Contemplative at Home

“walk out into the fields and LOOK at the wildflowers”Matthew 6

Jesus reminds of the incredible attention God has given to the appearance of the wildflowers, and points us to how much more God will provide for us.

We are invited to shift our attention from the things that stress us, to the many ways in which God is providing for us at each moment.

In this episode we continue our series with the Message translation of the Sermon on the Mount, praying with Matthew 6:27-34.

Part of our introduction today is taken from a resource at pathwaystogod.org.

“If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.” – Matthew 6, the Message.

In this prayerful meditation on Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, we reflect on his invitation to invest our hearts, minds, time and energy in the spiritual realm, rather than the material. Perhaps this is about becoming aware of our deeper desires.

I wonder how you will be stirred as you pray?

Every blessing.

In this episode we prayerfully listen to Jesus teaching us how to pray, and how to fast.

This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. – Matthew 6

As we’re using The Message translation of the Lord’s Prayer you just might hear the familiar words with new ears. May you find peace as you pray here today.

And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God.  Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. – Matthew 6, the Message

We continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, praying slowly and attentively with the first verses Matthew chapter 6 today.

Apologies for a bit of background noise in this episode: the clicking of the mic on its stand, and the gregarious robin who sings outside my window. This little robin certainly plays to the crowd!! May it not be too great a distraction for you as you pray.

Every blessing

“I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. Respond with the energies of prayer.”

In this episode we pray mindfully and imaginatively with Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount at the end of Matthew 5, in the Message translation.

“When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong” (Matthew 5, the Message)

I’m re-reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe right now – both aloud to the kids at bedtime (pure joy!) and for myself along with the thoughtful ladies over at the Abiding Together podcast.  

Do you remember when Edmund comes out of the wardrobe for the first time, then tells the others he and Lucy had just been playing make believe? He is delighted with his clever lie, feeling it to be a “great success” because of the momentary feeling of superiority and control it gives him.

But apart from breaking Lucy’s heart, it also goes on to increase the animosity between himself and Peter, ultimately making things much worse for him.

“When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.”

May today’s meditation with the Message translation of Matthew 5:33-37 illuminate your own story this week and bring you more fully into the wholeness and grace.

Every blessing

I love the way that Jesus calls us in, calls us deeper, calls us home to our hearts to examine and shake out our thoughts, renewing our perspective. Throughout the sermon on the mount Jesus challenges us to get thoughtful and wholehearted with regard to the ‘rules’.

“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister …”

Today we pray with Matthew 5:21-26, from the Message.

May this passage lead you to dust off a few forgotten corners of your heart, and leave you with grace and freedom and lightness of spirit.

Every blessing.

“Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s law will be alive and working” Matthew 5, the Message

I wonder what you instinctively believe about the Law? Is it about restriction and oppression, or is it about freedom and life? Does it strike you as a list of rules or something much deeper?

I’ve been thinking recently about the fact that God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will” is more beautiful and life-giving than anything I could ever dream of myself.

St Ignatius wrote that “There are very few people who realise what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace.”

In this meditation on Matthew 5:17-20 from the Message, we consider Jesus’ assertion that he has come not to demolish the law, but to fulfil it. Jesus challenges his listeners to understand the law in a deeper, broader way than those who have been following it to the letter. “Trivialise even the smallest item in God’s law and you will have trivialised yourself,” he asserts, and yet “Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.”

May you glimpse the freedom and grace the deep Law of God offers as you pray with this passage today.

A few years ago, Pope Francis suggested six beatitudes for “a modern era”. I found them compelling, and I thought it would be interesting to prayerfully consider whether the Lord wanted to speak to us in a new way through them.

In this meditation, we will pray with this text in lieu of a gospel text. Please don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that the pope’s words are scripture! Nothing here contradicts what Jesus taught throughout his ministry, but hearing old thoughts in new phrasing may just spark something important for you.

It starts with a bang as the first ‘beatitiude’ says “blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others”. This is about remaining soft in heart, not about remaining in an abusive situation. We often need the wise council of others to help us navigate painful or tricky situations, so please do lean on safe people around you if you find yourself in a particularly difficult place.

Feedback is always welcome!

And as always, I wish you space to reconnect with yourself and the Lord this week.

We will be journeying through the sermon on the mount in the Message translation for the next while, and today we look at the way it opens: with the beatitudes.You’ll be invited to imagine yourself walking up a hillside with Jesus as we deepen for prayer, then listening to what he has to say.

Is there one particular word or phrase which speaks to the ways in which you’re growing right now?

Enjoy