Summer Pause - July Edition
BEAUTY, DESIRE & HUMAN FLOURISHING with Curt Thompson
Dr. Curt Thompson
How might beauty play a role not only in our recovery, but also as an essential element in the ongoing, healthy rhythms of our lives? And what role does my desire play, now and always? And how do those things relate?
Join us and our friends at Coracle for a webinar on Thurs, July 29th, 12:30-1:30pm EST.
PSALM 147:1-3
Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God:
For it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Bruce Herman.
A PRAYER FOR NOW
Saturate me in your presence,
safe from the lies of the enemy.
Saturate me in your Spirit,
casting all fear, anxiety, and doubt from my heart and mind.
Saturate me in your love, Lord God,
And keep me as the apple of your eye.
When I am tempted to fear, give me strength.
When I am tempted to anxious thoughts, give me peace.
When I am tempted to doubt, strengthen my faith with your very own.
- Kari Kristina Reeves
Facing Your Future, by Julie Robertson
When Julie graduated from UVA (Commerce ’13), she was on her way to a new city, a new career, new relationships. Eight years later, this is what she'd say to her younger self:
There is a season for everything. Accept and embrace your current season. Don't hurry through the different seasons of your life. Trust that God's timing is always right. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Prioritize this present moment. Henri Nouwen says "The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs.' They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the present."
Start building habits for life. Make time to build habits and rhythms that will follow you beyond your college years. Be specific about what you treasure most and protect those activities, relationships, and practices. (Matthew 6:21) As Greg McKeown said, "If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will."
And here is Julie's original post from summer 2013:
God has shaped me for this moment. He has molded me and prepared me just for this journey ahead. Not only has He prepared me, but He has gone before me, paving a way, carving a path for me.
God wants me here. Today. Now. In this moment. He led me here and He has a plan. I need only trust He knows better than I.
There is no fear in perfect love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made in perfect love. I love because He first loved me. (I John 4:18)
I am defined only by God's love. His glorious, merciful, and abundant love overcomes the world. (John 16:33)
God gives peace. He gives unsurpassed peace that is powerful and mysterious. He gives me the Holy Spirit to accompany me in every moment, to calm my anxieties, to bring me into His presence. God will not forsake me.
Whatever your age or stage, may you hold fast to these truths through any transition!
“There is a Balm in Gilead” by Mahalia Jackson (1967)
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin sick soul….
“The Angel Stirring the Pool of Bethseda” by Nicholas Mynheer (2001)
“From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.” John 5:4
The artist says, “In my painting the vast and glorious angel is completely unnoticed; only the gentle ripples on the surface of the water reveal his touch. Perhaps it is that God only reveals himself in ways that we can comprehend at any given time, meeting us where we are.”
The Avowal, by Denise Levertov
As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
Fresh Air Prayer | Reflection by Fellow Caroline Kirk '21
What were the rhythms of a Covid year? A fourth year of college? Wake up, workout, live, breathe, eat, learn, and sleep, all from home. Be a roommate, be a friend, be a student still, though different, be a community member when I could.
I had additional and unexpected rhythm to my final year at UVA.
From September to May, I spent time under the Gingko tree every Thursday. “Fresh Air Prayer,” we called it. A time to take a break, step away from the other routines, and be together. Distanced and masked in the beginning, we eventually sat together in May as if it were normal. Maybe we still kept a few extra feet between us, but by then it was just what we were used to!
This random opportunity to engage with Theological Horizons became the catalyst for a new fourth year best friendship, a guaranteed hour on the grass, a time of contemplation and new prayers, a place for friends to come breathe together, and a place for people to share their prayers, hopes, and small struggles. We need these places of community.
This one was a community of truth. I did not realize it until our last gathering in May, but fresh air prayer became a space to simply be in whatever way felt right that day. Without much preparation, showing up together was all that mattered.
My own faith has been defined by questions, a desire to feel peace, and a need to depend on God. When I walk alone, my thoughts are questions, about who I am and where my feet are planted. This has been my natural tendency and this fourth year of different rhythms has engaged this part of my heart.
“She hung on, she trusted, she hoped against hope,” is a line from my Daily Reader for Contemplative Living that accompanied me in my final college semester. Fresh air prayer was a practice in this hanging on, trusting, and hoping against hope. Amidst this crazy year, we asked each other each week, “What is a small joy you’ve experienced today?” “What feeling does the beauty of the Gingko tree elicit in you?”
I believe these practices are urgent. We need the spaces to ask and answer without fear. The spaces to ask the most interested question, not the most interesting. The spaces to breathe and not say anything at all. I write this a month after graduation with gratitude for the way Theological Horizons created this space for all four of my years at UVA, and thankful for the opportunity to be in such a space with fresh air prayer this year. I think, as students, we should seek ecstasy and practice gratitude, seek spaces of peace and challenge our hearts to grow, seek friendship and practice an openness to whoever may end up sitting under the tree with us on any given day.
