This past Lent, the Rev. Laura Di Panfilo led a “Lenten Meditation and Motion Series” at St. Paul’s Church in Mount Lebanon, combining her gifts as a certified Kripalu yoga instructor and as a priest. Rev. Di Panfilo observes: “It’s a Lenten practice and discipline that offers another opportunity to connect with God and with one another.” In sum, about 60 people participated in the series which provided a space to slow down, reflect and be in fellowship.
Each week, the class focused on a different Lenten theme through meditation, prayer and movement. One week the theme was stillness and the class read the story about Jesus calming the storm, had a time of reflection on that scripture and then spent some time focusing on breath and movement, ending the class with stillness. Rev. Di Panfilo remarks, “What people have told me is that they’re grateful for the time and opportunity to slow down. Even though Lent is a time where we’re called to be reflective, it’s hard to set that time aside in our lives. It’s the first thing to go when busy. I really cherish being able to hold that space and offer people the opportunity to do it together.”
The class met in the church’s undercroft on Sunday afternoons after the service and was one of many ways the parish came together during Lent on the weekends. In the same space over the course of a few days, a fish fry was held, scouts raced cars, and parishioners gathered for Sunday morning coffee hour. By Sunday afternoon, the space was transformed with candles to help participants in the “Lenten Meditation and Motion Series” enter into the practice. Rev. Di Panfilo comments: “It’s neat to think of all of the things you can do in a church space and the ways a parish can come together in just 48 hours.”
In reflecting on the purpose of the class and the experience as a whole, Rev. Di Panfilo says, “To me, all of Lent is an invitation to live a little differently in how I use my time, and this is really what the class was intended to be. The class was meant to invite people to create to reconnect with God, to reconnect with one another and to reconnect with the church.”
St. Paul’s plans to host this Lenten series again next year and extends the invitation to all who are interested and want to participate.
–By Alisa Huston