Charlotte Elia offers this sermon on Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, a passage about the crowds seeking healing from Jesus.

"There’s never no more urgent time for prayer than the now in which you find yourself, but I also- I know what it feels like to exist in this world right now. I often feel overwhelmed, anxious, frightened, helpless, useless, and when I start to feel a bit better, a bit more hopeful, another breaking news alert comes through to break me. I don’t know what the future holds- for this nation, for the world, for myself. I think I have a pretty fair idea based on my reading of scripture and my knowledge of history, but I don’t know what’s going to happen. What I do know is that if I’m going to survive this, if I’m going to be functional in the midst of this, if I’m going to be any help at all, and if I’m going to retain some sense of wellbeing- I’m going to have to pray. I’m going to have to be intentional about reorienting myself to God’s purposes, about centering myself in God’s presence, and about letting myself find comfort in the wellspring of God’s ever-abundant love. I know that’s what I want for myself. I believe that’s what God wants for me, not this rage and confusion and bitterness I feel otherwise. I want to rest deeply in God’s care. I want to walk steadily in God’s path. And I want that for you too. I believe God wants that for you also, and prayer is the primary tool to attain that."

This sermon was preached on July 21, 2024 at Chester Presbyterian Church in Chester, Virginia.

This episode is a live recording of a Requies Divina session held at Chester Presbyterian Church in Chester, VA on May 15, 2024.

Join Charlotte Elia for a time of guided contemplation and centering prayer for spiritual rest and renewal. Put on some comfy clothes, settle onto a mat or bed, and give your breath, your body, and yourself to God.

During our practice you will be invited to focus on an intention, for healing or wholeness, for yourself or someone else, something that you want to release to God’s care. You might take a moment to think about an intention before your begin. You don’t need to search your mind for something. If nothing presents itself, you may simply choose the intention of rest for yourself.

If you should fall asleep during our practice, that’s okay. Don’t fight that. It’s what your body wants. It’s what your mind wants. It’s what God wants for you. You are safe here in this space, in this sanctuary. Receive the gift of peace, of rest, that God grants you.

“You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” -Augustine

You can learn more about the practice of Requies Divina with the episode of our podcast Requies Divina: Developing a Practice for the Present.

In this episode Chad and Charlotte discuss Charlotte's experience with COVID-related phantosmia, an olfactory disorder which causes for her the sensation of smelling smoke that is not actually present. Chad then introduces us to various philosophical takes on our perception of reality before inviting us to deeper reflection on how we perceive the Divine and whether we can reliably communicate those experiences to each other.

Chad: One of the benefits of recognizing the limits of our understanding, especially through perception, but maybe just in general, is it should give us, number one, a little more humility- I am not seeing the world as it is. I pretty much assume that, and so I need to take a step back, because I could get things wrong! And again, I'm hearing you saying this: and be open to other people's experiences because they might see something I'm not seeing, so I can learn from them.

This episode is a live recording of a sermon on John 21:1-19 preached by Charlotte Elia at Chester Presbyterian Church on April 7, 2024.

"All of those Peter stories reflected in this text, all of those experiences, all of those lessons to be learned and Peter doesn’t know why Jesus keeps asking if he loves him. It’s Peter’s denials; it’s Jesus’ crucifixion, and it’s Peter’s feelings that are hurt. Oof.

But those are the old stories, and this is a new chapter, a new life. That’s what Peter’s really missing, and that’s the real pity here. You see, Jesus is inviting Peter not just to reconciliation but to participation in the resurrection. Jesus is inviting Peter and the other disciples into a new life of astounding abundance, daring love, unexpected joy, and yes, inexplicable danger. Jesus is literally calling the disciples to the other side of the boat, directing them from the waves to sure ground, inviting them to a bonfire- not in the evening shadows, but in the brightening dawn- to warm themselves not in secret or shame among suspicious strangers but in the joyful company of dear friends- a bonfire centered not on fear and humiliation but on the affirmation of love and a commitment to service in that love. That’s what Peter’s still missing, and that’s the shame of it, and that’s what you and I had best not miss ourselves."

Check our Charlotte's recently published "Coloring in Prayer: 40 Conversations with God" at Amazon.

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss Requies Divina, a practice of divine rest that Charlotte has been developing. They also speak more broadly about the difficulties of beginning and establishing habits of spiritual practices and the crucial need for the Church to share its wealth of spiritual tools.

