Abiding & Attending in Holistic WeCreation
Transformation happens when our learning is infused with intentional processes of becoming.
Each week, following an ICN article, we offer invitations into deeper becoming—spiritual practices, ways of engagement, and opportunities for life integration. This rhythm seeks to intensify our mystical practice, deepen our embodied engagement, and call forth greater transformation in ourselves, our communities, and the world—the I, the We, and the All.
IF YOU MISSED IT LAST WEEK, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO FIRST READ THE ARTICLE INFORMING THESE PROCESSES: “WeCreating the Future of Christianity & the World”
“WeCreating Together” – image by Christy Thrasher
We invite you to consciously and intentionally engage in the following processes for your personal lives, WeSpace groups or other spiritual communities, and global participation.
Being Held in the Nurturing Love of God
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A Practice of Abiding in Divine Embrace
As we begin this exploration into WeCreating, we seek to ground all the growth of our becoming in the restful, abiding love of God. If our actions and WeCreating flow from the secure, loving embrace of steadfast acceptance, then they will emerge as free offerings born of love. We need not feel overly attached, driven by forceful striving, or bound by anxious motivations.
The following meditation from Paul Smith is an invitation to give yourself over to being held by God. We invite you to rest in the arms of love and trust in the deep abiding presence enfolding and carrying you now and always.
“Divine Embrace” – image by Dalmo Mendonça
A Body Prayer of Abiding & Attending
Julian of Norwich – artist unknown
Julian of Norwich was a 14th-century mystic, anchoress, and spiritual companion whose account of her life-changing mystical experience, The Revelations of Divine Love (also known as Showings), is a wonderful reminder of God’s love for us – as well as being a prime example of medieval English writing.
A form of body prayer has become popular known as the Prayer of Julian of Norwich. Some sources claim that Julian originated the prayer, but most say it is a contemporary body prayer that uses four keywords from the Order of Julian of Norwich, which in turn come from Julian’s writings. The words are Await; Allow; Accept; and Attend. Each word has an associated body movement with it, which you may do either standing or sitting. However, you may also use those words – without the body movements – to pause and pray in a moment of anxiety or stress, in order to help you reconnect with God.
These words also align with our ICN use of the terms Abiding and Attending, inviting our divine becoming both in who we truly are (Abiding) and in how we live in this world (Attending). As you explore the felt sense of this for you and with others, you may want to more explicitly engage the definitions offered last week, supported by this simple body prayer that follows:
Abiding: Abiding is about dwelling in and as Christ. “Remain in me as I also remain in you.” That our deepest being is in God and God is in us. This co-indwelling lives not just in us as individuals, but in the collective body of Christ in communion. Union together. This is our fundamental and ultimate identity. And here we can rest and reside in the intrinsic value of our divine oneness.
Attending: This is not our endpoint but our beginning ground. From the abiding nurture we grow and bear fruit. We respond from this upwelling of divine life from within and among us to an outpouring to flourish, to give, to serve. And “from your innermost being (womb) will flow rivers of living water.” Jesus spoke often of caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, and living a life of love, blooming with the fruits of the spirit. This is attending to the world, to life, to caring for our neighbors.
Richard Rohr offered this version of Julian’s body prayer in 2014:
AWAIT (hands at waist, cupped up to receive): Await God’s presence, not as you expect, hope, or imagine, but just as it is in this moment.
ALLOW (reach up, hands open, above shoulders if you can): Allow a sense of God’s presence (or not) to come and be what it is, without meeting your expectations.
ACCEPT (hands at heart, cupped towards body): Accept as a gift whatever comes or does not come. Accept that you are not in charge. Accept the infinity of God’s presence, present whether or not you are aware.
ATTEND (hands outstretched, ready to be responsive): Attend to what you are called to, actions that God invites you to from this stance of openness.
Then you may repeat the prayer several times in a row, so that the movements flow, one into the other, like a dance or yoga postures. A beautifully done video may be found here that demonstrates the body prayer.
*Supporting content sourced from Diocese of Newark website and the Order of Julian
Living in Ways of WeCreating
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Holistic Attending to Our Spheres of Influence
So then how do we live?
“Spheres of Influence” refers to the areas of our lives we can make an impact through our presence and actions. As we seek to integrate spiritual practices and learnings into our everyday lives, we are invited to consider how these lessons, practices, and ways of being can influence the world around us.
We invite you to consciously reflect on how you might embody WeCreating in your life—in your local community, online spaces, or throughout the mystical cosmos.
1. Personal Sphere (I):
In the creative process, there are periods of gestation and rest, lying fallow and abiding in the simplicity of being. And there are periods of energetic new life, the sprouting of fertile ground ready to bring forth a new creation.
As we embark on this exploration of WeCreating, where are you in your creative cycle personally?
Reflect on how you need to attend to yourself in this current season, whether that be in restful ease, preparatory cultivation, inviting new growth, tending to what is already happening, or any other movement of spirit in resonance with this season now.
2. Relational Sphere (We):
In relationships and communities, creativity emerges from shared presence and collaborative engagement. As we live into the spirit of WeCreating, we are invited to consider how we embody connection, healing, and generative love with those around us.
As you consider possibilities of WeCreating with others, what relationships and settings do you feel drawn to embrace and engage more, attending to the creative flow of love and collaborative possibility?
Where do you feel you may need to step back from or release, letting go of resistance or what is no longer serving?
3. Global Sphere (All):
The wider world is alive with both beauty and brokenness, inviting us into a sacred dance of grief and glory, chaos and creation. In this universal sphere of WeCreating, we recognize ourselves as participants in the ongoing evolution of love within creation, and beyond in Mystery.
As you embrace your divine reality as a cosmic being and co-creator of loving evolution, how might you seek to mystically engage with the world and with all that is unseen and unknown, moving in the mysterious flow of divine grace through your presence both near and far?
How might you release limitations of belief or restriction in your personal and emotional body, to free you to engage more fully in the world’s becoming and love’s infinite expression flowing through you?
All Images are open-source, used with permission, or created by ICN