This ritual was originally offered on Zoom. If doing in person, consider setting out an armchair visible to the congregation, or lead a guided meditation encouraging people to imagine a chair.
The first time I went to General Assembly I was struck by one seat in a room of maybe a couple thousand seats. It was a plain, wing-backed armchair set up on the main-stage of the auditorium, and it was there the whole week. No-one ever sat in it, but it was always full. In the Service for the Living Tradition on Thursday night, the leader of the service explained the purpose of the Empty Chair. It stood there empty so we could pause and remember the people who could not be there with us.
Like any chair it is a resting place. Like no other chair, it is a resting place for the people and memories that we carry with us, whether we pay attention to them or not. It is a symbol we can use to draw our awareness toward things that are always present with us, even when we are not mindful of them.
In that spirit, I invite you into this meditation. Settle into wherever you are.
Take a deep breath in. Feel your feet resting on the ground. Feel your legs and back resting on the seat beneath you. Feel your shoulders, neck, your jaw, relax. Take another deep breath in, and let it out.
Let’s begin with a meditation on this chair (picture or physical chair, or lead guided meditation). It is low to the ground. Wide. Sturdy. Notice the light on its fabric. Notice the shadows in its creases. Neither too soft nor too hard. Just right.
[pause]
Look at this chair. Look at the support and the comfort it brings. Rest your weariness on it. Whatever heavy thing you’re carrying with you, rest here and feel it growing lighter.
Continue to relax. This chair is a resting place for the things we carry with us, whether we pay attention to them or not. As you rest, what are the heavy things you’re carrying with you? What pain? Grief? Loneliness? Anger? What heavy things have you been avoiding? Lay them out on the chair with you. Sit with them.
What are the nurturing things that you’re carrying with you? What comfort? Insight? Grace? Lay them out on the chair with you. Lay them among the heavy things.
Lay them side-by-side, looking at them. Sit with them. Bring them into the comfort you’ve found in this place, at this empty seat. Bring your loved ones, your beloved memories, into the comfort of this resting place. Bring them into the view of your awareness.
And in resting here, this chair is no longer empty. This chair is full of all kinds of feelings and experiences? Full of all of the things we carrying with us. Feel your resolve to go on come back to you.
[chime]
[pause 2 minutes]
Take a deep breath in, and let it back out. Feel your jaw, your neck, your shoulders. Feel the seat supporting your back and legs. Feel the ground supporting your feet. Feel the breath filling your lungs as you breath in, and out.
[chime]
This was a practice I designed & offered in a Longest Night service at First Unitarian Church of Des Moines on 20 December 2020.