A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 4, verses 23-26, using Lectio Divina. Today we return to Jesus and the Samaritan woman, engaged in conversation beside the well. They’ve come upon one fundamental difference between Jewish and Samaritan religious practice: “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say the place where people must worship is Jerusalem.” Jesus seems to want to move away from this line of debate altogether. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5, with imaginative contemplation. The story of the woman at the well is one that most listeners will be very familiar with. Sometimes over-familiarity breeds disconnection: we stop seeing the things we look at every day. Here I’m asking you to really imagine that you are actually in the scene. Is this well in a small clearing or in a big open place? Is the ground flat or steep? Where and how is Jesus sitting by this well – are...

A contemplative meditation based on John 3:33-36, with breathwork. This meditation was recorded on a very warm September afternoon – the window was open, so the birdsong and passing planes are part of the soundscape. Perhaps you can imagine God’s kindness towards both you and the little birds as you listen. The shape of this meditation was modelled on Anthony De Mello’s Sadhana: A Way to God (Chapter 6, God in My Breath). Blessings as you pray. Contemplative at...

An 8-minute meditation with John 1:16 In this simple meditation we sit with the verse “From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.” May deep breaths and deep peace be yours, whatever else may be for you today. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter...

A ten minute meditation (including 3 minutes of silence) with Ephesians 5:1-2. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast...

An 8-minute meditation with Psalm 23:1-3. Blessings. Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or by becoming a...

A meditation with John 3:22-30, using Lectio Divina. After the passover, Jesus and his disciples go out into the Judean countryside, and spend some time together. (I’m not sure why but this little phrase puts me in mind of the time when we had no mobile phones – were we able to pass extended periods of time together in a mellower, richer way?) Jesus is baptising, and John is baptising too, because “the water was abundant”. A discussion breaks out about this – why are they both...

A meditation with John 3:1-10, using imaginative contemplation and Lectio Divina. Art by Elsie Anna Wood (1887-1978) Blessings! Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here Support...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, Chapter 2, Verses 13-22, using imaginative contemplation. This episode looks at the story of Jesus overthrowing the traders in the temple. I’m not in a position to offer authoritative information on the background of this story, but my understanding is that Jesus’ anger here is around the financial barriers that have arisen between the poor and worship. The Torah law and customary religious practice required attending the temple and making...

A meditation with John 2:1-12 (Water into Wine or the wedding at Cana), using imaginative contemplation. I encourage you to have a quick read of the scripture passage before starting this meditation, if you have time. You can find it in the NRSV here. One line that I don’t really offer in the meditation, but is in the text, (and I think quite helpful) is “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.” (verse...

A meditation with John 1 verses 43-51 using breath work, body awareness, and imaginative contemplation. This is our seventh and final meditation in the remarkable chapter one in the book of John. The story opens with the wide, sweeping lens on the dawn of time as the word, the light births all of creation into being. John melts into the poetic “Word became flesh” (v14) and “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (v16) and then we are into John the Baptist’s sermons at...

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel using Lectio Divina and Imaginative Contemplation, John 1:39-42. In these verses in John 1, we get a short glimpse of a brief, rather ordinary, and entirely transformative meeting. I picture this story happening near the Jordan river where John is baptising, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, inviting people to go down into the water as a symbol of readiness to step into a new, fresh movement of the spirit. Thousands of...

An audio meditation on your own belovedness and your existence as an expression of love. “I belong to my Beloved, and my Beloved belongs to me. He brought me to the banqueting house, his banner over me is love.” Song of Songs 2:4, 6:3 This meditation invites you to take a little pause from all that is on your plate just now, to step aside and to remember that you are the beloved of Love Itself. As I sat with these words today I imagined a big banner flying over my...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 35-39, using Imaginative Contemplation. In this meditation we meet Andrew (the brother of Simon Peter) who is not yet a disciple of Jesus, but at this stage in the story, is a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew is standing with John (likely at the Jordan River, where he has been baptising, and preaching his message about the one who comes after him), when Jesus walks by. And so the first encounter, the first dialogue...

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28. As an undergrad at Whitworth College, I took a class in John’s Gospel with F. Dale Bruner. I vividly recall Dale opening each session by translating the text into animated English out of the original Greek, which he held entirely memorised in his brain. I particularly remember his arm gestures as he put across the point: “he who comes behind me, ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.” (John 1:15, 1:30) A final...

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28. The text for today’s meditation records a conversation between priests and John the Baptist. John has been baptising at Bethany at the Jordan, and huge numbers of people are coming to respond to his message that “the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4). The chief priests send representatives from Jerusalem to ask some questions, to find out what the buzz is all about. They want to know if John is someone they are...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 14-17 These words in my old paper Bible have so many little side notes, one word circled in the text with an accordion file of notes on the greek root and its myriad translations spilling into the margins. The unfolding possibilities in the meaning of these words is so rich, so beautiful and compelling that I have taken the liberty of adding them into my reading of the text for you today. My added words, are all based on the...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 6-9. In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you, as Jesus does in Mark 6, to “come away with me to a quiet place”. I invite you to a quiet place within yourself, a place where your wonder and curiosity are allowed to take the lead. I invite you to behold these words of text, not from your critical, analytic, outward-functioning self, but from your soft, non-judgemental inner heart. I invite you to allow layers of possibility to...

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5 In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth. Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave aside your dogma, your creed, even your thoughts, your rational mind, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or...

May grace and peace be yours in abundance! (1 Peter 1:2) Peter’s letters are addressed to communities throughout Asia Minor, and the notes in my study Bible say that we can assume the members are “Gentiles, resident aliens and household slaves.” Additionally, they face persecution and social ostracism for identifying as Christian. This meditation looks at verses 2-4 and 8-9. There is talk of heaven in this chapter and I find the dynamic between future and present hopes...

In Matthew 26:36-46 we are with Jesus, late in the evening after they have celebrated the Passover, Jesus has washed their feet, and broken the bread with his friends. Now they have gone to Gethsemane, a garden they may have stopped in regularly together on their way into Jerusalem. The irony is not lost on me that I found myself heavy with sleep as I was trying to record this podcast. I have struggled with heavy sleepiness on a number of occasions  this week, but still, it is very...

We continue our Lenten exploration of the mess and the trouble, this week looking at Romans 5:1-11: sin, grace, love, suffering, reconciliation, death and life.  The text is read from the NRSV with verse 11 from the Message. As always, blessings as you pray. L Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio...

Friends, As we continue our Lenten look at the mess, we come to the story Jesus told of a rich man and a poor man, in Luke 16, verses 19-31. I found myself wondering about the ways in which I construct ‘chasms’ or false distinctions between me and others whom I deem unworthy or unappealing. I also wondered about the ways in which I try to cut off parts of myself which I find unattractive. How am I invited to befriend, love, receive or care for these parts of myself? May...

Dear Friends, Lenten greetings. When choosing which passages to work with in these meditations, I tend to lean towards the most positive, hopeful and encouraging bits of the Bible that I can find. In the midst of all that we struggle with, I feel that we primarily need hope and love and peace spoken over us. I also have a wild faith in the power of Love to transform us, and in Christ’s beautiful invitation to intimacy and union. Bringing you into this invitation is my...

A gentle practice to rest in God’s love, using a combination of lectio divina and centering prayer.  Blessings as you pray. Lissy Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina. Sign up for Lissy’s monthly newsletter “The Contemplative Window” or join our Facebook group here Support the show by...