Here’s a spiritual exercise I thought up this morning, as I was reading one of Henri Nouwen’s Good Friday prayers. This exercise can be used any time, but it’s certainly relevant on Good Friday.

SPIRITUAL EXERCISE:

[Side note: I wrote this spiritual exercise with a small-group setting in mind. But you could certainly go through this exercise alone.]

According to the Gospel of Matthew and Mark, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We’re going to use Jesus’ cry as the basis for this spiritual exercise.

Step 1. In order to center down, to quiet our hearts and minds, we’re going to sit in silence together for about five minutes. Let your thoughts and feelings settle down. In this time, you may want to ask God to help you let go of any thoughts or feelings that might get in the way of connecting with Him, others and yourself.

Step 2. I’m going to read out loud, slowly, Matthew 27:46. Then, after about 30 seconds of silence, I’m going to read the verse again, slowly. Each time I read the verse, let the words wash over you and sink into you. Allow God to come to you through the words and try to be open to what God wants to surface in you.

In the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Step 3. Now, as a way to connect deeper with Jesus in His suffering, and as a way to connect deeper with your own suffering, I invite you to say out loud, one person at a time, the following phrase: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When you’re ready to say the phrase out loud, go ahead and say it. We’re not in a hurry, so take your time. We’ll sit here in silence until everyone has had a chance to say it. If you don’t feel comfortable saying it out loud, that’s OK, you don’t have to say it.

[Leader's note: After everyone had a chance to say the phrase out loud, I'd probably transition us with a short prayer, something like: God, this phrase -- "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" -- surfaces a lot of fear and pain in me. Help me to face that fear and pain; help me to face it here in community. As I do, help me to experience your compassion and love in a way that's healing and transformational. Thanks, God. Amen.]

Step 4. We’re going to spend the next 5 minutes listening to God on our own and journaling. Ask God to surface the moments, the seasons, when you felt forsaken by God. Perhaps start in the present — are you feeling forsaken by God in some way currently in your life? And then move to the past — what were some moments or seasons when you felt forsaken by God? Write down in your journal whatever surfaces.

Step 5. We’re going to spend the next minute listening to God on our own. Ask God which one of these moments or seasons he wants you to share with us. Which one does he want you to bring into community? Another way of asking it is: God, which one of these moments or seasons do I need to be loved in, accepted in? If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, no worries, you don’t have to.

Step 6. OK, it’s time to share, if you’re willing, one moment or season in your life when you felt forsaken by God. And please share with us why you chose to share with us that particular moment or season. I can start us off.

Step 7. [Thank everybody for sharing, if you haven't already. Then someone can close in prayer.]

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I hope this spiritual exercise is helpful to you in some way. Perhaps it’ll spark some of your own ideas. Be creative!

I hope you have a wonderful, meaningful and intimate Easter weekend.

Yesterday as I was surfing the Web, I came across a beautiful gift in the person of Tara Brach (in photo at left). Tara is a clinical psychologist and Buddhist teacher and meditation leader. She founded the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW).

(As a side note: One of the things I appreciate about Tara — besides her calming voice — is her psychology background and her experience practicing psychotherapy. I think any spirituality or religion, including Buddhism, benefits from the integration of good psychology.)

On the IMCW website, some of Tara’s teachings and guided meditations are available for download (for free) in MP3 format. The teaching I listened to last night is called “Without Anxiety About Non-Perfection.” I loved it! I listened to it twice; it was really helpful.

One of the things I love about Buddhism is its focus on silent meditation and contemplation. And I loved Tara’s approach to teaching because she mixed in some relevant spiritual exercises, which helped the teaching move to the “experiential,” heart level, thus a much deeper — and more transformational — level. Many Christian teachers have a lot to learn from Tara (and other Buddhist teachers).

In Tara’s teaching, “Without Anxiety Over Non-Perfection,” she addresses core shame — this feeling and belief that at my core “I’m bad; there’s something wrong with me; I don’t measure up” and thus “I’m not loveable.” Most people — probably everybody — deals with core shame on some level; I certainly deal with it. Core shame is a big deal because it’s a barrier to giving and receiving love (from God, others and ourselves).

I loved Tara’s teaching about dealing with core shame. It’s not comprehensive of course because core shame is a big, deep topic. But I think her teaching is solid psychologically and spiritually — and I found it really helpful and I deeply appreciated the way she integrated spiritual exercises. Perhaps you’ll find that Tara’s teaching helps you take yet another step on your transformational journey with God.

Tara finished her teaching with a relevant guided meditation and then closed with the following prayer: “We close with the prayer that our time together this evening, our reflections and meditations, might be a benefit to all beings. That all beings everywhere might touch the truth of Loving Presence, experience their nature as Loving Presence. That all beings everywhere might touch a natural and great peace. May there be peace on earth, may there be peace on earth, may there be peace everywhere. May all beings awaken and be free.”

For a long time now I’ve wanted to start a “spiritual exercises” section on my blog.  (Thanks, Sara Worley, for encouraging me to do this!)

Spiritual exercises help me to connect to — and experience — God, others and myself in a way that’s healing and transformational.

So I love ‘em!  And another thing about spiritual exercises that’s so cool and fun is that anything can be a spiritual exercise!  The possibilities are truly endless.  So I love dreaming up spiritual exercises, and I plan to share some of my own creations with you.  I also plan to share some of my friends’ creations, and I plan to point you to valuable resources on the Web and elsewhere.

For starters, I stumbled across a website you might find helpful called Gratefulness.org.  The site includes a list of spiritual exercises (which they call “practices”).  If you’re ready to dive in, perhaps check out the exercise called “Deepening Your Sense of Belonging.”  Feel free, of course, to tweak these exercises, put your own spin on them.  And remember, to get the most out of these exercises — or any spiritual exercises — you have to do them in a meditative, contemplative way, which usually requires adequate time and silence.

May we all experience deeper and deeper intimacy with God, others and ourselves through the help of spiritual exercises!