Pastor Sarah's Recommended Reads for Lent

Pastor Sarah's Recommended Reads for Lent

Looking for a devotional or sacred reading for the season of Lent? Below are a few of Pastor Sarah’s recommended reads. If you are looking for something specific, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask her!

Forgiving Yourself

Summary: Forgiving Yourself

  • We become imprisoned in the past when we do not forgive ourselves for past mistakes. 

  • If you have not sought forgiveness from your victim, do so. Forgiving yourself will be easier after you have sought forgiveness from your victim. 

  • We do not heal in isolation. Connecting with others is how we develop compassion for others and for ourselves.

Stone Ritual: The Hand of Mercy

  1. Find a small stone that fits in the palm of your hand.

  2. Hold it in your left hand. This is the hand of judgment.

  3. For each item on your list of things you need to forgive yourself for, transfer the stone from your left hand to your right hand.

  4. The right hand is the hand of mercy and forgiveness.

  5. Holding the stone in your right hand, say the words “I forgive myself for . . .” and fill in an item from your list.

  6. When you are done, return the stone to where you found it.

Journal Exercise

  1. Make a list of all the things for which you need to forgive yourself.

  2. For each thing you have listed, decide whether the forgiveness you need is from someone else or yourself. If it is from someone else, then walk the Fourfold Path. If it is truly from yourself, then it is time to rediscover your goodness.

  3. Write a list of all that is good about you. Look at yourself through the eyes of a loving and admiring companion.

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As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Needing & Receiving Forgiveness

Summary: Needing Forgiveness

  • Gather support as needed.

  • Admit the wrong.

  • Witness the anguish and apologize. 

  • Ask for forgiveness. 

  • Make amends or whatever restitution or reparation is called for or needed. 

  • Honor your victim’s choice to renew or release the relationship.

It is hard to admit our wrongs, to make a full confession. It is also hard to witness the harm we have caused and to apologize. Here is some wisdom for “Witnessing the Anguish”

  • Do not argue

  • Do not cross-examine

  • Listen and acknowledge the harm you have caused

  • Do not justify your actions or your motivations.

  • Answer all questions honestly and thoroughly.

Mediation Practice: The Box of Forgiveness

1. Create a safe space. Bring to mind a place of safety. Your place of safety can be real or imaginary. See this place fully and inhabit it. Are you indoors or outdoors? Is it a large, open space or a cozy place? What does it smell like? What does the air feel like on your skin? What sounds do you hear? Music? A crackling fire? Birdsong? A babbling brook or a fountain? Ocean waves? The hushed whisper of grass swaying in a breeze? There is an inviting place to sit comfortably. Relax into this place. It is your place of safety.

2. Someone is calling for you. The one who is calling for you speaks in a voice filled with warmth, love, and delight. When you are ready, welcome this person into your safe place. Notice how the person’s presence increases your sense of safety and assurance. Who is your companion? Is it a loved one, a friend, or a spiritual figure? It is someone who is accepting, affirming, and utterly trustworthy.

3. Between you and your companion sits an open box. Look at the box. It is small and light enough for you to lift and hold. Notice its size, shape, and texture. What is unique about this box? Tell your companion the story of what you have done. Tell the truth about the harm you have caused in as much detail as you can. As you speak, see the guilt and shame pouring out of you like a stream. Watch the stream being poured into the open box. Speak until you have finished.

4. Ask for forgiveness. Tell your companion that you are sorry for what you have done and ask for forgiveness. Your companion smiles at you, knowing that you are whole and worthy of love no matter what you have done. Now gently close the box of forgiveness.

5. Take the box into your lap. You may want to sit with it in your lap for a few moments. When you are ready, hand the box to your trusted companion.

6. When you are ready, you may leave your place of safety. Know that your trusted companion will hold your box of forgiveness and welcomes you at the end of your Fourfold Path.

Stone Ritual: Setting Down the Stone

1. For this ritual you will need a heavy stone. You want to feel its weight as burdensome.

2. Walk with this stone some distance to a private place.

3. Admit to the stone what you have done.

4. Then tell the stone the anguish you have caused.

5. Then apologize to the stone and ask for forgiveness. You can imagine the person you have harmed in your mind’s eye, or ask God for forgiveness.

6. Decide what you can do to make amends to the person you harmed or how you can help others.

7. Then set the stone down in nature.

Journal Exercise

Meditations and visualizations can be healing, but it is also extremely helpful to write down what you have done as a preparation for apologizing and asking for forgiveness.

1. Admitting the wrong. What have you done? Use this place in your journal to tell the truth and list the facts of the harm you have caused.

2. Witnessing the anguish. Now look deeply at how your actions have harmed the other. Write sentences that begin “I am sorry for . . .” Write as many sentences as you can.