Each day is an opportunity to hang on, trust, and hope against hope.
Summer Pause with TH - June Edition
Dear friends.
From the beginning, our lives were created out of a rhythm - there was day, and there was night, and then the Sabbath; creation, work, rest. Now we invite you into a pause with us as we enter the summer months. Enjoy these 3 monthly installments of some favorite sensory gifts - poetry, film, music, books, art, theological enrichment.
Karen & Christy
Pray the Scriptures with Jodie Berndt
“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:17) May I always be full of the joy of the Lord. I say it again: rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)
Learn more about our friend Jodie’s new book, Praying the Scriptures for your Life.
A Poem by John Clare
God looks on nature with a glorious eye
and blesses all creation with the sun
Its drapery of green & brown earth ocean lie
In morning as Creation just begun
That saffron east fortells the rising sun
And who can look upon that majesty
Of light brightness & splendour nor feel won
With love of him whose bright all seeing eye
Feeds the days light with Immortality
Blessing for a Gentle Summer
By Kate Bowler (our Scoper Lecturer, April 3, 2022)
Blessed are we,
coming into this summer
of in-between.
We are glad to shelter here awhile.
where there can be some recovery
from all that our eyes have seen
and our hearts have borne.
We are wondering…
what just happened?
The tragedy on slow-release,
the shock of sudden outrage,
the variants of unusual size,
the sweet sense that normal
maybe isn’t obsolete.
We are wondering….
what could happen?
We are at a threshold,
a season that holds
liminal space for what was,
and what might be.
God, gather us close,
and in this small and cradled space
may we let the whole weight
of our very selves rest secure.
Be the peace that settles our bodies,
that we might awaken each day,
curious as to what new thing
You are doing,
what beauty might yet be.
Dive Deep With SeminaryNow
Karen Marsh has joined the advisory board of SeminaryNow, a new online streaming service with video courses from leading professors and authors like Scot McKnight on “Jesus and the Gospels”; Esau McCaulley on “Reading While Black”; and Sandra Richter on “Scripture and the Environment.” Visit SeminaryNow.com for a free preview of any course. Save 40% off annual unlimited access with discount code
ANNUAL40
Movie Night
“My Octopus Teacher”
A South African filmmaker learns lessons on the fragility of life, our connection with nature, the preciousness our human bonds—all from an octopus. For all ages. On Netflix.
Summer Reading with Natasha Sistrunk Robinson
A Sojourner's Truth: Choosing Freedom and Courage in a Divided World (IVP, 2018)
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson’s compelling story sets us on a liberative path towards personal change, dependency on God, and faithful action. Save Nov. 4 & 5, 2021, for Natasha’s talks in Charlottesville!
“Five Points”
by Irene Mathieu
Irene Mathieu is a poet and a UVA pediatrician. Explore her work here.
Summer Prayers
GREETINGS, FRIENDS!
As summer officially begins, the Church moves back into Ordinary Time. Now is an opportunity to take increased delight in our natural world, in our Father-figures, and in the ‘quotidian mysteries’ of our more ordinary days.
Enjoy this prayer for June from Tess Ward's The Celtic Wheel of the Year:
Praise to you Maker of the Summerland,
who sends the sunshine, bringing ease and light.
Praise for the outside days with doors and windows open, neighbors' music, children playing, racquet thwacking, when the birds sing out the pleasure of ordinary all through the day.
You bring your balm as well, to those for whom the sun changes nothing, their struggles undiminished by windless warmth.
For loving all under the sun, praise to you.
The blessings of God in ordinary time be upon me.
Blessings when I take a bath or take the bin out.
Blessing when I am doing nothing in particular.
Blessings on the little things that catch my eye.
Blessings on the quirkiness of the thoughts that belong to me that you alone know and love this day.
Amen.
Prayers for Endings & Beginnings | Graduation
This month finds many of us in some kind of transition whether it be a graduation or the opening up of our country. These are welcome transitions, but they aren't without their share of fears and concerns. Be gentle with yourself and others and and remember as the author of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun.”
Savor and share these blessings as you step into a new season! We begin with a Theological Horizons favorite…
May the Lord Christ go with you
wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness
protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
May Jesus who is the living Bread feed you, and give you strength to do his work.
The Light of the World shine on you and shine through you.
The Good Shepherd guide you safely through the green pastures
and through the dark valleys.
The Resurrection and the Life raise you up to newness of life.
The Way, Truth and the Life lead you in His Way, feed you with His Truth,
heal you with His Life.
The True Vine bear fruit through your living as you abide in Him.
