Deep Breaths Today’s Deep Breaths comes from reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary in the March 2025 issue of Sojourners. Restoring Our Connective Tissues By Dong Hyeon Jeong We live in a ruthless world that exhausts our bodies and souls. We are constantly bombarded with messages, reels, texts, and images that set our moral compasses spinning. As seekers of a more just world, the pressure to respond overwhelms us as we have never seen before. And so, I ask: When was the last time you intentionally cared for your body and soul? The guilt one feels when one rests is a manifestation of how oppressive systems have convinced us that to rest and breathe is contrary to the necessities and requirements of a functioning society. And yet, we must breathe because the fight for a more just world is not only outside of us. It is also in us. ...[A]s we breathe, we are invited to become peacemakers, witnesses of righteousness, justice-seekers, and reconciling siblings. All these invitations are heavy. They are easier said than done. Many of us have probably responded to such invitations a long time ago. Our wounds and scars tell stories of what happens when we say yes. Scars are marks of healing from yesterday’s struggles. To breathe is to reconnect the tissues of interdependence and mutuality that sustain our work for a more just world. To breathe does not neglect the issues at hand; rather, it helps us remember that we have divine witnesses who are sustaining us here and now. --- Here’s a playlist to encourage your spirit as we enter the season of spring, from West Central Abbey congregation outside of Spokane, Washington. |
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