audio contemplative prayer

This is a 20-minute meditation with the magi, who studied the stars, and followed a star whose rising signified the birth of the King of the Jews. 

This mindful meditation gives you space to prayerfully reflect on Matthew 2:1-3 & 7-12, the visit of the magi, and to consider what insights the account may have for you. I find this a particularly helpful new year meditation, though it is by no means specific to a particular time of year.

We don't know that the bearers of gold, frankinsense and myrrh were kings, or how many of them there there were. What we do know is that they brought three gifts, that they were astrologers, likely Zoroastrian, and that they came from the east.

I am reminded in my annual reading of Elizabeth Goudge's children's book I Saw Three Ships, that gold, frankincense and myrrh may represent wealth, worship and death, three profound gifts we may offer to the Giver of all.

Blessings on you.

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

 

A meditation for the fourth week of Advent, with the prophecies of Isaiah 11.

Blessings as you pray. 🙏🏽

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditaiton with Isaiah 9 Advent 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

We begin the liturgical year now, in Advent, starting with the cries of our hearts out of the profound need within and around us. The need for restoration, for justice, for wholeness, for peace. Isaiah 35, (read here from the Message), points to a time of healing and life, blossoming and singing. It invites us to dare to hope, in the bleakest of places. Come, thou long-expected Jesus Born to set thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee. Advent blessings and much love, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

This is a meditation with Luke 6:46-49.

I hope that this slow and mindful approach to the story of the houses with and without foundations will open something new and relevant for you today. 

Wishing you peace like a river.

Lissy x

PS: I've had a few conversations this week with people who mentioned using these meditations with a small group, so I've added a couple of brief 'if you're in a group' prompts to this recording.

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much.

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation with Matthew 20:20-23

What is it that you want?

The mother of James and John has come to ask that her children might sit at the right and left hands of Jesus in his kingdom. But what is it that she most deeply wants? Power? Security? Honour? Status? Love? Which of her wounds propels her to make this request? And does she understand what Jesus' kingdom will look like?

May this story help to reveal your own story, may this question become a question for you.

Grace and peace 🙏🏽

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

We continue our series of meditations on questions Jesus asked, this time in the feeding of the 4000 (Matthew 15:32-37). I find this one to be quite rich! Hope you do too, and every blessing 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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

I'm so pleased to be sharing this meditation in Mark 4 with you today: "Come, let us go across to the other side of the lake"

I invite you not to force or expect a particular insight, but to simply open yourself to recieve.

May you see Jesus look at you as he asks "Why are you afraid?"

Love and 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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

Matthew 7:1-5

Hey Friends--

In this meditation, we meet Jesus as he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. Here he asks us the question: why do you see the speck in your neighbours eye and do not notice the log in your own eye?

Why is it so much easier to notice other people's faults and grievances than our own?

This makes me think of Freud's iceberg theory, the proposal that we have many instincts, motivations and drives functioning at a subconcious level within us.

May our contemplative practice reveal to us a new awareness of what is happening within, and may a healthy practice of non-judgement take root.

Blessings and love 

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this meditation we pray with an encounter between Jesus and his friends, who have journeyed up towards the base of Mount Hermon (in the Golon Heights), to a place where there is an ancient temple to the Greek god Pan. (Matthew 16:13-16).  Here he speaks to his friends about his own identity, first asking who are people saying that I am? Whether this is a PR question, or he wants them to ponder this, or he is truly exploring this question for himself, we don't know. But apparently there has been a lot of buzz because several different answers are offered: some say that you're Moses, or Jeremiah, John the Baptist or another prophet. And when Jesus asks "who do you say that I am?" and Peter answers "The Messiah," I think it is good to bear in mind that Peter has a very deep, rich understanding of what 'the Messiah' means. There is more to this encounter but today we are going to stay with this little bit. As you reflect on these questions for yourself, I invite you to come to them with your own cultural context and understanding. To come with your perspective on the world at this moment in history, your understanding of God and what you and your people are longing for.  I also invite you to be very honest with Jesus when he asks: who do you say that I am? There is no point saying, even to yourself, the answer you think you ought to say or the answer you think you'd like to say. Who do you truly think that Jesus is? I invite you to dialogue. BLESSINGS AS YOU PRAY With much love, 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

**new artwork for Contemplative at Home! You'll see that the podcast is now called MEDITATIONS by Contemplative at Home**

This week we consider the lilies of the field as Jesus responds to the anxieties of his friends, inviting them to deeper trust.

Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life?

Blessings as ever,

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 weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In today's meditaiton we look at Matthew 9:27-30, NIV. 

Two men, who are blind, pursue Jesus, asking for mercy. He asks them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" and then says: "According to your faith, let it be done to you" The two receive their sight.

I'll be honest and say this is a slightly uncomfortable exchange for me. It raises all sorts of questions about unanswered prayers.

Having said that, it also led me to reflect on the tone of our faith, how we can 'believe' or request in prayer with a spirit of control, threat and demand or alternatively with a spirit of surrender, openness and curiosity.

My thoughts are still forming. I will be interested to hear where this meditation takes you. 

BLESSINGS AS ALWAYS

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 Divina.

Sign up for Lissy's weekly 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 member for just a few $ or £ per month. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A Centering Prayer meditation, with three minutes of silence, concluding with an Anglican collect. In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation.  Blessings as you pray, dear ones. Collect: O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining and whose power we cannot comprehend: show us your glory as far as we can grasp it, and shield us from knowing more than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

Dear Friends, 

This the first of our August centering prayer meditations for 2022. In this meditation we observe 4 minutes of silence together and we close with a collect from the Church of England. (see text below)

In centering prayer, we use a sacred word to gently hold our attention on the loving gaze of God. You are invited to find a word that comes naturally to you. This might be a name by which you address the Holy, a state such as love, peace, joy, or a short phrase such as “here I am” or “be still and know that I am God.” You are invited to settle on your phrase and then to stay with it for the duration of your meditation. 

For more about centering prayer you may find these links useful.

Blessings dear ones.

Collect

Holy God,

faithful and unchanging:

enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,

and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,

that we may truly worship you,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

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 weekly 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 with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much!

Further details at www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

A take on Lectio Divina, this meditation flows from the Genesis 2 creation account "a river watering the garden flowed from Eden, from there it separated into four headwaters", to Psalm 36 "you give them drink from your river of delights", through Isaiah 44 & 55 "I will pour water on thirsty ground," "come all you who are thirsty, come, drink", to Jesus' words in John "streams of living water will flow from them" and concludes with John's vision in Revelation of the new Jerusalem "the angel showed me the river of the water of life". As you pause to pray with this meditation, I would encourage you to invoke your own memories around streams, rivers, ponds, rain, or the ocean. How would you use your images to describe God's movement, God's Spirit, God's being? And as you meander through these verses, which words or images catch you, and spark wonder or interest? Pause there. Dive in. Be open to what is being offered to you in that eddy. Drink deep. (Please forgive any mispronunciations in the Genesis reading, I'm not a linguist!) Blessings as you pray. 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. ko-fi.com/contemplativeathome. Thank you so much! For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

"the earth is the Lord's and everything in it" Psalm 24:1 For me summer is always a time to connect more deeply with the natural world, so throughout July we will be praying with the four elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. In this first of our elemental meditations for 2022 we explore Earth with a guided meditation, connecting imaginatively with the deep network of things happening underground, considering the ways in which the Earth and all its bounty enable us to live and thrive, and relating the Earth to the ground of God's love. This meditation includes a reading from Genesis 1, and information gleaned from the Royal Society of Biology and National Geographic. Do check those links for more information about the world below the surface. Blessings as you pray! 🌍 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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" http://eepurl.com/hkbDFP or join our Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1905953786386080/ Support the show by sharing it with a friend, rating it on your preferred podcast platform, or with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much! ko-fi.com/contemplativeathome For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com. All music by Pete Hatch. instagram.com/brother.boost

A meditation with the two short verses of Psalm 117.

Following a stilling, there will be short phrases of the psalm offered with questions and suggestions, and then a 3 minute silence.

May you have the grace to meet deeply with the Lord as you pray.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

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 weekly 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 with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you so much!

Further details www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

 

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth!"

This short and familiar Psalm of praise invites you to engage freely and joyfully in your expressions of gratitude and love for the Lord.

May you have the freedom to express yourself loudly, fully and with abandon.

Grace and peace as you pray!

Sign up for Lissy's weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.

In this meditation we pray with three short verses in Matthew 19.

"Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." (Matt 19:13-15)

May you have the grace-filled encounter with Jesus.

PS: It's June! The birdsong is live, outside my window.

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 weekly newsletter "The Contemplative Window" or join our Facebook group here

For more information please visit www.contemplativeathome.com.

All music by Pete Hatch.