Sarah: “Do you have a Julie’s Jar for the Caller?”
Julie: “I think Julie’s Jar is empty.”
Sarah: “Why don’t you write about that?”
Julie: “That’s a great idea actually. Emptiness is a vital Christian practice: kenosis.”

Jesus “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

Kenosis is the Greek word for empty/emptying. Empty has negative connotations in our acquisitive culture.
Emptiness is treated as undesirable in a society that craves distraction from boredom and difficult emotions.
Emptying one’s self to the point of obedience is a distinct disadvantage in this time when power over other
people is made into an idol.
In the book Biblical Social Values and Their Meaning, John Pilch notes “Western culture socializes individuals
to develop a metaself as a critical observer who monitors and comments on experience got me wondering
about giving up the “inner critic. The metaself does not allow the total absorption in lived experience that is
the very essence of alternate states of consciousness”. Altered states of consciousness are common in 90%
of the world’s people so Western culture is an outlier. Altered states like meditation, contemplation,
daydreaming, prayer and more are viewed as unproductive in Western culture, yet these kinds of practices can
also be the means by which we participate in the kenosis of Jesus.
The season of Lent is upon us and there is talk among Christians about what to “give up” for Lent. The point of
some sort of fast (giving up something) is to focus on one’s relationship with God. The reflections noted on
“metaself” and “a critical observer who monitors and comments on experience got me wondering about giving
up the “inner critic”: emptying oneself of this false ego. There is also the “inner braggart” I suppose, but my
experience is that people who have this kind of false ego aren’t aware of it.

The season of Lent is, I believe, not a time for giving up. It is a time to return to the healing work God
is trying to do with and within us: individually and even collectively. This requires our willingness to
be humble and gentle with ourselves and others. It requires a combing through what the masks are
that obscure our true identity as Beloved of God and emptying these false faces we wear to protect
ourselves.
May you learn the freedom that can come to you from emptying, from being empty so that you
become more and more aware of the infinite presence of God that has been with you the whole time.