This Lent, we invite you to take some time to lament that which you and others have lost. In her essay, “Four Steps of Lament,” Heidi Weaver invites us to:
• Rest, to take sabbath time to simply be present to our current situation;
• Reflect on that which has been lost;
• Repent for the sufferings and loss we have caused or overlooked; and
• Make Restitution and be Restored to God and to one another.

This year for our Lenten Meditations we have invited ten writers to share reflections on each of these four steps of lament. These writers are all leaders in The Episcopal Church and represent a diversity of perspectives, ministries and backgrounds. As a result, we are blessed to have a unique and rich tapestry of viewpoints on the universal experience of lament, loss and new life. Many of the authors share deeply personal and painful experiences related to a variety of issues including disease, violence, racial injustice and poverty.

Readers, come to these meditations with an open heart. What you read may challenge you and give rise to unexpected or uncomfortable feelings. We encourage you to engage the “Four Steps of Lament,” by resting, reflecting, repenting and ultimately being restored to God and to one another. Finally our wish for you is that God brings you rest this Lent so that you may reflect on your own loss and be transformed in the process. May God then restore your soul and bring you into the bright new life that is our Easter promise. And may you continue to know that you are loved now and always.
Amen.
Robert W. Radtke
President & CEO
Episcopal Relief & Development

RESTITUTION & RESTORATION

“In beauty may I walk, all day long may I walk. Through returning seasons may I walk. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk. With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk. With dew about my feet may I walk. With beauty may I walk. With beauty before me, may I walk. With beauty behind me, may I walk. With beauty above me, may I walk. With beauty below me, may I walk. With beauty all around me, may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty may I walk, lively, may I walk. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty.”
—Walk in Beauty, closing prayer from
the Navajo Blessing Way Ceremony

Listen to the voice of Divine Creator on the walk. Imagine your walk in these words. Where do you feel humility and peace? Where on this spiritual walk in the beauty way do you see beauty? The Navajo beauty prayer takes us on a journey in seasons of life. Each pause, each step is a prayer. Every new step is a beginning as the Holy Spirit prays with us.

The Navajo prayer invites us into ceremony with the Divine to restore our holistic self with creation. On the trail of the beauty prayer, we are invited to listen carefully to places where we need healing. We listen, we pray and we bless our sacred being with the healing medicines of Mother Earth’s nutrients. This, too, is ceremony where God loves us as we are. God’s divine creation knows us, too, and shows us how God’s transforming power restores our very soul. It is how God makes us whole.
—Cornelia Eaton

Source: https://www.episcopalrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Lent-2021-English-BlackWhite.pdf; © 2021 Episcopal Relief & Development. All rights reserved. Printed in partnership with Forward Movement.