The Alpha and Omega Be your be-all,
your end-all
your glory now
and through all eternity. Amen.
from ‘A Book of Blessings’ by Ruth Burgess
Each year we send off our Fellows with this prayer honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.Amen.
A Blessing for a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure,
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
— John O'Donohue
Horizons Fellows’ final time of reflection and blessing, Bonhoeffer House garden, May 12, 2021
Mother's Day: Poetry & Prayers
"As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you." Isaiah 66:13
“Blessing the Mothers” by Jan Richardson
Who are our
first sanctuary.
Who fashion
a space of blessing
with their own being:
with the belly
the bone and
the blood
or,
if not with these,
then with the
durable heart
that offers itself
to break
and grow wide,
to gather itself
around another
as refuge,
as home.
Who lean into
the wonder and terror
of loving what
they can hold
but cannot contain.
Who remain
in some part of themselves
always awake,
a corner of consciousness
keeping perpetual vigil.
Who know
that the story
is what endures
is what binds us
is what runs deeper
even than blood
and so they spin them
in celebration
of what abides
and benediction
on what remains:
a simple gladness
that latches onto us
and graces us
on our way.
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“A Prayer for All Women on Mother’s Day” by Amy Young
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Tamar, struggling with infertility, or a miscarriage.
I want you to know that I’m praying for you if you are like Rachel, counting the women among your family and friends who year by year and month by month get pregnant, while you wait.
I want you to know I’m praying for you if you are like Naomi, and have known the bitter sting of a child’s death.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you are like Joseph and Benjamin, and your Mom has died.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your relationship with your Mom was marked by trauma, abuse, or abandonment, or she just couldn’t parent you the way you needed.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Moses’ mother and put a child up for adoption, trusting another family to love your child into adulthood.
I want you to know I am praying for you if you’ve been like Pharaoh’s daughter, called to love children who are not yours by birth (and thus the mother who brought that child into your life, even if it is complicated).
I want you to know I am praying for you if you, like many, are watching (or have watched) your mother age, and disappear into the long goodbye of dementia.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you, like Mary, are pregnant for the very first time and waiting breathlessly for the miracle of your first child.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if your children have turned away from you, painfully closing the door on relationship, leaving you holding your broken heart in your hands. And like Hagar, now you are mothering alone.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if motherhood is your greatest joy and toughest struggle all rolled into one.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you are watching your child battle substance abuse, a public legal situation, mental illness, or another situation which you can merely watch unfold.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you like so many women before you do not wish to be a mother, are not married, or in so many other ways do not fit into societal norms.
I want you to know that I am praying for you if you see yourself reflected in all, or none of these stories.
This mother’s day, wherever and whoever you are, we walk with you. You are loved. You are seen. You are worthy.
And may you know the deep love without end of our big, wild, beautiful God who is the very best example of a parent that we know.
Amen.
Rev. Dean Borgman on loving our neighbors amidst tension & in hope
Listen to the audio of our friend (and Christy Yates’ dad!) share with our Horizons Fellows over Zoom from last year about his vocational journey to love alongside some reflections on the readings below. (note: recording starts a minute or two after Rev. Borgman begins and there are some slight technical difficulties after his sharing and before our discussion).
LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS AMIDST TENSION AND IN HOPE with Dean Borgman
Christen Yates - The Oxymoron of Proximate Justicehttps://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/23/the-oxymoron-of-proximate-justice/
Pope Francis – Evangelize with the Gospel of Joyhttp://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/07/07/pope_francis_evangelize_with_the_gospel_of_joy/1156692
How do I handle holding despair and hope? Given the complexity of pain and division in the world and in my own life, how do I move forward in hope and joy?
Am I Cultivating A Garden Or Am I Just Here? Priscilla Boateng '21
I have always been extremely obsessed with the fruits of the spirit. Embodying them, living by them, being them. Having a life that centered around these spiritual fruits have been my goal since I truly became a Christian my senior year of high school. I thought and still think each characteristic is more than beautiful.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Against such things there is no law because how could any person, country, state, city be against qualities like this? They couldn't! Although I have this strong desire to embody these fruits, at times I’ve wondered if my yearning is anything more than just that:
… yearning…
A desire that stays a desire and never leads to any resemblance. Am I cultivating a garden or am I just here? What does it ACTUALLY look like to be loving, joyful, peaceful, etc. and why after all these years of being a Christian do I feel like I still don’t know?
Saying this year has been difficult one for all of us would be a huge understatement. I am sure ten years from now we’re all going to look back and realize just how hard it truly was. This year has brought a storm of emotions that at times I can’t identify. With those emotions have also come a desire to want to navigate them properly, but even more than that to not let my turbulent emotions affect how I interact with the people I care about and care for. Instead, I desire to demonstrate patience, self-control, gentleness, and kindness when I speak of, interact with, and think of others even if at the moment I may be frustrated or angry.
