Examen - 13
Transcript
If you are able, I encourage you to listen to this examen while you are outdoors. Maybe you have the ability to take a quick walk around the block, or to sit out on that back porch you don’t use as often as you would like. If you can feel the sunshine on your skin, stare at the wonder of the moonlight, or feel a crisp breeze on your face even better.
Feel free to pause for a moment to get yourself situated.
In her book Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God, Kaitlin B. Curtice knits together the ideas of ecology and spirituality saying:
“We have to remember that physical places are spiritual places. We cannot disconnect the physical from the spiritual, because the spiritual is all around us, often moving like a light wind, without us even noticing. Just so, we cannot say that the earth is not speaking, teaching, leaning in to whisper something to us at any moment that we are willing to listen.”
I now invite us to take a few moments to lean in and listen….
(birdsong)
Once you have found your space, close your eyes and take a deep breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth
Take another in through your nose and out through your mouth
In through your nose and out through the mouth
And one last time, in through your nose and out through the mouth.
Breathe out anger, frustration, and grief
Breathe in the life giving air that is all around us
Feel your lungs expand and retract just as God made them
I invite you to become aware of the creation you are currently surrounded by and the Creator who made it so.
Become aware of how your physical space is also a spiritual space
What do you hear in this space?
What do you feel?
What do you see that evokes a sense of wonder?
Take some time to savor the little and big whispers from the earth.
Maybe there is a flower still in bloom, or a leaf bursting with color, perhaps a birdsong can be heard through the window, or your desk plant brings some much needed life to your space. Whatever it is, take a moment to notice it.
Take a moment to really notice it.
What do you feel in your body as your awareness focuses on this burst of nature?
Where do you feel it in your body?
(pause for 10)
Now that you are aware of your current space, I invite you to take a moment to recall an ecological place or places that brought wonder into your body.
Perhaps it was sticking your feet in the crisp morning tide, or breathing in fresh mountain air, maybe it was walking through your local park, or the bright red tree on the side of the highway.
Take a few moments to think through your past year, what ecological wonders stand out?
(pause for 30 seconds)
How did your body feel being in that space?
What image or moment stands out the most?
Savor the wonder and awe, and notice how it feels in your body to reflect on it now.
(pause for 15 seconds)
I now invite you to think about a moment or two where you saw the pain the natural world feels.
Maybe it was an image on the news, seeing the damage from a storm, sweating through an unnaturally warm day. The Earth speaks to us about both the good and the bad.
How did it feel to see the Earth in pain?
Where do you feel that memory in your body now?
Take a moment to feel that pain, (pause for 10) and when you are ready release it.
Shake out your arms, flex your muscles, let go of those moments of pain or fear for the Earth.
The Earth can both bring wonder and fear, but with practice we can let the wonder overpower the fear. Let the wonder fuel our fight against the fear.
As we begin to close, where do you find hope in the natural world? What wonder overpowers the bad?
(pause for 20 seconds)
(birdsong)
To end our time together, I invite you to reflect on the words of Mary Oliver from her poem “When I am Among the Trees”
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Sometimes connecting with the Creator and creation can be as easy as remembering to walk slowly, and to bow often.
What comes to mind when you hear: you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
How do you hope to shine in this coming week?
Set that intention, that hope, hold onto it.
And when you are ready, I invite you to slowly come back into this space.
(ends with birdsong)
November 19, 2024
Examen: Ecological
SUMMARY: Spend time reflecting in (or about) nature and the wonder that we can find in the natural world. Today focus on the moments of awe you feel from being in creation.
PRESENTER: Claire Erlenborn, MA, LSW (she/her), Retreat Coordinator, Campus Ministry
Transcript
If you are able, I encourage you to listen to this examen while you are outdoors. Maybe you have the ability to take a quick walk around the block, or to sit out on that back porch you don’t use as often as you would like. If you can feel the sunshine on your skin, stare at the wonder of the moonlight, or feel a crisp breeze on your face even better.
Feel free to pause for a moment to get yourself situated.
In her book Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God, Kaitlin B. Curtice knits together the ideas of ecology and spirituality saying:
“We have to remember that physical places are spiritual places. We cannot disconnect the physical from the spiritual, because the spiritual is all around us, often moving like a light wind, without us even noticing. Just so, we cannot say that the earth is not speaking, teaching, leaning in to whisper something to us at any moment that we are willing to listen.”
I now invite us to take a few moments to lean in and listen….
(birdsong)
Once you have found your space, close your eyes and take a deep breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth
Take another in through your nose and out through your mouth
In through your nose and out through the mouth
And one last time, in through your nose and out through the mouth.
Breathe out anger, frustration, and grief
Breathe in the life giving air that is all around us
Feel your lungs expand and retract just as God made them
I invite you to become aware of the creation you are currently surrounded by and the Creator who made it so.
Become aware of how your physical space is also a spiritual space
What do you hear in this space?
What do you feel?
What do you see that evokes a sense of wonder?
Take some time to savor the little and big whispers from the earth.
Maybe there is a flower still in bloom, or a leaf bursting with color, perhaps a birdsong can be heard through the window, or your desk plant brings some much needed life to your space. Whatever it is, take a moment to notice it.
Take a moment to really notice it.
What do you feel in your body as your awareness focuses on this burst of nature?
Where do you feel it in your body?
(pause for 10)
Now that you are aware of your current space, I invite you to take a moment to recall an ecological place or places that brought wonder into your body.
Perhaps it was sticking your feet in the crisp morning tide, or breathing in fresh mountain air, maybe it was walking through your local park, or the bright red tree on the side of the highway.
Take a few moments to think through your past year, what ecological wonders stand out?
(pause for 30 seconds)
How did your body feel being in that space?
What image or moment stands out the most?
Savor the wonder and awe, and notice how it feels in your body to reflect on it now.
(pause for 15 seconds)
I now invite you to think about a moment or two where you saw the pain the natural world feels.
Maybe it was an image on the news, seeing the damage from a storm, sweating through an unnaturally warm day. The Earth speaks to us about both the good and the bad.
How did it feel to see the Earth in pain?
Where do you feel that memory in your body now?
Take a moment to feel that pain, (pause for 10) and when you are ready release it.
Shake out your arms, flex your muscles, let go of those moments of pain or fear for the Earth.
The Earth can both bring wonder and fear, but with practice we can let the wonder overpower the fear. Let the wonder fuel our fight against the fear.
As we begin to close, where do you find hope in the natural world? What wonder overpowers the bad?
(pause for 20 seconds)
(birdsong)
To end our time together, I invite you to reflect on the words of Mary Oliver from her poem “When I am Among the Trees”
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Sometimes connecting with the Creator and creation can be as easy as remembering to walk slowly, and to bow often.
What comes to mind when you hear: you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”
How do you hope to shine in this coming week?
Set that intention, that hope, hold onto it.
And when you are ready, I invite you to slowly come back into this space.
(ends with birdsong)