An Inner Vision Board of God’s Mercy: Sixth Sunday of Easter – Sunday Experience

Post-Communion Guided Meditation

For the presider, cantor, or minister of the Word. Read slowly, with pauses. Let the silence do its work.

Where suggested, allow 20–30 seconds of quiet before continuing.

Settling

We have just received.

Take a breath.

Let your shoulders drop.

You don’t need to do anything right now. You don’t need to feel anything in particular. Just let the body settle –  the weight of you in the pew, your feet on the floor, your hands however they have fallen.

[Pause]

Christ is not waiting for you to arrive at the right feeling. He is already here. He has been here the whole time. This moment after communion is not the moment we reach him. It is the moment we stop and notice that he has already reached us.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

We are not going anywhere. There is nowhere else to be.

[Pause]

The Vision Board

In a moment, we are going to let some images come. Not images of what we wish for. Images of what has already been given.

Let them come simply, without grading them. A small mercy counts. A large one counts. The Spirit does not rank.

[Pause]

Rest.

Think of the most restful place you have ever been.

Not the most spiritual. The most restful.

Maybe it is a holiday –  the particular quality of light, the smell of the air, the first morning you woke and remembered you had nowhere to be. Maybe it is a room. A garden. A particular chair that knows the shape of you.

Let the image come without forcing it.

[Pause]

Feel what rest felt like in the body. The weight releasing. The jaw unclenching. The breath dropping lower than it usually does.

Someone gave you that rest. Something made it possible. You did not manufacture it alone.

[Pause]

Delight.

Think of the most exciting day out you can remember.

The anticipation of it. The moment it began. The feeling of being fully present, fully alive, pulled forward by something that delighted you.

Maybe it was a city you had never seen. A concert. A match. A meal that began in the afternoon and was still going at midnight. A morning that turned into an adventure you hadn’t planned.

Let the image come.

[Pause]

Feel what delight felt like. The brightness of it. The way the body leaned in. The way time moved differently.

You were made for that feeling. It is not trivial. It is not a distraction from the spiritual life. It is the spiritual life, when we are paying attention.

[Pause]

Nourishment.

Think of the most delicious meal you have ever eaten.

Where were you? Who was there? What was the first taste?

Let yourself be there for a moment –  really there, not just remembering it from a distance.

[Pause]

Taste is one of the oldest languages of love. Someone grew that food, or cooked it, or set the table, or simply sat across from you and made the meal what it was. You were fed. Body and something deeper than body.

[Pause]

Warmth.

Think of your favourite piece of clothing. The one you reach for when the day has been long. The sweatshirt. The cardigan. The coat that has been with you through everything.

Feel the weight of it. The familiar texture. The way it fits because it knows you.

[Pause]

Think of warmth on a rainy day –  the particular mercy of being inside when the weather is bad. A hot drink. A blanket. The sound of rain on the window when you are safe from it.

Small mercies are still mercies. The Advocate does not reserve himself for the large occasions.

[Pause]

Movement and return.

Think of a day when your body felt fully alive –  when you were on the move, full of energy, heading somewhere that mattered to you.

Feel the momentum of it. The pleasure of a body that could do what you asked of it.

And then think of coming home from that day. The particular sweetness of rest after movement. Sitting down. Taking your shoes off. The exhale of arrival.

[Pause]

Both things are gift. The going out and the coming home. The Spirit moves in both directions.

[Pause]

Meeting the Advocate

Look at what has gathered.

All those images –  the restful place, the delightful day, the meal, the warmth, the movement and the return home. Some large. Some so small you almost let them pass without noticing.

[Pause]

The Advocate was in every single one of them.

Not watching from a distance. Not approving or withholding. In them
–  the warmth in the warmth,
the delight in the delight,
the taste in the taste.
This is what it means that the Spirit will be not just with you but in you. Not an occasional visitor. The interior life of every good thing you have ever been given.

[Pause]

This is the one who speaks hope when the internal prosecutor begins its case. This is the one who was present when you felt sentenced to  the places you didn’t choose, the displacement you didn’t plan –  and who made joy possible there too.

[Pause]

You are not left alone with your life. You never were.

You receive the final blessing. The ceremony ends. And you are face to face with the gift –  which is also face to face with the Giver.

[Pause]

Closing

Before we return, take one image with you. Just one –  whichever came most strongly, or most surprisingly.

That image is your reason for hope today. Not a theological argument. Not a proof. A memory of having been held –  and the knowledge that the one who held you then has not left.

If you love me, Jesus says, you will keep my commandments.

We are not keeping commandments to earn the warmth. We are keeping them because we have already felt it –  and we know whose hands it came from.

[Pause]

We go now to close the gap. Between the Table and the door. Between this pew and the situations we did not plan to enter.

The Spirit does not share our maps.

But the Spirit knows the way.

[End of meditation. Continue with the concluding rites.]

Notes for the Presider or Facilitator

The closing image (take one image with you) can be invited as a written reflection if paper is available in the pew

Total duration with pauses: approximately 10–12 minutes

This meditation works best in silence, without background music –  the pauses are the music

If the congregation is not accustomed to extended silence, a single held note on organ or a singing bowl at the beginning of each pause can help anchor the quiet without filling it

The categories (rest, delight, nourishment, warmth, movement) can be shortened to three if time is limited –  rest, nourishment, and warmth form a complete arc on their own.

More Resources

The Spirit Does Not Share Our Maps – An introduction to the Spirit of This Sunday

Whose Yoke Are You Actually In?  – A close reading of all four Sunday texts

Love Before Rules – Prayer of the Faithful