3. Asking for forgiveness. Write the following sentence and finish it: “I would understand if you are not able to forgive me now, but I hope you will be able to forgive me someday because . . .”

4. Renewing or releasing the relationship. You will be asking the person what you can do to make it right, but here you will list your own ideas for how you can renew the relationship. What could you do to repair what you have broken?

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As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Renewing or Releasing the Relationship

SUMMARY: Renewing or Releasing the Relationship

  • The preference is always to renew unless there is a question of safety. 

  •  Ask for what you need from the perpetrator in order to renew or release the relationship.

  • You may need an apology, an explanation, a tangible object, or to never see that person again. 

  • Look at your part in any conflict.

  • When you renew a relationship, it is stronger for what you have been through, but it is always different. 

  • By renewing or releasing a relationship you free yourself from victimhood and trauma.

 

Meditation  

Releasing or Renewing    

1. Enter your place of safety.   

2. Invite your trusted and affirming companion to sit with you.   

3. Allow yourself to feel all the hope and any anxiety that surrounds your relationship with the person you have forgiven.   

4. Describe your hopes and fears to your companion.

5. Your companion will not judge your hopes, your fears, or your decisions. Your companion will affirm your inner wisdom.   

6. When you feel settled in your choices, you can leave this space.  

 

Stone Ritual  

Renewing or Releasing the Stone    

1. Decide whether you will turn your stone into a new thing of beauty or re- lease it back into nature.   

2. If you have chosen to renew the stone, decide how you will paint it or decorate it. You may also choose to turn it into something useful in your home or garden.   

3. If you have chosen to release your stone, you may take it back to the place you found it and set it down, or you may take it to a new place that is meaningful to you.   

4. Nothing is wasted. Everything, even a stone, has its purpose.  

 

Make Something Beautiful  

1. You will need some art supplies (glue, paint, colored paper, markers, fabric).   

2. You will also need a bag.   

3. You will complete this exercise using something you consider beautiful and breakable, such as a cup, plate, or tile. (If you cannot use a breakable item, substitute a picture from a magazine, a photograph, or a piece of patterned fabric.)   

4. Place the breakable item inside the bag and use your stone to smash the item. (If using a photograph or picture, then use your stone to scrape, scratch, or tear it.)   

5. Now use the resulting shards or shreds and your supplies to make something beautiful.  

 

Journal Exercise    

1. Was it possible to make something beautiful from what you had?   

2. How difficult was it to do so?  

3. How closely did your new creation resemble the item you damaged?   

4. Could it serve the same function as the original?   

5. What did you learn about renewing and releasing as you engaged in this exercise?

 

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As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Granting Forgiveness

SUMMARY: Granting Forgiveness

  • Forgiveness is a choice. 

  • We grow through forgiving. 

  • Forgiving is how we move from victim to hero in our story. 

  • We know we are healing when we are able to tell a new story.

 

 

Meditation  Loving Kindness    

1. Close your eyes. Imagine an emotion that makes you feel good. It can be love or kindness or compassion or gratitude or all of these emotions.   

2. Allow this emotion or combination of emotions to radiate out from inside you. This is what it feels like to be free of fear, anger, hatred, and resentment. This place of peace lives within you always and belongs to you. You can step into this place whenever you wish. It is yours, and no one can take it from you.   

3. Now imagine the person or people you are trying to forgive. Imagine that you are their mother and they are like a tiny baby in your arms, before they hurt you, before they hurt anyone. See their goodness and humanity.   

4. Can you bless them and wish them well? Can you send them compassion and kindness? Can you let them go?  

 

Stone Ritual  Washing the Stone    

1. Take your stone, which has been with you through this journey along the path. You have spoken to it, you have clenched it, and now you will cleanse it.   

2. Get a bowl of water or go to a body of water. Dip your stone in the water three times. Each time you dip the stone, say “I forgive you.”    

 

Journal Exercise    

1. Begin by writing down a story of the person who harmed you. What do you know about this person? If you do not know them, what can you find out about them? What do you have in common? In what ways are you similar?   

2. What have you lost by not being able to forgive? Has this inability to forgive harmed you and the ones you love?   

3. Now write down how this painful experience has actually made you stronger. How has it helped you grow and have empathy for others? How has it ennobled you?   

4. Finally, write your story again but this time not as the victim but as the hero. How did you deal with the situation, how have you grown, and how will you prevent such harm from happening to others?

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As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Naming the Hurt

Naming the Hurt

Summary

  • Identify the feelings within the facts. 

  • Remember, no feeling is wrong, bad, or invalid. 

  • Recognize the stages of grief, and honor wherever you fall in the process. 