As Christians we are called to look more like Jesus.
To have a heart like his.
And Jesus perfectly and wholly embodied the fruits of the spirit.
I want to look more like that.
At times, I believe my belief that I’m not growing fruit is due to society's views of black women, that maybe I am hyper-criticizing myself because I feel as though I need to always be the kindest or the gentlest in the room in order to not automatically be seen as mean, angry, or insensitive. And very often that is true and I am being over critical. But there have also been many times when I have just failed, maybe not externally but internally.
I have no ending to this blog post, it was more of a reflection than anything. But, a part of me wrote it because I’m sure other Christian’s also struggle to embody the fruits of the spirit. And, I want to let you know that it’s a process, it’s picking up our cross, it’s remembering that meditating in the Lord's words is the only proper soil for our seeds to prosper and it’s asking yourself everyday: “Am I cultivating a garden or am I just here?”
Habits of Faith in the Workplace with Dr. Steve Scoper & Dorothy Castelly '21
On April 15, 2021, we hosted our spring Faith & Work lunch once more over Zoom and, while we look forward to returning to these in person, we’re grateful for the many who could attend who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. Fourth year Horizons Fellow and pre-med student, Dorothy Castelly (‘21) hosted this spring’s conversation with Dr. Steve Scoper, a renowned ophthalmologist based in Virginia Beach, VA and beloved TH Board Chair. You can enjoy this hour long conversation by listening on Soundcloud or by watching on Vimeo.
“I love the word intersection. That is part of the theme of Theological Horizons. And so... my faith was one little compartmentalized area and a little box off to the side and my work and career and preparing for that was the big box. But, there was really not much intersection at all. Some of us have faith from when we were children and it slowly, slowly grows into something very powerful and some people have an experience that they go, ‘wow, this changes everything’! And so I’m one of those people that had an experience 15 or 20 years ago, had an encounter with the Holy spirit that just changed everything and made me realize that faith was so important. So at that point, the faith was one road and parallel. My work and my career were on another road. But, slowly with time, it happened that I started to get this intersection of the faith in the work and then, come see, [God] becomes even closer. ”
Lydia's Deeper Dialogue Experience
Deeper Dialogues was a fantastic experience that I’d recommend to anyone, whether you’re a regular attendee to Theological Horizons events or not (I’m not)! It was so refreshing to be able to talk openly and honestly about struggles and resilience, and a good reminder that we’re not alone this semester or any other time.
My group was made up of me, another undergrad student, a grad student, and a professor - none of whom I would have met outside of Deeper Dialogues. We spent an hour having a fantastic discussion led by a facilitator who guided the conversation with a series of tough - but rewarding - questions that left me feeling refreshed and restored.
Deeper Dialogues managed to, in just an hour and a half, create a sense of care and community the likes of which I’ve rarely felt during COVID, and which I can’t recommend enough. If you’re on the fence about going, I would definitely give it a shot! I’ll be there at the next one for sure.
Lydia Smith (she/her) UVA '22CLAS | Foreign Affairs majorCLAS | Russian and Eastern European Studies, French minor
WHAT IS THE DEEPER DIALOGUES INITIATIVE AT UVA?
Deeper Dialogues @UVA is a series of facilitated and structured small-group conversations around five topics of human flourishing taking place through June 2022. It is sponsored by Theological Horizons in partnership with Essential Partners. ALL ARE WELCOME.
Learn more at theologicalhorizons/dialogues
EASTER | STONES
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.” Luke 24:1-2
I believe transformation is possible. The women going that third day to Jesus’ tomb expected to find a stone blocking their way to the body of their beloved teacher. Instead, they found an open entrance. Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James brought spices and oil to anoint a dead man. Instead, two angels appeared, and the body of Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
Often our anticipation of death, defeat, and endings gives way to God’s plan for life, resurrection, and new beginnings. I believe transformation because I follow the One who was raised from the dead and now sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
When others see insurmountable barriers, boulders impossible to move, people of faith see the possibility of God’s glory revealed in life-giving ways. That’s why we go to the grave singing, “Alleluia.”
All of us encounter seemingly immovable stones. We face loss or illness, disappointment or depression, oppression or exploitation, grief or separation. Circumstances unimaginable become all too real and we feel the pain of slamming into a boulder that refuses to budge. If we remember Jesus’ resurrection, and all he taught and lived, angels whisper, “Jesus is risen. Transformation happens. Death does not have the final word.”
All of us struggle with the unanswered question of “why?” Yet, knowing that the stone has been moved and Jesus lives reminds me that transformation is possible and that resurrection, even when all I see is the empty tomb, is surely coming. Alleluia!
Questions for Reflection
When have you faced what felt like insurmountable obstacles? What happened?
When have you experienced transformation? What changed and how?
