2025

Written by Soul Care | May 15, 2025 5:45:00 PM

*We encourage you to pause the audio after any reflection moments or questions. There is also a setting on the player above to slow down the audio if that helps.

Welcome to our weekly Friday Check-in for May 16th, 2025 ✅

If you are new to Soul Care, WELCOME!! We are so glad you are here. We have a weekly rhythm of checking in together on Fridays. We use Soul Care's Page, Person, Plan framework to create a weekly rhythm and prepare ourselves for Sabbath rest.

To begin, practice a few minutes of silence and stillness before moving through the three invitations below.

Let's begin with,

Page: An Invitation to Reflection

Today, read or listen to Luke 7:1-17 (MSG) three times.

When he finished speaking to the people, he entered Capernaum. A Roman captain there had a servant who was on his deathbed. He prized him highly and didn’t want to lose him. When he heard Jesus was back, he sent leaders from the Jewish community asking him to come and heal his servant. They came to Jesus and urged him to do it, saying, “He deserves this. He loves our people. He even built our meeting place.”

Jesus went with them. When he was still quite far from the house, the captain sent friends to tell him, “Master, you don’t have to go to all this trouble. I’m not that good a person, you know. I’d be embarrassed for you to come to my house, even embarrassed to come to you in person. Just give the order and my servant will get well. I’m a man under orders; I also give orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Taken aback, Jesus addressed the accompanying crowd: “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust anywhere in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works.” When the messengers got back home, they found the servant up and well.

Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I tell you: Get up.” The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.

They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country.

Spend a few minutes journaling in response to this passage:

What stands out to you most? Is there a particular word or phrase?
As you read through it a second time… ask God, “to what area of my life does that particular word or phrase connect?”
And as you read a third time, be asking God, “Is there an invitation for me?” Is there a response of some kind that God is inviting you into?

Next up is,

Person: An Invitation to Connection

Luke’s Gospel is often deeply attuned to questions of power, status, and economic vulnerability. Here are some “connection” reflection questions:

When you consider your relationships with others, do you pause to reflect on your own power, status, or economic position? How might that shape the way you show up in those relationships?

The centurion, a man of status and power, recognizes Jesus’ authority, Luke uses this to highlight faith emerging from within a dominant system. This Roman captain is a Gentile, an outsider with authority, and gets lifted up as the model of belief—not a disciple, not a religious leader.

Like the centurion, are there moments when you’ve recognized someone else’s authority—not because of their title, but because of their spiritual depth or moral clarity? What does it mean to honor that kind of authority?

In contrast, the widow’s loss of her only son is not just emotional but a financial and social crisis; without her son, the widow becomes socially invisible, economically marginalized. Jesus’ response restores both her dignity and survival.

Are there people in your life or community whose voices or needs are overlooked because of their lack of power or status? How might Jesus’ attention to the widow invite you to respond differently?

These two stories form a mirror: A powerful man who acknowledges he’s not worthy. A powerless woman whom society sees as not valuable. In both cases, Jesus interrupts the system. It’s like Jesus is flipping the social script—honoring humility in the powerful and lifting up those society has forgotten. He doesn’t just heal or raise the dead, he restores agency.

In what ways might you, consciously or unconsciously, protect social systems and relational dynamics that benefit you? How does Jesus’ response to both the centurion and the widow challenge those systems?
Jesus restored agency to both the powerful and the powerless—what power or influence do you hold, and how might He be calling you to use it in service of others today?

Finally we have,

Plan: An Invitation to Intention

Throughout the month of May, we are continuing to meditate on the theme”a life of service” and John 13:1-17.
What if a simple invitation to a life of service is:

Check your heart before you ‘Add to Cart!’

How might you be invited to consume less, so you can give more and live with intention?

Finally, spend as much time in silent prayer as you need.

Closing prayer:

Lord, help me see where You are restoring my agency.
Give me wisdom to use my power and financial resources with humility and courage to serve with love.
Disrupt what needs disrupting in me. Amen.

Thanks for checking in today!

Have a blessed Friday,

Team Soul Care

View full post