidays, sacred time | 4 Comments »

Beginning

November 29, 2012


Image: Drawing Near © Jan L. Richardson

Very excited to be beginning Advent this Sunday! I wanted to share a quick reminder that the online Advent retreat that Gary and I will be offering begins this Saturday. There’s still time to register, and we would love for you to join us. You can click the icon below to visit our retreat page, where you’ll find an overview of the retreat, which goes from December 1-29. Know that we’ve designed the retreat so that it’s not simply “one more thing” to add to the holiday schedule, but rather something that slips into the rhythm of your December days and invites you into a bit of reflection and breathing space in the midst of the season. And it doesn’t require showing up at a particular place or time. You can do this retreat in your jammies!

Don’t forget to also check our FAQ page if you have questions, or challenges that might cause you to hesitate to register for the retreat. If you’ve already registered, there’s nothing else you need to do just yet.

I’ve also posted my first reflection of the season at The Advent Door; you can find it at “Advent 1: Drawing Near.” The Advent Door is where I’ll be hanging out, blog-wise, during the coming season, and I’d be glad to have your company there. If you’re not already an Advent Door subscriber, you can sign up to receive the Advent Door blog posts via email; check out the “Subscribe by email” box in the sidebar (near the top, just above the cover for my Night Visions book).

Blessings to you as Advent arrives! I wish you a wondrous season.

Posted in Advent, Christmas, sacred time | Leave a Comment »

Almost Advent

November 21, 2012

It’s almost Advent! As we prepare to cross into the coming season, I am especially excited about what Advent holds in store this time around. At the top of my list of things that are inducing Advent excitement is the online Advent retreat that Gary and I will be offering. Here’s the skinny:

ILLUMINATED: An Online Journey into the Heart of Christmas
December 1-29

Travel toward Christmas in the company of folks who want to move through this season with mindfulness and grace. This online retreat is not about adding one more thing to your holiday schedule. It is about helping you find spaces for reflection that draw you deep into this season that shimmers with mystery and possibility. This retreat offers a space of elegant simplicity, much like the one created in my Advent book Night Visions. Intertwining reflection, art, music, and community, this four-week online retreat provides a distinctive opportunity to travel through Advent and Christmas in contemplation and conversation with others along the way.

This is an Advent retreat for people who don’t have time for an Advent retreat (and for those who do!). You don’t have to show up at a particular place or time, and you’re welcome to engage the retreat as much or as little as you wish. You can do this retreat in your jammies!

We’re excited that the retreat is already drawing folks from around the world. We’d love for you to be among them. For more info about the retreat, visit Illuminated Advent Retreat.

I have other treasures, treats, and resources designed especially for your Advent path; I invite you to stop by The Advent Door to find out more. During Advent, that’s where I’ll be posting new reflections. I look forward to journeying through the season with you there, and returning to The Painted Prayerbook for Epiphany.

Blessings and gratitude to you as Advent approaches!

Posted in Advent, art, Christmas, holidays, sacred time | 1 Comment »

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