Faith through resurrection: Christ is Risen!

Easter celebration and resurrection through the lens of imaginative prayer. We will visualize the story and immerse in the sights sounds and feelings of the story.  

Place yourself in the scene. 
Use your imagination.
Pray as you are able.
God will speak to you. 

Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome to Resilient Faith. The podcast opportunities to find deeper resilience within ourselves can come when life seems most challenging. This podcast is to help you develop that resilience and connection with God. Being resilient and having power starts with faith. Welcome friends to this Easter episode of resilient faith. Christ is risen. He has risen indeed. My name is Laura East. I'm the associate pastor at Brentwood Presbyterian Church. Today we are going to hear the resurrection story through the lens of imaginative prayer. Imaginative prayer is a spiritual practice that places yourself in the story. Visualize the story as if you were making a movie. Pay attention to the details, the sights sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings of the story. Lose yourself in the story. Don't worry if your imagination is running too wild at some point. Place yourself in the scene through the act of contemplation. We trust that the Holy Spirit makes present a mystery of Jesus life in a way that is meaningful for us. Now, this day, use your imagination to dig deeper into the story so that God may communicate with you in a personal evocative way. In a spirit of generosity, pray as you are able. Don't try to force it. Rest assured that God will speak to you, whether through your memory, understanding, intellect, emotions, or imagination. So let us now hear the resurrection story from the Gospel of Luke. But on the first day of the week, at early Dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the son of man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified? And on the third day, rise again? Then they remembered his words and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the 11 and to all the rest. Now, it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, marry the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen cloths by themselves. Then he went home amazed at what had happened. So friends, where did you place yourself in the story? To whom do you relate? What details caught your attention? What did the spices smell like that the women carried? What would the fear feel like that the women experienced? How would they share this news with the other disciples and friends? What is the emotional journey of Peter? Disbelief, hope, amazement? How do you relate to the characters in this story? So hear this one more time, the resurrection story from the Gospel of Luke. But on the first day of the week at early Dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the son of man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified? And on the third day, rise again? Then they remembered his words and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the 11 and to all the rest. Now, it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen claws by themselves. Then he went home amazed at what had happened. Let us pray. God, even now, it's hard to believe that you conquered the grave. Be with us in our disbelief, in our hope. In our amazement, show us how to live as resurrection people, unafraid and free in your love, grace and mercy. Amen. You've been listening to Resilient Faith. The podcast Resilient Faith is sponsored by Brentwood Presbyterian Church in West Los Angeles. You can follow our church and this podcast on Facebook at BP C Team and Instagram at BPC underscore usa. Make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and thanks for listening.