The Practice of Prayer: Lectio Divina
Lectio Divina is the practice of praying scripture as used by the early church and by Christians throughout history. It is a tool that I highly recommend as a means of stimulating and enhancing the depth of your prayer life.
"Praying scripture" allows god to direct the content and direction of our prayer. it opens us up to hearing the Bible as God speaking His word to us in the midst of our particular circumstances.
Lectio divina means "holy reading." This is how it works:
1. Select a short passage of scripture. The Psalms are often a great place to get started (but usually a selection of ten or twelve verses or less is best).
2. Be purposeful. Sit comfortably, breathe deeply, relax your body, acknowledge and relase distractions and invite God's presence.
3. Read the passage (1 or 2 times to begin with). Stop when a word or phrase stops you, stands oyut or attracts you. Is there a word or phrase that impresses you? Take in the passage for one to two minutes.
4. Read the passage again. Listen to discover how the passage touches or speaks into your life today. What does it mean? What is God trying to say to you? Do not try and force a meaning. Be open. This is or should be a refelctive process, involving thinking, feeling and intuition. allow for one to two minutes of silence, creating openness to the Spirit.
5. Read the passage once more. Listen to discover the invitation. What is God calling me to do or be today or this week? Be aware of resistance. Open your heart and will to the action that may be called for. allow 2 or 3 minutes of silence and respond to God.
6. Share and pray. Take time to express what you have heard from God. If you are alone, you might want to journal impressions, or words or a prayer that expresses your response to God. In a group or when you have a chance to do so, share alud the word image, or invtiation you received.
You will not always receive a strong or powerful message from this practice, but it is usually very rewarding, especially to those who do it regularly.
Blessings
Pastor Dmitri
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The Practice of Prayer
It has been a while since my last posting. It has been quite a while. I often have things I want to put up on the web site, but I still need to learn how to do it to make it accessible ans user friendly. Please pray for me.
Speaking of prayer...
A powerful way that we can and should spend time communicating with God is a daily time of reflecting upon our day. It can also be a time of reflecting upon how God has been present with us throughout the day. This can be done by ourselves or with others. For some, this can be a wonderful time of solitude. For others it can be a discussion/prayer around the dinner table.
This process, is also called the "prayer of daily examen." It helps to make us more aware of moments that first we might overlook, but that are actually significant to the direction of our lives.
Here's how you do it:
1. Recall that you are in the presence of God. While we are always in God's presence, in prayer we seek to put ourselves in a place where we are more attentive to His presence. God knows us all intimately (yet surprisingly, some of us feel we hardly know Him at all). in John 15, Jesus says, "Abide with me and I will abide in you." This is an invitation for us to make our home in Him as we undertake to be still and know that He is God, try to be aware that God is present both within and around you.
2. Look at your day with gratitude. After placing ourselves in a place of reminding ourselves of God's presence, spend time giving thanks to God for the gifts received today. Simple things ought to come to mind, like a good night's rest, the company of a good friend, the pleasure of a good meal or the joy of a child's laughter. Moving through the blessings and gifts of the day, give thanks to God for His presence in big and small things.
3. Seek Help from the Holy Spirit. Ask God that His Spirit lead us through looking at our actions and attitudes. Ask for help to see the motives of our hearts, to see the gifts He has given and how we have responded or not responded to them. Pray that you might learn and be shaped as you reflect. This is not about dwelling on or being consumed by guilt over your shortcomings. It is a gentle look toward God, creating an opportunity for growth of self and relationship with God.
4. Review your day. Take the most time here. Review the entire day, like looking at a movie in your mind. Take notice of the details and how you acted in specific situations. Take notice of the motives and feelings you experienced at the time. Give God thanks for His presence and His love as you seek His leading for tomorrow. end by giving thanks for the gift of another day and for all that you received.
I want to assure you that if you practice this regularly it will help you grow deeper in your relationship with God, it will help you to appreciate how truly blessed you are and it will help you to end your day with a sense of peace and comfort.
Stayed tuned for more on prayer.
Blessings
Pastor Dmitri
Speaking of prayer...
A powerful way that we can and should spend time communicating with God is a daily time of reflecting upon our day. It can also be a time of reflecting upon how God has been present with us throughout the day. This can be done by ourselves or with others. For some, this can be a wonderful time of solitude. For others it can be a discussion/prayer around the dinner table.
This process, is also called the "prayer of daily examen." It helps to make us more aware of moments that first we might overlook, but that are actually significant to the direction of our lives.
Here's how you do it:
1. Recall that you are in the presence of God. While we are always in God's presence, in prayer we seek to put ourselves in a place where we are more attentive to His presence. God knows us all intimately (yet surprisingly, some of us feel we hardly know Him at all). in John 15, Jesus says, "Abide with me and I will abide in you." This is an invitation for us to make our home in Him as we undertake to be still and know that He is God, try to be aware that God is present both within and around you.
2. Look at your day with gratitude. After placing ourselves in a place of reminding ourselves of God's presence, spend time giving thanks to God for the gifts received today. Simple things ought to come to mind, like a good night's rest, the company of a good friend, the pleasure of a good meal or the joy of a child's laughter. Moving through the blessings and gifts of the day, give thanks to God for His presence in big and small things.
3. Seek Help from the Holy Spirit. Ask God that His Spirit lead us through looking at our actions and attitudes. Ask for help to see the motives of our hearts, to see the gifts He has given and how we have responded or not responded to them. Pray that you might learn and be shaped as you reflect. This is not about dwelling on or being consumed by guilt over your shortcomings. It is a gentle look toward God, creating an opportunity for growth of self and relationship with God.
4. Review your day. Take the most time here. Review the entire day, like looking at a movie in your mind. Take notice of the details and how you acted in specific situations. Take notice of the motives and feelings you experienced at the time. Give God thanks for His presence and His love as you seek His leading for tomorrow. end by giving thanks for the gift of another day and for all that you received.
I want to assure you that if you practice this regularly it will help you grow deeper in your relationship with God, it will help you to appreciate how truly blessed you are and it will help you to end your day with a sense of peace and comfort.
Stayed tuned for more on prayer.
Blessings
Pastor Dmitri
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)