How do you maintain hope in circumstances that leave you bereft and afraid?
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Morning has broken on the dawn of redemption. Reconciliation has been won. Death has been defeated. Surely nothing is impossible with God. The stone once blocking access to our Lord has been removed, forever. No longer can anything separate us from the love of the triune God. Transformation not only is possible; through Christ’s resurrection, transformation is inevitable. Rejoice, give thanks and sing! Jesus Christ is risen today! Amen.
Thank you you for journeying all the way to Easter with us. And thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.
Get a Sneak Peek at our Spring Newsletter!
We don’t usually do Big Reveals, but we just can’t wait to share our news with you. Click here to see our hot off the press newsletter. It’s dropping in the mail tomorrow. If you’re not on our mailing list, sign up now - and you’ll never miss out!
GOOD FRIDAY | THORNS
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe.” John 19:1-2
The crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head completes the wardrobe designed to mock and humiliate him. Look at the one who says he is king of the Jews. Here he stands, beaten, powerless, foolish. Here is the man, the one in whom Pilate finds no fault, the one the frenzied crowd calls to crucify.
The whole scene makes my stomach turn, not only because Jesus suffers, but because I know such cruelty still exists, inflicted on people all around the world. The darkest part of our humanness too often still prevails, and yet Jesus goes to the cross for us anyway. The striking truth of Good Friday lies in that reality: human beings still humiliate, mock and crucify one another, but God loves us, Jesus dies for us, the Spirit intercedes for us anyway.
If we do not confess the painful truth of our own complicity and participation in the ugliest sin imaginable, we cannot fathom the monumental scale of God’s goodness and grace. If we fail to acknowledge our role in perpetuating evil, we too mock Jesus rather than weep at his fate.
That crown of thorns, designed to mock, represents the suffering servant who came to save. The Friday that goes midnight in the middle of the day marks the time when the light of the world overcomes all darkness. The purple robe of humiliation wraps all humanity in the love of God. The good of the One on the cross restores the God-created goodness of each one of us. Today is Good Friday, when we know without doubt the radical, transformative, saving grace of God who takes on the sin of the world, for our sake, even though we cry, “Crucify him!”
Questions for reflection
What does Good Friday mean to you?
Take some time to look at artistic renderings of this story. (Here is a collection of images.) What strikes you about those depictions?
Lord, on this Good Friday, we repent of all the ways we participate in perpetuating cruelty. We confess how often we dismiss our complicity with evil. We turn our heads, unable to look at suffering, when instead we are called to see fully what our sin has wrought. On this Good Friday, we recognize the depth of our sin in order to receive and rejoice in the expanse of your grace. Amen.
Thank you you for journeying through Lent with us. And thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.
HOLY WEEK | TOWELS
During supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself.” John 13:2b-4
I turned the corner, headed to the elevator with my luggage, when I noticed the housekeeper’s cart in the hall. Large, cumbersome, stacked with little soaps, shampoo bottles, coffee supplies, linens, towels — and Bibles. There tucked between the towels was the Word of the Lord… I thought about the people pushing those carts up and down the hallways, cleaning others’ toilets, doing physical work for not much pay — individuals with names and stories. Many, no doubt, fellow disciples who knew intimately and daily what it feels like to pick up a towel and serve. Perhaps that is why Jesus says the last will be first.
Jesus, during the last meal with his closest friends, with hours left of his earthly life, takes a towel, gets on his knees, and washes the disciples’ feet, even the disciples who will soon betray him. The Word and the towel, together, inextricable, in Jesus — and, Jesus says, in us. Maundy Thursday means that followers of Jesus serve. We are servants, servants of the Lord of all, who willingly ate with sinners, touched lepers, welcomed children, and washed feet.
Nothing is beneath us when Jesus is the rock upon which we stand. No one is “less than,” because Jesus died for all. If we do not put the Word alongside the towel and take them both door to door, house to house, town to town, to the ends of the earth, we are failing to follow Jesus. If we forget that those who push heavy carts down long hallways or wake up before dawn to pick up trash or get on their knees to scrub floors or carefully wash the feet of the sick for very little pay, if we forget that they have names and stories, we fail to follow the One who not only knows them by name, but numbers the hairs on their heads.
On this Maundy Thursday, pick up a towel — you can find it right alongside the Word of our Lord — and get moving.
Questions for reflection:
When have you served someone in a physical way, fed someone or washed someone? Who was it? Has anyone served you in a physical way? What was that like for you?
What might it look like to serve someone amidst the limitations of this pandemic moment?
Today, every time you use a towel, be reminded of Jesus’ instruction to wash others’ feet.
