Holy Week
As we enter into Holy Week, I wanted to share something a little different than past traditional
blog post – I wanted to share something you could actively engage in.
This week, I invite you to participate in this interactive approach in experiencing Holy Week that
I hope you find introspective, enlightening, and most of all – hopeful.
Welcome to Holy Week –
Your Chrysalis Team
Exploring the Depths: Stations of The Cross
Welcome to Exploring the Depths: An Interactive View of the Stations of The Cross. This 7-
Station in-depth reflection will take you throughout the city of Albuquerque NM to reflect,
meditate, and pray. If you are not in the city, an image and/or information has been hyperlinked
so you can participate wherever you are located. Feel free to customize to reflect your
community.
Please take time during Holy Week to complete the exercise, or feel free to explore each station
in one day. We just ask that you take time to fully take in the experience.
Blessings on the journey.
Station 1: Jesus Prays (Matthew 26:36-41)
Place: Public Labyrinth @ The Center For Action and Contemplation, Richard Rohr
https://cac.org/about/visitor-center.org
Thoughts: Prayer takes so many forms – Folded hands, a rosary, kneeling, and words in a
prayer book, are all images that come to mind. Jesus in Gethsemane is also a powerful
picture of prayer. The image comes into even greater relief when the disciples are
pictured sleeping a stone’s throw away. I also see labyrinths used a lot to represent
prayer. The labyrinth is a centuries old type of walking prayer. It is not a direct path; just
like prayer is often not a direct path. Instead, the labyrinth’s circumlocution awakens us
to the twists and turns of our own lives. Unlike mazes which try to confuse walkers, the
labyrinth’s non-linear path is designed to invite the pilgrim to pay close attention to their
heart space as they make their journey to the center. The path of Holy Week does not
move in a straight line. Instead, the last week of Jesus’ life is a journey to the cross
marked by intimacy, emotions, pathos, surprise, grief, and even joy.
Questions for Reflection:
1) As you walk the labyrinth, what distracts you as you journey to the center?
2) What does the center of the labyrinth represent for you? Similarly, what do the outer
rings symbolize? The inner rings? The entrance/exit?
3) Is there an invitation for you through your experience of immersing yourself in the
labyrinth?
Station 2: Jesus is Betrayed (Mark 14:43-46)
Place: Public Mirror Mural Project https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/event/making-
mosaic-mirrors-part-1/56033/
Thoughts: What we see happening in the world is a reflection of what is happening
within us. When we notice arrogance and greed around us, it’s often because we are
working with unconscious arrogance and greed from within. The indignation we feel
toward someone is the indignation we have ourselves. I am often reminded to look
internally when I look externally.
Questions for Reflection:
1) In what ways do you project your own feelings of self onto others?
2) How you attempt to control the uncontrollable in others or in the world around you?
3) What are ways you can work on your realm of control to best prepare you to be
present in those areas you have no control?
Station 3: Jesus is Condemned (Luke 22:66-71)
Place: Courthouse Corner Bernalillo County Metro Court 401 Lomas Blvd, NW;
Second Judicial District Court Bernalillo County 400 Lomas NW; Pete V
Domenici US Courthouse 333 Lomas Blvd, NW
https://www.cabq.gov/community-services/safety-legal/courts-and-legal
Thoughts: Our lot in life is not so easily determined by how “good” or “bad” we
are. We so often condemn or forgive according to our whims. If I am angry or
feeling self-righteous, I may not give you compassion or empathy. If you are
hungry, you may lose your patience with me quickly. This black and white, wrong
or right, up or down, in our outward way of seeing the world is called dualism. The
reality is that the two-sided coin we hold is an illusion made up by our self-
centered collective egos. It is not either/or, but both/and. There are always
multidimensional ways of seeing. What if we started seeing in this non-dualistic
way?
Questions for Reflection:
1) How do we seek justice while also showing compassion and empathy?
2) How did Jesus seek justice while also showing compassion and empathy?
3) How have we, as a society and individually, skewed the word justice to be synonymous
with revenge?
Station 4: Jesus is Mocked (John 19:1-3)
Place: Washington Middle School Shooting August 13 th 2021
https://abcnews.go.com/US/middle-schooler-fatally-shot-fellow-student-
albuquerque/story?id=79402045
Thoughts: The mocking, shaming, taunting, belittling, disparaging of others is some of
the vilest actions we as humans engage in. Some of these actions are more overt than
others, while more are much more nuanced and commonplace. These traumatic acts have
long-lasting impacts on both parties – the offenders and the victims – and we embed
these acts as individuals and as a society in various ways.