Charlotte: I had been thinking about the pandemic… Congregations had been, since at least the mid-20th century, basing programming on Sunday morning worship, maybe a mid-week Bible study. There’s Sunday school, but it’s primarily academic in nature, and then fellowship events... So when the pandemic happens and churches can’t get together, what are the tools that I have at home as a Christian to actually practice this religion? The church was generally failing because we never taught people how to pray! We didn’t! And then there’s this terrible, terrible thing that’s happening that is scary, and it’s not just the pandemic. It’s the moment that’s unveiling just how bad our health care system was and what huge economic disparity there was in this country and racial inequality and just everything that was happening during that year, and the church had not equipped folks with tools to deal with that in anyway on their own. It’s like, “Christianity happens Sunday morning.” Well, I’m at home, and I’m freaking out, and I don’t have Christian tools to deal with this because we hadn’t been sharing spirituality. So that’s also part of my push because I think the Church, or at least the Mainline American Protestant church, absolutely failed that moment, and they failed it decades before that moment.

You can experience a session of Requies Divina with this recording from our podcast feed. You can also access some 3-minute guided meditations produced by Charlotte Elia at Chester Presbyterian Church's YouTube Channel.

Charlotte: When we talk about starting these other practices, it’s one thing if I intend to put aside ten minutes every morning to sit in silence, but there’s always going to be an excuse for me not do that… but coming to the building, sitting, and then being led, making that commitment to the time, I think is useful for them too, and I hope it leads to them doing more contemplation and meditation. I am hopeful that giving them a basis of positive, tangible experience from that is going to encourage them to broaden their practices.

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In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia talk some more about spiritual practices in the Christian tradition, but this time they get a bit more practical. They discuss specific practices and their experiences with each, and they make some suggestions for finding space for God in our current context.

Chad: One thing I’ve learned in keeping up a practice of contemplative prayer, of just sitting, (at this point I do twenty or thirty minutes), is eventually there becomes this space between what’s happening in the world and my reaction to it. I don’t know if that makes sense. Because what you’re doing as you’re sitting in prayer is you’re watching thoughts go by, and you’re not clinging to them, right? You just try to let them go. If you start thinking about the laundry— And I’ll share a trick that I use. If I’m sitting there trying to be aware of God and I start thinking about the laundry, I will simply say to myself, “I’m thinking about the laundry,” and the moment I name it, I can let it go. But when you nurture a practice of letting thoughts go, you begin to realize, “I am not my thoughts.” You know, thoughts come and go all the time. I don’t have to cling to them. I think that’s part of what creates a space between what’s happening in the world and my reaction to it. 

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia chat about the purpose and theology of spiritual practices in the Christian tradition and some of the various approaches folks have taken as they sought to enact our faith in the world.

Charlotte: Spirituality in the Christian tradition has a goal of union with God through imitation of God, either imitation of the divine attributes, things that we know about God- love, goodness, kindness, mercy- or through imitation of the life of Christ, of the example that God has given us. So there are a couple of approaches there, but I think what we're really talking about is how we enact our faith. What does the Christian life look like?

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia celebrate Valentine's Day by discussing love in the Christian tradition. This episode also serves as something of a preview of the manuscript Chad has written on this topic.

Chad: The one thing that always remains the same in our love relationships is constantly we want what is good for the other person. I think that gets closer to what is essential to love. When we love another person, we want what is good for them, regardless of how we feel. And we can turn that around. If we don’t want what is good for the other person, do we really love them? […] Love and the good are intimately related. When we love ourselves and when we love others, we are wanting what’s good for ourselves; we are wanting what is good for others. […]

Love is a whole life-orientation toward the good.

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia talk about the themes and significance of the liturgical season of Lent, share some reasons why it is important to them, and offer guidance on how you might observe this penitential time.

Charlotte: These particular spiritual practices are ways in which we enact the faith in the world or in our personal lives, so they are outward expressions of the faith. They are also specific things, in those cases, that Christ has asked us to do, so we’re following specific commandments. But those acts of love not only transform the lives of the people to whom we offer them, but those acts of love are ultimately transforming us. Love is transformative, not only to the beloved, to the object of our love, but to ourselves. And those are concrete ways, not just biblically, but historically, Christians have sought to reorient themselves through love, through acts of love, because our God is love.

In this episode Chad Rhodes and Charlotte Elia discuss Chad's work with Francisco de Osuna's Third Spiritual Alphabet. Chad has been posting monthly on our Substack on each letter of the Third Spiritual Alphabet as both a way of introducing Francisco de Osuna's thought and of exploring the practice and concept of recollection. Chad's posts on Osuna are collected here.

Charlotte: And as Osuna says, it's wonderfully egalitarian. I don't need anyone to do it for me. I can just sit, and I could do that anywhere and anytime I needed to.

Chad: And as it should be. The presence should be accessible to anyone.

Charlotte: Anyone should be able to have contact with the divine because, as you say, the ubiquitous nature, and God is closer to us than our own breath.

Chad: Why would we not want to be intimately aware of that presence?