Lent 2022 videos – archived for ongoing individual use.
Over the months of February through April, winter will slowly become spring. This seasonal shift is its own threshold space. One where death and life find each other entangled, where from the stillness and slowness of decay, there is time and space for transformation. There will, in its right time, eventually emerge a fresh creation. These depths are found in the soils that hold us, our own inner life, and at the roots of our collective life.
Whether you’re seeking a weekly opportunity to reflect on this seasonal transition, just wondering what committing to a weekly practice might be like for a period of time, or looking for a lenten practice, we’re inviting you to a series of 30-45 minute spiritual practices every Friday at 4CT from March – April, 2022.
These facilitated practices will be at their simplest. Interactions will be limited to the chat function. Each session will be facilitated by either anna blaedel (they/them) or m barclay (they/them) and will alternate weekly between a guided meditation of self reflection and poetry-based reflective practice.
Practices:
This guided meditation is a reflective practice adapted from a Christian contemplative practice known as “Daily Examen,” “Prayer of Examen,” or simply, “Examen.” Through this practice, we linger in the fullness each day can hold, examining the last 24 hours. Beginning with the present moment, we review the day, tuning our attention toward sources of gratitude, guidance, presence, disconnection, and the Sacred Love that forms and informs our being, and our becoming.
The poetry-centered reflection is loosely shaped by the ancient monastic practice called “Lectio Divina,” or “divine reading.” Historically, the practice entailed a series of steps for reading the Christian scriptures with the guidance of the Divine. Many adaptations have evolved over the years to expand beyond the original context while maintaining its contemplative intentions. For our time together, we will be using a poem as our source of reflection, moving through is slowly and numerous times as the Sacred guides our attention.