Questions for Reflection:
1) What do we feel when we are mocked?
2) How do people often respond when someone near the, including their friends, are
mocked? How do you respond?
3) When considering our scripture and Station where someone stood up for another and was
murdered, does it make sense why Jesus’ friends said and did nothing?
Station 5: Jesus is Crucified (Luke 23:33-34)
Place: New Mexico State University/University New Mexico Shooting November 23,
2022 https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35060858/new-
mexico-state-new-mexico-basketball-game-postponed-shooting
Thoughts: Life is sacrificial. We can’t seem to help but interact with, and bring about
death no matter what we do or how we live, but we can be more conscious of it.
Becoming conscious of the sacredness of all life is transformative.
Questions for Reflection:
1) How do we acknowledge the reality From dust we come, to dust we shall return?
2) What does it mean to recognize the sacredness in yourself and in others? How does this
affect how you live your life in the day-to-day?
3) Re-read Luke 23:33-34 and reflect on 1-2 words to consider throughout your day. What
do these words say or mean to you. How do you use these words or phrases to elevate
your sense of sacredness?
Station 6: Jesus Dies (Luke 23: 44-46)
Place: West Mesa Women and Descanso
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Mesa_murders
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2023/10/descansos-roadside-memorials/
Thoughts: Jesus’ death by the Romans, was meant to be part spectacle and part
deterrence. Make no mistake about it, the Romans demonstrated through their policy of
public execution that they had zero tolerance for those who wished to step out of line.
Like the cartels in Juarez, Mexico who hang bodies from bridges, or what is happening in
Haiti right now, death on display can be an effective way to scare people. But what about
death in the dark? What about the innumerable people who are “disappeared?” What
about the nameless, the trafficked, and the discarded? Perhaps in some ways, their deaths
are even more terrifying. In a world without justice anyone’s life can become
disposable. Thank God that there were those who were willing to grieve through the
Roman spectacle so that they could be near the Jesus that they loved. May we all find a
way to stand as witnesses to the ones who have been disappeared.
Questions for Reflection:
1) Read Luke 23: 44-46. What do you feel when you read, “Jesus breathed his last?”
2) Allow your imagination to place you at the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. What do you
see, hear, feel, in the crowd? Can you look upon Jesus’ face? What does this moment in
the story of Holy Week say to you in terms of discipleship and what it means to follow
the Master?
3) How have you been invited to stand witness for someone who has died? How do you
bear witness to family members or loved ones who have died? How do you honor them
or remember them? What would be a way for you to remember the nameless and
forgotten?
Station 7: Jesus Rises Easter Sunrise – Home Service
As Holy Weeks ends and we come to our 7 th Station of the Cross on this Easter morning, we
journey to the tomb with Mary Magdalene and discover the stone is rolled away. An empty grave
remains and with joy, we discover that Christ Jesus has risen.
This morning, you are invited to seek a quiet space where you can minimize interruptions and
take a few moments to enter the silence and beauty of this Easter morning.
Let yourself sink deeply into the quiet and invite God in. Read through the order of service – the
liturgy, poems, and scripture. Pay attention to the words, the sounds – what you are reading and
hearing. As you read and hear, notice which words or phrases catch your attention.
Take time to journal your thoughts or impressions:
What new ways of seeing or hearing are opening for you?
What truth do you hear that intersects with the unfolding of your life?
What parts call you to be present or to see in an entirely different way?
How does this worship reflect or resonate with your own experience? What
insights does it spark?
Sunrise Service – Order of Service
Call to Worship
Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed.
Faith, hope, and joy are alive.
A new age is dawning, and death cannot harm us.
Prayer
Creator God, I am here in the early morning of your Resurrection. I have been mourning and
weeping, believing that you have been taken from us. Instead, you meet me in the garden of new
life. Here, in this sacred place, I discover that you are alive, that sin and death cannot defeat you.
