Last night was the continuation of our journey through both the season of Lent and the movement of the Spiritual Exercises that leads us to the cross. Two weeks ago, Ashlee guided us through a practice in which we brought our suffering to Jesus in the garden, and last night, Kellye Fabian helped us recognize that Jesus actively and intentionally joins in our suffering. “The passion of Jesus,” she said, “was the greatest act of compassion the world has ever known.”

Kellye reframed our understanding of passion and compassion as she outlined the model of Christ. In his suffering, Jesus submitted, surrendered, and sacrificed, and he is our model for engaging suffering in the world.

Kellye’s teaching led into a practice to help us identify and join the suffering of someone in the world. Through imagination and contemplation, we joined the suffering of another and imagined being present with Jesus and the person in her or his suffering. But we didn’t stop there. We asked how God might be leading us to take a physical step of solidarity to be present with his or her suffering.

It was a sacred and meaningful night. If you couldn’t be with us, I would encourage you to make time to listen to the teaching and engage the practice through the podcast.

Kingdom Practices
This week, in addition to deepening our experience of prayer and fasting to find greater freedom let’s respond to God’s invitation in the practice. Whose suffering did God bring to mind, and how are you being invited to be with that person in her or his suffering?