Welcome to Responding with Prayer,
An opportunity to respond to the complex,
Everyday experiences that lift us up and bring us down.
My name is Jess,
And I have struggled with attending to prayer,
So I hope this little offering brings you closer to the Creator.
Today's meditation is on other people's pain.
But let's start by taking just five big breaths together.
Deep breathing has been studied and found to change how we engage stress and situations.
This is good for slowing down,
Preparing for prayer,
But also a good practice for all kinds of situations we find ourselves in.
So for just one minute,
Feel your body breathe.
Lay your mind Reform on other people.
That was 60 seconds.
If your mind went to other places just now or happens throughout this time,
That's okay.
It's natural.
You're still here,
So let's move on.
Take a moment and identify one person or situation you are grateful for as you do this.
Take a moment and out loud or in your head,
Express gratitude to God.
For that person or situation.
Let's go.
Brain science indicates that we can literally feel others pain.
There is brain marrying.
If we are in proximity to someone in pain,
Our brain sends the same pain messages to us as if the pain was ours.
Deep in the Christian tradition is the value for compassion.
The word comes from the Latin to suffer with.
Walking with others through pain can both grow us spiritually and can seem so painfully helpless.
If you're able,
Put out your hands and turn up your palms in a posture of release towards the creator.
Our bodies are an important part of prayer.
The Christian scriptures tell of a very practical spiritual opportunity.
Cast your cares towards the divine.
Imagine you wrote the names of those in pain and how you're feeling on the palms of your hands as an act of submission.
What words would be on that?
God,
We place into your hands these things on our hands.
We give to you the pain of those we love and the impacts on our lives.
A lot of meditation teaches the necessary ability to release.
Let's also focus on what healthy things we put into that space of release.
If we're releasing into your hands those we love that are in pain,
What are we taking on?
As you close your hands,
What accompanying things do you need as you deal with the agony of your own compassion?
How about trust?
Faith?
Assurance?
Prayer?
Prayer and hope?
The pain of those we love keep us focused on the love of God for all who suffer.
So in prayer,
We slow down and make commitments to our core foundations.
Spend a minute expressing to God how this situation is impacting your life and what freedoms you are praying for.
Sunset you you God we accept the freedom that comes with submission to you We so often fight against the very abundant life that you have for us So we accept the grace of things we can't control That those we love are your children and you have power with compassion Now taking this time today did not change those you love who are in pain It may have changed your orientation towards them You may need to take some greater steps in relationship with those you love who are in pain But the great spiritual writers in the Christian tradition often maintain that prayers greatest gift Is not that it suddenly changes situations But that it often Changes us Amen you you you you you you you
