July is for Embodiment (part two)
Lisha offers a second practice for midday
We’re delighted that so many have been practicing with Lisha over this last week. To begin the morning with prayerful embodiment rather than doom scrolling sounds like a small thing…but as you’re experiencing, it can be deeply transformative. Let’s continue to lean in!
Ep 1: Morning Embodiment Practice with Rev Lisha Epperson
Today we offer a second embodied practice, crafted for midday. Even when beginning the morning centered in God’s nearness, real life can uproot our peace pretty quickly. Thankfully, the Creator is as close as the air we breathe. In this midday embodiment practice, Lisha helps us breathe deeply, release anything to which we cling, open to a fresh flow of Grace, and prepare for the rest of the day.
A word about fixed hour prayer.
These three practices—created for morning, midday, and evening—lean into the wisdom of the liturgical prayer tradition. There is so much to say about this, but for our purposes, fixed hour prayer reminds us (1) To keep an open conversation with God and our souls throughout the day, and that (2) Different parts of the day often require different kinds of prayer. Check out Ruth Haley Barton’s reflection on Fixed Hour Prayer. Or explore Shane Claiborne’s robust Common Prayer online.
The goal is not necessarily to pray every single liturgical prayer every single day. The goal is discernment. As we submit ourselves to these bigger rhythms, we pay attention to the particular invitations of the Spirit. Where do I sense the most life and energy? For what am I longing? In what part of the day do I tend to lose connection…and how can I re-align? God, what is Your invitation to me in this season and how can I best say yes?
Remember, friends, it is in God we live, move, and have our being. These simple practices open us up to what has been true all along. God is near. In our office at work. Returning from a quick lunch break. In the summer school carpool lane. Preparing to meet with a client. Reading and responding to an unfair email. Mowing the lawn. We cannot NOT be in God’s loving presence. As Fr Richard Rohr teaches…
“My starting point is that we’re already there. We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another it means that God is choosing us now and now and now.” (Everything Belongs)
If this midday embodiment practice helps you open to God’s nearness this week, please dive in! If something else works better, do that! But let us keep drawing near to the God who is always, already near.
Grace and peace,
Aaron and the PP&G Team