Servant Lord, on this day we remember your meal with your friends, your words of teaching, and your act of tender love. You, Lord of all, humble yourself and wash the feet of friend and betrayer and friend alike. You hold back nothing for our sake and we are awed by your grace. We seek only to be more and more like you each day, taking up a towel and sharing your Word, so that through our love the world will know that we follow you. Amen.
Thank you you for journeying through Lent with us. And thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.
Anything Dead Coming Back to Life Hurts | Reflections by Cynthia Ajuzie '19
Originally published in January 2019.
If I’ve realized anything about being at UVa the past four years, it’s that one of my favorite quotes from Toni Morrison’s Beloved holds true. The quote is “Anything dead coming back to life hurts”. (Slight digression: I wasn’t sure if I should write this blog post about how college has further solidified my identity as a Nigerian-American woman, but I often need to my remind myself that being black is only one story that streaks my life and that God has given me many other stories that deserve attention too.)
Merely a few weeks into my fall semester as a third year, I quickly noticed how difficult it was for me to stay on top of my workload. However, I thought that my struggles were just going to be something I overcame by working hard and being strategic with the time I spent studying. School had always been something I felt completely in control of and believed I could excel at with the right efforts, so I didn’t worry too much about my rigorous course load. The night before my first exam rolled around and I remember reviewing notes in my room, trying to elucidate concepts that were still blurry to me. Once I realized that information was no longer sticking in my head, I decided to go to bed. The only problem was that after I did get in bed, I couldn’t sleep. My mind continued strumming through concepts I didn’t understand and my heart felt squeamish in my chest. By 2:30 a.m., I figured I should probably try to talk to someone to see if that would get my mind off of things. I called my mom, who works night shifts as a nurse, and she tried to calm me down for a few minutes. It was comforting hearing her voice and being reminded that my heart and thoughts were not the only sounds that sloshed the earth.
I viewed that night of not sleeping as a fluke that would certainly not happen again because I’d be more diligent in making sure I got to bed earlier at a consistent time each night. However, even with my efforts to apply better sleep hygiene to my life, I continued struggling with anxiety and insomnia multiple times a week. Lying in bed exhausted in the middle of the night, feeling betrayed by and unfamiliar to your own body is one of the worst feelings I have come to know in my life. Insomnia descended me into a pit of loneliness, fashioned by anxiety and I was so unaware of how to plow myself out of it. Many activities that I used to enjoy became lackluster and I dreaded having things to do that would require a lot of energy/thinking. I felt like a walking silhouette of who I knew I was.
Desperately wanting to improve my compromised mental health and not wanting to turn to my parents for help (who come from a culture that struggles with legitimizing mental health issues), I began trying to think of ways to fix myself. I visited CAPs, looked up organic remedies to insomnia, sought prayer from my housemates, bought religious self-help books for sleeping disorders, and had my sister stay on the phone with me some nights in hopes that it would help me sleep better. Nothing seemed to be working long term. With my frustration towards myself and God mounting, I resolved to accept the fact that insomnia had woven it’s way into my life and I’d just have to make room for it on my bed most nights.
The night before my biggest final that semester, I began hearing strongly from God. I was on the floor in the room of one of my housemates who had struggled with insomnia one summer and told me I could stay in her room, so I wouldn’t feel as lonely, while she played worship instrumental music to see if that would help me sleep better. After she had fallen asleep and I was still wide-awake ready for the sun to sprout in a bit, I felt the Lord drop this poem in my spirit based on Psalm 23.
It is well with my soul
For the Lord is so faithful and gracious
He makes me lie down in still pastures
And allows my joy to overflow in abundance
He gives me reasons to sing
He calms my spirit
He gives me strength
He is my strength
After I received those words, I felt lighter. It’s interesting how easily we make room for our struggles to ingest more and more of our lives until something - an epiphany or encouraging word- reminds us that those struggles do not have to permanently suffocate who we are as people. God is our reminder of this fact. And He does it so well. He meets us right where we are, just like He met me in that moment, and tells us that there is hope. He is hope.
I’d be lying if I said that night was the last time I experienced sleeplessness. But, it was the last night I viewed insomnia as some insurmountable entity that characterized all of me. That poem God deposited into my soul made me realize two things:
God is always faithful and his faithfulness is noticeable if we actually open our eyes to see it
God wanted me to stop being so close-fisted with my studies/ future and to relinquish those parts of my life to Him
After I made these realizations, I felt a peace that I had not felt in months. I allowed myself to indulge in the kindness and graciousness of God unrestrainedly. Experiencing a semester racked with sleeplessness and anxiety made me notice how God is a high tower for those who seek Him. His hands are strong enough to carry all of our burdens and His love is deep enough for Him to actually want to carry them. Nights can still be difficult for me, but not as often anymore because of my confidence in God’s faithfulness and his desire to give me rest. I had to go through one of the most difficult seasons in my life for God to revive who I am in him and for him to truly make me a new creation.
