No Title Lissy Clarke

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28.







As an undergrad at Whitworth College, I took a class in John’s Gospel with F. Dale Bruner. I vividly recall Dale opening each session by translating the text into animated English out of the original Greek, which he held entirely memorised in his brain. I particularly remember his arm gestures as he put across the point: “he who comes behind me, ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.” (John 1:15, 1:30)







A final assignment for the class was to make some kind of representation of each chapter of John’s Gospel. I made a small book of water colour paintings. One of the very few University assignments that is still with me, today it sits on my desk to guide me as I travel through John’s Gospel with Contemplative at Home,







For the text in this meditation (which could be called John the Baptist’s sermon on the identity of Jesus) I have used Dale’s own translation as recorded his Commentary on the Gospel of John (Eerdmans). I find the language to be full of life and I hope it will open a new door for you as you listen, with the ears of your heart open.







Every blessing 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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch. 

An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28.







The text for today’s meditation records a conversation between priests and John the Baptist. John has been baptising at Bethany at the Jordan, and huge numbers of people are coming to respond to his message that “the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4). The chief priests send representatives from Jerusalem to ask some questions, to find out what the buzz is all about.







They want to know if John is someone they are expecting, based on their reading and interpretation of the scriptures. Is John the Messiah, is he Elijah who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind and will return before the Messiah returns, or is this the prophet who Moses said would come before the Messiah?







John says he is none of these, and instead seems to be inhabiting his own unique voice, his own unique vocation. I’m neither Elijah, nor anyone else you are expecting, in the way you are expecting them. I am myself, and I’m here to point towards something that is at hand, someone who is among you on whom the Spirit rests. (Jesus later says in Mt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”)







I sense John inviting the interrogators to get out of their heads, to stop trying to puzzle out answers to match their expectations, and to open their hearts with curiosity to how the Spirit of God is at hand.







I invite you to open yourself to this sense of the Holy, to let go of trying to puzzle it all out in your brain, and even as you listen and pray, when you sense the Spirit hovering, to allow yourself to receive it. Let it wash over you, let your self be immersed, even baptised, in Presence of the Holy, even if it comes in an unexpected guise.







Every Blessing







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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch.

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 14-17







These words in my old paper Bible have so many little side notes, one word circled in the text with an accordion file of notes on the greek root and its myriad translations spilling into the margins. The unfolding possibilities in the meaning of these words is so rich, so beautiful and compelling that I have taken the liberty of adding them into my reading of the text for you today.







My added words, are all based on the notes of (a) a scholar in Seattle whose name I did not record, teaching circa 1998 (b) the footnotes in my Oxford Annotated NRSV and (c) Strong’s notes on the greek in the MOUNCE translation on Bible Gateway.







May the unfurling of these words, as they try in their own limited way to speak of the Word, the original breath of all that is, nestle into your heart and ignite some small fire of insight, of hope, of love.







With every blessing,







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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch. 

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 6-9.







In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you, as Jesus does in Mark 6, to “come away with me to a quiet place”. I invite you to a quiet place within yourself, a place where your wonder and curiosity are allowed to take the lead. I invite you to behold these words of text, not from your critical, analytic, outward-functioning self, but from your soft, non-judgemental inner heart. I invite you to allow layers of possibility to unfurl from these simple phrases.







In short, I invite you to pray these words.







 John 1:6-9 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.







May the light







and radiance







of Christ







shine on you







and in you,







through you







and from you.







May the light







of Christ







warm you,







be your companion this day,







and give you peace.







Blessings, always, dear ones.







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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch. 

A meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 1-5







In this meditation on John’s Gospel, I invite you to join me in taking a ‘long, loving look’ at a few verses of text, beholding the words as living, shimmering, life-giving containers which hold endless layers of wisdom, mystery, beauty and truth.







Just for these few minutes, I invite you to leave aside your dogma, your creed, even your thoughts, your rational mind, and become present to your deeper self, your true self or essential self. I invite you to behold these words from a place of deep being, a place of unknowing.







 John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.







Blessings, always, dear ones.







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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch. 

May grace and peace be yours in abundance! (1 Peter 1:2)







Peter’s letters are addressed to communities throughout Asia Minor, and the notes in my study Bible say that we can assume the members are “Gentiles, resident aliens and household slaves.” Additionally, they face persecution and social ostracism for identifying as Christian.







This meditation looks at verses 2-4 and 8-9. There is talk of heaven in this chapter and I find the dynamic between future and present hopes interesting. While it is easy to pitch our hopes on the future in very difficult circumstances, Peter also talks about the joy in the present moment. And this he says to an audience enduring difficulties which I personally cannot begin to imagine. You are receiving the outcome of your faith (v9). Whilst circumstances remain difficult, the hope that we long for is not confined solely to the future. It is also right here, around and among us, even in the midst of the mess.







Do you know anyone who embodies an earthy, joy-right-here-in-the-mess kind of faith and hope? Not by-passing pain, not ignoring injustice, but hope and love in the midst of it?







May this kind of resurrection hope be yours.







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 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!







All music by Pete Hatch.