Contemplative Lent

Sundays
Each Sunday, we release a new video with a contemplative teacher sharing their experience with silence, God, Lent, and renewal. 

Sunday evening we will gather on Zoom to share our experience, receive support, and offer insight.

Monday - Thursday
Daily Lectio Divina prompts and a live morning meditation with Rev. Ian White Maher

Spiritual Companion
If you would like to be more accountable for your journey, you have the opportunity to sign-up for a spiritual companion. Companions will be assigned after Ash Wednesday and before the first Sunday.

While it is helpful to know the context of the passages we'll be meditating on, it can also be a problem to know too much. 

When we "know," it is often impossible for the still, small voice of God to enter our hearts. Sometimes too much knowledge is an impediment to awakening.

Every passage we are using for our contemplations has enough context to help you open to God without overwhelming you. 

We often experience our spiritual relationship as talking to God rather than listening to God.

By cultivating a contemplative dimension to our spiritual lives we are able to see how God is moving through us and those around us.

The silence opens us to a more intimate relationship with the Divine.

All are welcome. 

Seriously. Everyone. 

If you love Jesus and you go to church a few times a week, you are welcome to join us. 

If you are agnostic but you think Jesus was a great teacher and you would like to experience a contemplative practice with open and accepting people, you are welcome to join us. 

If you left the church because you were upset, but you miss parts of it and you would like to nurture your relationship with God without having to put a label on who or what you are, you are welcome to join us. 

If you don't see yourself in any of these examples, you are welcome to join us. 

Everyone is welcome.

You are not alone.

Settling down and just sitting with God (and our thoughts) can feel a little overwhelming. If this happens, please know that it is okay and there are times we can talk about it. 

However, with a little bit of practice, this quiet and intimate time with God not only becomes easier, it also becomes one of the best parts of the day. 

We will be using a simple but powerful practice called Lectio Divina, which has its roots in the desert monastic tradition. The fact that people still use this practice 17 centuries later is a testament to its quiet and sublime insight. 

Nope. 

All participants will receive an email linking them to a pre-recorded Lectio Meditation Monday through Thursday. You can listen to this recording at a time that best suits you. 

The morning meditations at 7 AM Mountain time (9 AM Eastern, 6 AM Pacific) are there to help people feel connected. But you will get just as much out of the journey if you use the pre-recorded Lectio meditations.

Contemplative Lent is $40 (a dollar a day). And you will have access to videos and online discussions for one year.

But, more than anything, we want you to have a life-expanding experience as we explore what the journey through Lent can tell us about Grace and Justice. So, if $40 is not in your budget, please reach out to me at [email protected] and let me know what is possible. No one will be turned away.

There are lots of ways to observe Lent and making sacrifices like chocolate or shopping are common practices.

But that is not our goal. 

For us, this isn't about sacrificing comforts as much as it is trying to open ourselves to what Jesus was trying to teach us. 

And this may be a sacrifice of another kind. To perform the daily mediation and share with your companions does mean you will need to give up something else. To take in the word of God may mean you need to give up a way of thinking you were convinced was right. 

If you would like to add something like chocolate to your practice, no problem. But this isn't our overall aspiration with Contemplative Lent.