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Sacred Self-Compassion
Opening Meditation Song: Let the River Flow by Jenny Weaver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_dpYZqR_MQ
Opening Prayer: Be still. Breathe deeply. Relax into the embrace of love. Be.
Reading:
For psychologist and theologian Chanequa Walker-Barnes, offering ourselves self-compassion is connected to our ability to love others:
There can be no self-care without self-compassion, which is compassion turned inward. It is the ability to connect to our feelings, to respond to our suffering with kindness, and to desire that our suffering be ameliorated. Self-compassion prompts us to treat ourselves in ways that alleviate, rather than cause or amplify, our pain and suffering. While many Christians understand compassion, mercy, and kindness to be essential in our interactions with others, we don’t always see these as core values for our relationship with ourselves. We neglect our self-care, directly and indirectly contributing to our pain and suffering. We judge ourselves for our own suffering, listening to the voice of our inner critic as it rehearses our shortcomings, our errors, and our deficiencies. As James teaches us, it doesn’t have to be this way (James 3:10).
Implicit in Jesus’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves is the assumption that we are supposed to love ourselves. We are supposed to be kind and gentle, caring and nurturing, empowering and forgiving of ourselves. If we are unable to do this, ultimately we may be unable to do it for our neighbors. And if we cannot love our neighbors, whom we can see, we cannot love God, whom we cannot see (1 John 4:20). Self-compassion, then, is not indulgence; it is a necessity for true discipleship. [1]
CAC friend and Love Period podcast host Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis emphasizes the importance of loving the particularities of ourselves:
By self-love I mean a healthy delight in your true, imperfect, uniquely wonderful, particular self. I mean an unconditional appreciation for who you are, head to toe, inside and out: quirks, foibles, beauty, and blemishes—all of it. I mean seeing yourself truthfully and loving what you see.
Honestly, the stories playing out in the world can make it difficult to love yourself, and therefore your neighbor. Messages from the culture that you don’t matter, not just because of your race, but because of your gender, sexuality, economic status, or religion, can thwart self-love. Though her skin gives her some privilege, a white child might grow up in a context of poverty or domestic violence that can cripple her self-love. A child traveling across deserts and rivers to emigrate with his parents might lose some of his self-love in the wilderness. Even if you’re born into circumstances that others consider ideal, messages in the culture can signal that you’re not good enough, light enough, thin enough, smart enough, feminine or masculine enough to measure up to some ideal. The space between those ideals and your realities can make it difficult to embrace your particularities and love them. Learning to love your particularities is not just an individual project; you need your communities—your posse—to see those pieces of you, to accept them, and to love all the parts of you, fiercely.
Affirmations and Intentions:
May we look for your goodness in others when it hides beneath layers of coldness.
May we behold your radiance in the ones we neglect or spurn at home or work
May we discover your love in our deepest self when we feel unloving and irritable.
May we embrace you in the persons whose faithfulness we take for granted.
May we see your empathy in those serving the wounded of the world.
May we recognize your courage in the valiant people who speak out for justice.
May we notice your non-judgmental acceptance in those who keep an open mind.
May we search for your gentleness when the harshness of another hides it.
May we reveal your mercy when we pardon someone for having turned against us.
May we convey your compassion when we visit those with illness and poor health.
May we unit with your peace hidden beneath the layers of humanity’s disharmony.
Silence to add your own intentions.
Closing Prayer: Jesus you came into our world in the form of a newly emerged child, fresh and fragile like all of us at our birthing. You came a cherished one filled with the radiance of eternal light. As you grew in humanness, your life and teachings revealed the vast goodness of your inner being. We now carry your Spirit of Radiance with us. Let us reflect our beauty within for the world.
Closing Video: Broken and Beautiful by Kelly Clarkson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy9poGs-w6Q
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