John 14:27, Philippians 4:7, John 1:5, 1Peter 5:7-10
Lent 5 | OIL
“But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them.” Luke 10:33
No matter how many times I hear this story, the physicality of the Samaritan’s compassion touches me. The priest and the Levite go to the other side of the road, literally distancing themselves from the wounded man in the ditch. The Samaritan goes closer, moved by pity. He gets down in the ditch with the suffering traveler, pouring oil and wine onto his wounds. The hands-on care continues as the Samaritan transports the man to the inn and cares for him there. He provides funds for ongoing care and promises to return. All for a stranger.
Who is the neighbor? The one who shows that victim mercy. Just as the cruelty of the robbery entailed physical close contact, so does the mercy that seeks to amend the injuries and pain. Healing cannot happen from a distance. Compassion moves us to act, to get into the ditch, to pour oil on wounds and bandage them, to ensure that a person brutalized and violated knows another side of humanity. Even from a stranger.
Questions for reflection:
When have you been moved with pity to go toward someone in the ditch, either literally or figuratively? What did you do once you got there?
Have you ever been physically cared for by a stranger? When has someone poured oil on your wounds?
Who has been a neighbor to you? To whom are you a neighbor?
What might it look like to draw close with compassion — during a time of physical distancing?
Jesus, this very day, you are calling us to be neighbors to someone in need of mercy. As we go about our tasks and routines, help us to see those suffering in the ditch. Strengthen our faith in you in order to embolden us to move toward our neighbors in need of compassion. If we find ourselves wounded and afraid, send Samaritans to minister to us. May each encounter of this day make manifest our love for you and for our neighbors. Amen.
Thank you for journeying through Lent with us…
Receive our Lenten devotionals by emailing info@theologicalhorizons.org.
Thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects. Read the book and join us for a virtual book club discussion at 4pm on Saturday, April 3.
Justice, Mercy & Healing Prayer with author Carey Wallace
We thank Carey Wallace for this rich resource of Scripture and prayer prompts…perfect for a daily journey into God’s heart. It’s designed to be prayed over a month, to be shared with friends and strangers, too. As Carey says, “We continue to believe that, amidst everything else that’s said, the most powerful words in the world are always the one spoken between us and God.”
Justice, Mercy, and Healing
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
This is what the Lord Almighty said: Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another. (Zechariah 7:9)
The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. (Isaiah 30:18)
Justice
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. (Amos 5:24)
For I, the Lord, love justice. (Isaiah 61:8)
Learn to do right, seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. (Proverbs 29:7)
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:5)
My justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 51:4)
Mercy
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6)
Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great, but do not let me fall into human hands. (2 Samuel 24:14)
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)
Be merciful, just as your father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
Healing
Heal me Lord, and I will be healed. (Jeremiah 17:14)
I am the LORD, who heals you. (Exodus 15:26)
O Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. (Psalm 30:2)
Daily Prompts
The rhythm of prompts here are designed to pray one a day between October 3 and November 3. But please use them any way you like.
One prayer we hope you’ll pray each time is for other members of this project: that God will bless and protect everyone who prays with us, and continue to call people into prayer for justice, mercy, and healing.
1. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to help us feel His pain over it.
2. Where do I need mercy? Offer these places to God.
3. Where does my community need healing? Pray for healing in these places.
4. What injustice am I blind to? Pray that God will open our eyes.
5. Where does our world need mercy? Pray for God to open our eyes.
6. Where does my community need healing? Pick someone who you deeply disagree with. Pray to better understand and love them, and for opportunities to grow closer to them.
7. What injustice breaks my heart? Pray for someone you know has suffered injustice. Ask God to move powerfully in the situation, with justice, mercy and healing.
8. Where do I need mercy? Thank God for his mercy in as much detail as you can.
9. Where does my community need healing? Pray for healing in these places.
10. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to bring justice in that place.
11. Who do I not offer mercy to? Pray for God to open our eyes.
12. Where does my community need healing? Pray for blessing in these places.
13. What injustice am I blind to? Pray that God will open our eyes.
14. Where do I need mercy? Offer these places to God.
15. How do I refuse healing or cause hurt? Pray that God will open our eyes.
16. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to show us where we can move for justice in our own lives.
17. Where am I blind for my need for mercy? Ask God to open our eyes.
18. Where do I need healing? Lift our wounds up to God.
19. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to help us feel His pain over it.
20. Where does my community need healing? Pick someone who you deeply disagree with. Pray to better understand and love them, and for opportunities to grow closer to them.
21. How do I refuse healing or cause hurt? Pray that God will open our eyes.
22. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to give us courage to act for justice
23. Where do I need mercy? Offer these places to God.
24. Where do I need healing? Lift our wounds up to God.
25. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to bring justice in that place.
