What do we do with the agony? What can we do? Where do we go for help?

For all those who feel deeply

For all those who are confused

For all those who feel helpless

For all those who are angry

For all those who are hiding and are shut down

For all those who have no voice

For all those who are prayerless

For all those who are sleepless

For all those who are exhausted

How are you staying sane and safe?

In this audio meditation, Josh offers a meditation to consider how our response to the pain surrounding us reveals our false understanding of power. Can we become more honest and open to God by considering our immediate violence in the context of our long addiction to power? After moving through this difficult discernment, Josh offers simple guided breath work to further open to God’s help.

[0:00] Welcome 
America’s struggle with power, and situates this episode within the broader A New Reality in Belonging conversation.

[3:00] An Audio-Only Meditation 
A prayerful, contemplative meditation—especially amid exhaustion, violence, and polarization.

[6:54] Discernment on Power, Weakness, and America
Our self-consumed society is collapsing, with insights from Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited.

[29:25] Guided Breath Prayer
A simple, embodied breath practice (4 counts in, 4 counts out) to calm the nervous system and open the heart to God.

[40:46] Staying Open to God in the Midst of Pain
Finding help without bypassing suffering.

Please share your experience of this episode with me. I’d love to know if and how breath work is helpful. Email me: josh at theinvitationcenter dot org.

For more information visit: www.theinvitationcenter.org

For information about the pending DMin cohort at Western Theological Seminary, visit: https://www.westernsem.edu/admissions/