Now my tears of sorrow turn to tears of joy as I fully experience your very presence. Today, I sit
and listen, and I begin to understand that joy comes from grief. You call me again and again to
go into the world to share this good news, and because I am never left alone, I am reminded to
pray…Lord’s Prayer
Scripture Reading
John 20:1-18
Poetry for Meditation
When Death Comes by Mary Oliver
When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright
coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox;
when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door
full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as
no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a
flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the
mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence, and each body a lion of courage, and
something precious to the earth.
When it’s over, I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I
have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and
frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
The Death of Death By Scott Cairns
Put fear aside. Now that he has entered into death on our behalf, all who live no longer die as
men once died. That ephemeral occasion has met its utter end. As seeds cast to the earth, we will
not perish, but like those seeds shall rise again—the shroud of death itself having been burst to
tatters by love’s immensity.
Benediction
Take time to simply sit in silence and as the closing benediction, you are invited to compose your
own short prayer as a response. Amen
Ultimate? Penultimate? Antepenultimate?
I remember in my Greek class in seminary a discussion of terms related to what we might call “the end.” Of course the term we used to describe the final conclusion of something was “ultimate.” What came just prior to the ultimate was “penultimate.” And what was just before that which was just before the ultimate was the “antepenultimate.” For some reason those terms have stuck with me over these last 30 plus years.
I mention this because if Holy Week is the ultimate in terms of the last week of Jesus’ life and ministry, then we might describe ourselves as being in the penultimate week of Jesus’ life and ministry. In terms of pastoral health and wholeness it seems to me that this might be one of those weeks when pastors ask themselves “What is next to the end?”
In May of last year Chrysalis had a table at the Festival of Homiletics in Minneapolis. Every day, pastor after pastor passed by our table for conversation, fliers, and stress balls. In our conversations I heard so many pastors talk about how they were trying to find a way to leave the ministry. The common themes were burnout, bad behavior of parishioners (especially during the pandemic), and financial struggles. All of these faithful pastors had seemingly reached the point where ministry was the penultimate moment in their career. In other words, they would leave the ministry fo another ultimate end.
My suspicion is that those who leave the ministry didn’t plan on it that way. These folks probably imagined that they would retire as pastors. But so much has changed in our world, in denominations, and in local churches, that at Chrysalis we see this a lot.
Perhaps in this week before THE week, it is worth some time considering where your ministry is related to the “ultimate” for you. What is your life telling you? What is your body telling you? What are the relationships in your life indicating to you? Are you just trying to get through things, or are you engaged and active and alive in your work? Is ministry your ultimate? Or, perhaps you are like one of those folks looking for a new ultimate.
Whatever the case, we are here to listen, to care, and offer feedback. Reach out.
With Hope,
The Chrysalis Team
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Chrysalis – The Humble Beginnings
In January 2020, I defended my dissertation for my Doctorate in Ministry with Claremont School of Theology focusing on sustainable clergy rest and renewal practices. Shortly after my return from defending what felt like a life-long piece of art, a colleague said to me, “Good for you, now you can hang your diploma on your wall and put your dissertation in your bookshelf so both can collect dust.” I was a bit taken back, but almost in an instant made the decision to take that comment as a challenge and a discernment point as to what to do next.
Within a month, I was asked to consider repeating the retreat I had facilitated in 2019 as a part of my DMIN project – the word seemed to be out that the retreat was helpful, beneficial, and much needed for clergy who were experiencing tenderness in ministry. As I began to plan a second retreat, I began receiving requests for therapy from clergy and to speak to therapist about working with clergy who were struggling in the field – in addition to being an ordained United Methodist Pastor, I am also an independently licensed mental health counselor, and a counselor Continuing Education provider.
As 2020 progressed and COVID became a reality within the states, the requests to work with fellow clergy and counselors continued to grow. It was clear, fellow clergy needed specialized mental health services and mental health providers needed a place to be trained in order to best serve clergy.
Before long, I was sharing my thoughts about beginning a non-profit with close friends and colleagues. As I shared my thoughts, faces lit up, and personal stories were shared. The need was clear, and soon Chrysalis Counseling for Clergy, a 501(c)3 (originally named: Chrysalis Counseling Center For Clergy) was born.
Since the organization’s inception in 2019, Chrysalis has served 132 individual clergy members through eleven Rest & Renewal Retreats (2 in 2019; 1 in 2020; 2 in 2021; 2 in 2022; 3 in 2023; 1 in 2024…); 48 tele-mental health clients; 32 clergy served through three Covenant Group cycles; and 78 mental health therapists have been provided with continuing education units through CEU workshops….and we keep going!
