Sacred Questions At ChristmasSample

JESUS WEPT

Begin by taking a few breaths and paying attention to the air moving in and out of your lungs and mouth. Notice where you feel tension or discomfort in your body. To the extent you are able, try to relax, let the chair you are sitting in fully support your body, and release the tension as you breathe deeply. 

A Prayer to Open

Here I am, Lord,

in my tired, aging, hurting, wondrous body.

Open my heart to you now.

You are my High Priest who knows.

Read Scripture Passage

Reflect

Jesus wept. John does not say that Jesus got choked up or looked sad: he wept with the grief and sorrow that death brings. 

• What comes to mind when you think of someone weeping? What does it look like? Sound like? What is the body doing as it weeps?
• Reflect on the reality that God came to be with us in a body that wept with grief in the face of death. What does this truth reveal to you about his love? What does it reveal about Jesus’ ability to identify with you?
• Reflect on a time you have experienced deep grief. How might your experience help you identify with and serve someone you know who is grieving? 

Respond

Jesus Christ—

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace;

the one through whom and for whom all things were made; and

the one in whom I live and move and have my being—

became flesh and made your dwelling among us. 

And nothing—neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future; not any powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation—can separate me from the love of our God, which is in you, Jesus Christ my Lord.