26. Where am I blind for my need for mercy? Ask God to open our eyes to others who have been merciful to us.
27. Where does my community need healing? Pick someone who you don’t like. Pray to better understand and love them, and for opportunities to grow closer to them.
28. What injustice breaks my heart? Ask God to show us where we can move for justice in our own lives.
29. Where do I need mercy? Ask God to show us where we need to show mercy.
30. Where does our world need healing? Pray that God will bring it, beyond what we could ask for or imagine.
31. Where can I not imagine justice being done? Pray not just for justice, but for God’s blessing in these places.
32. Where does our world need mercy? Pray for God to bring it in power.
Lent 4 | SHOES
TheN the [Lord] said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:35
Moses stood watch over this father-in-law’s sheep. I wonder if, on the day or night the bush caught fire, Moses expected to encounter the Most High God in the middle of a field of sheep? Perhaps, like many of us, Moses relegated the holy to those places designated for worship, set aside for ritual, marked as special and mostly off limits to ordinary people.
God, though, refuses to be boxed in by our expectations or designations. God speaks from the clouds and out of the burning bush. God uses everything from angels and donkeys to proclaim, instruct, and admonish us. God alone constitutes the holy.
Our role is to respond by taking off our shoes, to recognize the holy when we experience it, to turn aside our gaze in humility, follow instructions and listen.
Questions for Reflection
Have you ever experienced holy ground in an unexpected place? What about it made it such? How did you respond?
Why did God instruct Moses to take off his shoes? What did his shoes symbolize?
Have you ever metaphorically or literally taken off your shoes as a sign of respect or humility?
God of shepherds and sheep, Moses and me, you speak to us through unconsumed burning bushes and unassuming, ordinary encounters. You go to extraordinary lengths to communicate to us, assure us of your presence, enlist us in your service. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Show us when to speak up and when to be quiet. Tell us when to take off our shoes and when to put on your whole armor. May all we do today reflect our awareness of your presence. Amen.
Thank you for journeying through Lent with us…
Receive our Lenten devotionals by emailing info@theologicalhorizons.org.
Thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects. Read the book and join us for a virtual book club discussion at 4pm on Saturday, April 3.
Lent 3 | COINS
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Matthew 10:29
We talk about “compassion fatigue” and burn out, lacking emotional bandwidth, or simply reaching the end of our rope. We project our own human limits on the triune God. Surely, we imagine, God has bigger problems to tackle than ours — be they health related, family dynamics, money stresses, or job woes. This verse tells us otherwise. God cares deeply for us, knowing the hairs on our heads and each word before we speak it. God’s involvement in our lives knows no limits.
Jesus so emphatically wants to communicate God’s providence and omnipotence and loving-kindness that he points to the sparrows, two sold for a penny, of not much worth from our human perspective. And yet, these sparrows that we buy and sell for next to nothing — God notes the death of each and every one. How much more, therefore, does God regard each and every person?
How might we see ourselves, the people around us and around the globe, animals and all creation, if we considered daily their worth in God’s eyes? No portion of land or person, centimeter of earth or centipede, is unseen by our God. All are knit together and known by their Creator.
Questions for Reflection
What do you sell for “two pennies” that God cares deeply about? How might this knowledge shape your relationship to those two-penny creatures and things?
Are you mindful that God loves you so much that there is nothing about you unknown by God? Take time to remember that all your concerns are God’s concerns, too.
God, we give thanks for the sparrows sold for two pennies, the creatures so plentiful we often fail to notice them and for all the priceless people we encounter this day. We thank you, too, for your unfailing love for us. We give to you our deepest concerns and our greatest hopes, knowing that you will take them, honor them, and mold them into something beautiful for you and for us. Amen.
Thank you for journeying through Lent with us…
Receive our Lenten devotionals by emailing info@theologicalhorizons.org.
Thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects. Read the book and join us for a virtual book club discussion at 4pm on Saturday, April 3.
A Visual Reflection by Fellow Anna Hickman, '21
“If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
As a graduating student in 2021 America, there are almost a humorous number of challenges, events, decisions, memories, and systems to reflect on--many of which I considered writing about. Still, I’ve opted not to for the sake of attempting to break a mental rut that goads me to try to find the perfect mystic or academic answer to what seems like unending processing of violations against human dignity alongside existential questions of vocation. It is a deep rut, I confess.
Instead, I will speak in color: red, gold, and black; red for the blood spilled, lives lost, and rebellion of placidity; gold for the small but weighty truths that remain in the fire; black for grief, lies caught hold, and also things yet revealed.
Amidst the chaos, I have few words to offer. So, I will speak in images and invite you to hold them with you, to sit with uncertainty.
seen--but obscured to viewer
honest words
discerning all these open options
holy people on a tightrope
a prayer for sun
red noise respite
untitled landscape