  • Find someone who will acknowledge you and listen to your feelings without trying to fix them. 

  • Accept your own vulnerability. 

  • Move forward when you are ready.

 

Stone Ritual  Clenching the Stone    

1. Take your stone in your dominant hand.   

2. Name out loud a hurt you are feeling. As you name it, clench the stone in your hand.   

3. Open your hand. As you release your fist, release the hurt.   

4. Clench and release the stone again as you name each of your hurts.  

 

Journal Exercise  The Grief Journal    

1. Write down all the things you have lost. What did you lose? Did you lose your trust? Did you lose your safety? Did you lose your dignity? Did you lose some- one whom you loved? Did you lose something that you cherished?   

2. Now name the feelings that accompany these losses. I am angry. I am sad. I am heartbroken. I am afraid. Feel free to use your own words. What does your heart tell you? What is the weight of this loss? Name it so you can heal it.

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As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Telling the Story: Mid-week Meditation & Practice

Telling the Story

Summary: Telling the Story  

  • Speak the truth. 

  • Start with the facts.

  • Tell your story first to a friend, loved one, or trusted person.

  • Consider telling the story to the person who harmed you, or writing a letter.

  • Accept that whatever has happened cannot be changed or undone.  

Meditation

To whom shall I tell my story? 

Who will hear my truth 

Who can open the space that my words want to fill 

Who will hold open the space for the words that tumble out

in fast cutting shards 

And the words that stumble hesitantly into the world

unsure of their welcome 

Can you hold that space open for me? 

Can you keep your questions and suggestions and judgments at bay 

Can you wait with me for the truths that stay hidden behind my sadness, my fear, my forgetting, and my pain 

Can you just hold open a space for me to tell my story 

Stone Ritual:  Whispering to the Stone    

1. It is time to actually give voice to what happened. There is power in words that are spoken.   

2. Pick up your stone and tell the story of what happened in as much detail as you can. Remember to speak the truth, as much of it as you can remember. Speaking to the stone can be an emotionally safe way to prepare for speaking your story to another person.  

 

Journal Exercise    

1. Open your journal and write your story. Fill as many pages as you need.   

2. Writing is a very powerful way to tell your story. As you write, you may remember details you did not recall when you were speaking.   

3. If you feel safer or more comfortable, you can always read what you have written to a person you love and trust.   

4. Later you may choose to read or send what you have written to the perpetrator, but we encourage you to first continue along the Fourfold Path. The story is only the beginning.

—-

As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the above comes directly from the end of each chapter. If your finances are preventing you from purchasing the book, please reach out to Pastor Sarah.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

Book of Forgiving: Week 2 Summary

The Fourfold Path Summary

-       Nothing is unforgivable. 

-       There is no one who is beyond redemption, and to deem someone a monster is to take away that person’s accountability for his or her actions.

-       We always have a choice whether to walk the Revenge Cycle or the Forgiveness Cycle. 

-       In the Revenge Cycle, we reject our pain and suffering and believe that by hurting the person who hurt us our pain will go away.

-       In the Forgiveness Cycle, we face our pain and suffering and move toward acceptance and healing by walking the Fourfold Path. 

-       These are the steps of the Fourfold Path: Telling the Story, Naming the Hurt, Granting Forgiveness, and Renewing or Releasing the Relationship. 

—-

As we continue in our book study, we encourage you to purchase Desmond and Mpho Tutu's The Book of Forgiving which is available as a hard copy, audiobook, and ebook. All of the following comes directly from the end of each chapter.

Tutu, Mpho, and Tutu, Desmond. The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. United States, HarperCollins, 2014.

2021 Modern Magnificat

Inclusion Community’s 2021 Modern Magnificat

Written together at the Gathering on December 12, 2021. 

Each year, we engage in a creative prayer practice where we interpret the magnificat in our current context. Below is what we wrote together, each person adding their own line.

My weary soul rejoices still.

 

My weary soul

rejoices.

My love

abounds

for you have chosen me,

      for you have lifted up the lowly.

My soul proclaims of your

being-with-us

during this time of fear, anger, and despair.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

Each day great things are done for me.

For the ordinary

and extraordinary,

I am grateful.

You have lifted me up.

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

You satisfied the hunger in me

for purpose beyond myself.

You connected me to myself,

to you,

and to all the new people in my life,

delivering me of the pain

I did not even realize existed.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

You’ve shown strength and power

through the winds and the waves,

the rains and the rays of sunlight,

the rotation of the earth

and the suspension of our solar system.

You’ve given the potential

for all to be fed through the gifts of the earth,

if only we could see her

as our only home

and vital sustainer.

You amplify the voices

crying out for climate change.