I am humbled to be part of this organization and I am always open to talking more about the services we offer – Please contact us for more information.
Grace & Peace,
Rev. Dr. Kelly Jackson Brooks, LPCC
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Feeling The Darkness – Finding The Light In Ministry
I was recently asked about my thoughts on the phrases:
“Hurt people, Hurt people” and “Silent people kill churches.”
It took me a bit to ponder these thoughts for myself, as I have so often used these phrases as a therapeutic tool in the sacred space found in my therapy room. I don’t know how these two phrases have, or have not, played a role in your lives but I would like you to consider: Have you ever felt supported by individuals but not believed by an institution? Have you ever felt hurt by the hurt, or silence? Have you ever found yourself the perpetrator of the hurt or the one who is asking another to keep silent?
The reality is, there are many ways that hurt and silence bring us to a place of darkness – regardless of who is initially causing these feelings because in the end, we all ultimately feel the darkness in these situation.
So how then, do we find the light in ministry and beyond?
We listen. We affirm. We remain steadfast to those who we have covenanted with even when it’s dark because friends, we are promised the light.
The Chrysalis Team is here to offer support and guidance in the darkness and back into the light.
Care to you this day,
The Chrysalis Team
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Re-Ordering the Photo Frame
As I was walking down the photo frame aisle trying to pick the perfect frame in which to highlight my daughter’s recent drill team competition photo, I found myself longing for my family to be in one of the frames: a photo frame family! You know the photo frame family I am talking about – it’s the photo that actually comes with the frame you purchase of the perfectly positioned family where each member is well-quaffed, well-dressed, and clearly overjoyed to be taking family photos because everything in their life is just so. Alas, my family does not represent the photo frame family and my guess is neither does the majority of families working to simply live into their own day-to-day, and complicated beautifully-woven together lives.
During this Lenten Season of contemplation and reflection, I encourage you to re-order and re-define your picture-frame ideal. What does a re-ordering require of you? What does a re-framing of our frames require of us?
Blessings in this Lenten Season,
The Chrysalis Team
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Discernment by Nausea in a Season of Remembrance
I recently heard the phrase, Discernment By Nausea and I was immediately drawn to it. Perhaps it is because of the season of Lent that we are entering into or perhaps it is because of the season I have personally found myself in and perhaps it is a little bit of both!
The thought behind this phrase is that we often play it safe when it comes to our lives in faith. We get comfortable in the predictability of our day to day’s – the rhythm of waking up and having that first cup of coffee, walking into our offices and preparing for the day ahead, and simply doing the work instead of experiencing the work that we have been called to. This calling is not always a comfortable experience for us and can make us feel a little queasy at times, but the process of pulling us from that which is uncomfortable to experiencing the fullness of that which we are continually being called to is a process worth exploring.
I encourage each of you to take a deep breathe in and begin to contemplate where the Spirit is leading you – perhaps out of your comfort zone into a season of Discernment By Nausea!
The Chrysalis Team is here to offer support and guidance in this and every season.
Care to you this day,
The Chrysalis Team
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Movement & Vision
As 2023 comes to a close and 2024 peaks it’s head around the corner, we find ourselves in a place of reflection, remembrance, and resolution. We reflect on all that the year have gifted to us and we remember all the lessons learned. The phase of resolution can be a bit more complicated as it takes into account the phases of reflection and remembrance and attempts to make ‘All things different – All things better!’ The problem with this, is we cannot take get over those stinging experiences that now have become a part of our narrative, neither can we simply sit in the accomplishments and joys of the year. This is truly a time to embed and move forward and through.
One activity that can assist in this movement is called Vision Boarding, rather creating a Vision Board. A vision board is a visual representation of your goals and relates to the direction you would like to take as you move into the upcoming days, weeks, months, and years. There are no rules when it comes to creating a vision board, only the ability to focus on yourself in a creative space.
A little guidance: Find a poster board, collect items that inspire you including magazine cut-outs, photo’s, and other items to affix to the board. Take your time and continually ask yourself, “Who am I?”; “What do I wish for myself?”; “What do I need?”
My word for you this day is Movement. The dedicated staff at Chrysalis is here to listen and encouragement as youfind peace, a stirring, and a movement within yourself this year.