Your strength connects people together

uniting voices calling for a better way.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

You have taken the hunger

of loneliness, emptiness, and longing

and sent blessings

of comfort, joy, and plenty.

Those who are rich in possessions and status

continue to want unabated.

 

Those who hold glorify and promote lies

will be brought down from their destructive idolatry.

 

In my own proud and scattered thoughts,

You humble me.

You meet me with grace and show me love.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

You show mercy to everyone, 

absolutely everyone, regardless of

the color of their skin,

who they love,

how much money they have,

or where they are from.

From this day forward

all will call the “other”

wonderful,

beautiful,

beloved.

From this day forward

all will recognize

the promise and potential

of each birth.

From this day forward

we will be One humanity

forevermore.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

         Your Love abounds.

 

Your grace is available to all

and made visible when we meet fear and despair

with love and courage. 

Your grace endures forever.

 

You show mercy to everyone,

         from one generation to the next.

Everyone needs mercy today.

 

My weary soul rejoices still;

Your Love abounds.

A Prayer for Autumn Days

Beloveds, autumn begins tomorrow! 

Yes, autumn is my favorite season. No, I’m not a pumpkin-spice latte lover. (Pumpkin bread on the other hand…)

As the leaves begin to change and a cool breeze begins to blow among us, I wonder what this new season might bring. At the beginning of the summer, you might remember we discussed seasons and rhythms of life in our Gathering’s Community Conversation. We considered the seasons of our spiritual journeys and the need to slow down and pay attention.

I wonder, how will you pay attention to the changing of the season?

What invitation does this new season hold?

What might this season invite you to release, like the falling of the leaves?

What might this season invite you to gather in and harvest?

As we continue to navigate the unfolding of the pandemic, how might you tend carefully to your self? 

What season are you navigating in your spiritual journey?  How might you nurture your spiritual wellness in this season?

I invite you to join me in setting aside some time to intentionally reflect and pray this week. Below is a prayer that I reflect on every fall. I hope you might discover something sacred or meaningful within it. Perhaps it might offer you language or metaphors to guide your spiritual practices this autumn. 

Happy autumn, dear friends!

Deep peace be with you,

sb

A Prayer for Autumn Days

God of the seasons, there is a time for everything; there is a time for dying and a time for rising. We need courage to enter into the transformation process.

God of autumn, the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. Help us to let go when we need to do so.

God of fallen leaves lying in colored patterns on the ground, our lives have their own patterns. As we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them.

God of misty days and harvest moon nights, there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this.

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings.

God of geese going south for another season, your wisdom enables us to know what needs to be left behind and what needs to be carried into the future. We yearn for insight and vision.

God of flowers touched with frost and windows wearing white designs, may your love keep our hearts from growing cold in the empty seasons.

God of life, you believe in us, you enrich us, you entrust us with the freedom to choose life. For all this, we are grateful.

“Prayer for Autumn Days” from May I Have This Dance by Joyce Rupp

Inclusion Community's Modern Magnificat

INCLUSION COMMUNITY’S MODERN MAGNIFICAT

written together on December 15, 2019

Our souls, spirits, minds, and bodies amplify the goodness of God;

we dance in the mystery of the Divine.

Our souls join with the Spirit to grow roots from within,

for we are all in this together.

The Emmanuel, God-With-Us,

has called us beloved and shown us our worth.

At the margins

of society and our very beings,

God, Love-Enfleshed, meets us.

God brings to the disheartened the faith, hope, and love to the next step on the pilgrim road.

To the exploited, God has restored agency over their own bodies and lives.

God has freed everyone from the perspective of seeing other beings and the earth as objects to use rather than subjects to relate to.

He has freed the oppressed.

She has reminded the elderly of the wisdom of the child.

While the powerful quake in fear

fear of change,

fear of losing their grip on power,

fear of a mocking tweet,

fear of losing their position of privilege and wealth

a babe

a group of students form Parkland

a Swedish teenage girl with autism

young people who risked everything to give their children a better life

has been sent to restructure the values and order in a broken world.

We are all in this together, and the youth will lead us.

God’s love remains boundless and borderless,

extending to the LGBTQIA community,

black and brown bodies,

immigrants and refugees,

to all creatures and creation alike.

God will open the hearts of the wealthy for them to share the bounty of their table with the hungry.

God will lead the feet of the powerful in the steps of the lowly,

and give voice to those who must not be silenced.

Come! Our community is called to lift all others up in support and love.

We do not cast judgment on others but seek to understand with open hearts!

With humility, our souls open to the movement of the sacred.

Come, we are in this together!

Come, we are called

to strive for a more empathetic and just world,

To educate and feed the impoverished.

Come, we are all in this together,

and the youth will lead us!