Peace to you,
The Chrysalis Team
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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year…Maybe
The Christmas season has always been a mixed bag for me. Even as a young child and the child of a female pastor in the 1980’s, I felt both the joy and struggle of the season. I believe it was as if the pressures of the holidays and the hustle and bustle were simply too much for my little body to take in. I vaguely remember many Christmas Ev’s feeling as if the Church took precedence over family gatherings and our own joy and excitement as a family around the season, and I was not going to take it! So instead, I was often found lying on the back pew of the pristinely-decorated sanctuary, in a puddle, with my lite candle in hand, with wax dripping all over my newly-pressed Christmas dress.
As a pastor and a mother, I find myself carefully attempting to find a balance between the Church and intentional time with my daughter, so she does not feel and ‘The Church Vs. Family’ situation that I so often experienced. I will admit, I am more so successful at this depending on the year, and arguable the moment. As we all know too well, the Church this time of year does not necessarily or immediately bring a fullness of joy and celebratory emotions to those of us working the line, rather it often produces a frantic rush to assist support staff in decorating and preparing the sanctuary, ensuring the Advent candles are placed so that they will not immediately fall of their stands if breathed on incorrectly, and the worship services are just right – all so everyone knows that this is The Most Wonderful Time of The Year.
The truth is, we are not all that our Christmas Card family photos portray. We are each human beings just trying to create and truly feel a joyful spirit for ourselves and those we care so deeply for.
This year, I encourage each of you (myself included!), to get plenty of exercise, sleep, and rest. Be mindful of your needs, create meaningful connections with those you love dearly, breathe deeply, and give yourself the grace that you tell others to give themselves.
Blessings to you and know that we at Chrysalis are here for you to listen and help you find the hope, love, joy, and peace that this season is all about!
The Chrysalis Team
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Transitions & a Cup of Coffee
I am a big fan of coffee – church coffee, boutique coffee, Starbucks. It does not completely matter to me if my coffee originates from an espresso maker crafted ever so carefully with beautiful artwork showing through the foam from the local coffee shop, or straight from the verismo tucked in the corner of my office. I just enjoy my coffee.
I am also a fan of sharing sacred conversations with those dearest and most important to me over something as simple or complex as a cup of coffee. Conversations that are light and fun that share in celebrations and excitement, and conversations that sit on the soul in a different way. It’s the conversations of life, and laughter, tears, frustrations, broken relationships, and reconciliation. I enjoy a full life of connection.
I find myself this season seeped in sacred conversations embodied by the topic of transitions. These sacred conversations are conversations I find myself having with others as well as with myself. Transitions that include relationship shifts, employment discernment, and faith community affiliations. And yes, these conversations often happen over a simple, yet complex cup of coffee which for me, serves as a reminder of that which is a constant in my life – a grounding if you will to what is present, now.
I encourage each of you to find your grounding – in the midst of simple and complicated and complex conversations which is what makes life so very rich. Seek out those whom you love and care for dearly, and share in this grounding wherever those moments take you.
Grace & Peace,
The Chrysalis Team
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After the Wind, After the Earthquake, and After the Fire
Thanks to a generous grant from the New Mexico Annual Conference Endowment Committee, Chrysalis Counseling for Clergy (Chrysalis Consulting Center for Clergy) is proud to announce a new initiative for clergy health and wholeness: After the Wind, After the Earthquake, and After the Fire.
After the Wind, After the Earthquake, and After the Fire is a monthly worship service planned around the need of clergy to simply worship. This initiative for clergy health and wholeness takes its name from the story of Elijah on Mt. Horeb. In that story spectacular things happened, one right after another: wind, earthquake, and fire. However, God wasn’t in those things. Instead, God is in the sound of silence that follows.
Knowing that clergy are under tremendous amounts of pressure, and that sometimes the sheer effort of leading worship can add to that stress, Chrysalis seeks to offer a monthly opportunity for clergy simply to sing, pray, and be filled, rather than being poured out. Nothing will be asked of clergy “to do,” except to be present and to engage.
Upcoming Location & Dates
El Vado Motel Conference Center
2500 Central Ave, SW ABQ NM 87104
January 15th, February 19th, March 19th, April 16th, May 21st, June 18th
For more information, directions, and follow up questions, please email:
[email protected] or [email protected]
Currently this model is being explored in the Albuquerque area. Chrysalis hopes to duplicate the model in other areas of the New Mexico Annual Conference.
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