Communal Lectio Divina prayer, Tuesday, August 29, 8am

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Meeting ID: 854 5947 2625.   Passcode: 684195

Lectio Divina Process:

    1st reading:  Read:  Listen for the overall sense of the passage.  Choose one word or phrase that captures your attention as you listen, as if the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from your heart to the text , asking  you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what opens your eyes or warms your heart as God is speaking to you?

    2nd reading: Reflect- What feelings, sensations or memories are you experiencing? Describe something God be telling you as you listen.

    3rd reading:  Respond-  Are you moved to say something to God in response to the meanings and observations you are hearing? Is there a request, a question, or realization that you would like God to hear from you? 

    After the 3rd Sharing, Share the Silence: Rest in God-  Hold a quiet space to listen to God speaking in your heart,  beyond words.

                                Frank Wesley, "Moses and the Burning Bush."  

May the presence of God in our hearts and here among us bring us light, warmth, and love.

Matthew 16:21-28

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Lord's Prayer  (recited together).  

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  for thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Creator God,
you call us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit
through loving your creation and our sisters and brothers.
Open our hearts in compassion

and make us faithful stewards of the fragile bounty of this earth
so that we may be entrusted with the riches of heaven. Amen. 

Lectio Divina Listening Prayer, Tuesday, August 22, 8:00 am

Join Zoom Meeting (Jed hosting for Immanuel Lutheran Church in Holden, Massachusetts)

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Meeting ID: 854 5947 2625.   Passcode: 684195

Lectio Divina Process:

    1st reading:  Read:  Listen for the overall sense of the passage.  Choose one word or phrase that captures your attention as you listen, as if the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from your heart to the text , asking  you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what opens your eyes or warms your heart as God is speaking to you?

    2nd reading: Reflect- What feelings, sensations or memories are you experiencing? Describe something God be telling you as you listen.

    3rd reading:  Respond-  Are you moved to say something to God in response to the meanings and observations you are hearing? Is there a request, a question, or realization that you would like God to hear from you? 

    After the 3rd Sharing, Share the Silence: Rest in God-  Hold a quiet space to listen to God speaking in your heart,  beyond words.

Chartres Cathedral: Right embrasure figures of central portal, north transept. From left, figures depict Isaiah  holding scroll, Jeremiah holding cross-embossed disk and standing on male figure crouched and listening; Simeon holding infant Jesus and standing on crouching figure; John the Baptist with the lamb of God, standing on dragon; St. Peter wearing tiara and pope's vestments with keys hanging from right wrist, and standing on rock.

Matthew 16:13-20

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Lord's Prayer  (recited together).  

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  for thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer

We praise your abiding guidance, O God, for you sent us Jesus, our Teacher and Messiah, to model for us the way of love for the whole universe. Loving God, open our ears to hear your word
and draw us closer to you, that the whole world may be one with you
as you are one with us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Heart Listening Prayer, Tuesday, August 15, 2023, 8am

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Meeting ID: 854 5947 2625.   Passcode: 684195

Lectio Divina Process:

    1st reading:  Read:  Listen for the overall sense of the passage.  Choose one word or phrase that captures your attention as you listen, as if the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from your heart to the text , asking  you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what opens your eyes or warms your heart as God is speaking to you?

    2nd reading: Reflect- What feelings, sensations or memories are you experiencing? Describe something God be telling you as you listen.

    3rd reading:  Respond-  Are you moved to say something to God in response to the meanings and observations you are hearing? Is there a request, a question, or realization that you would like God to hear from you? 

    After the 3rd Sharing, Share the Silence: Rest in God-  Hold a quiet space to listen to God speaking in your heart,  beyond words.

              "Christ the Teacher", Peter Koenig

Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" 13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.

22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."26 He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Lord's Prayer  (recited together).  

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  for thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer

We praise your abiding guidance, O God,
for you sent us Jesus, our Teacher and Messiah,
to model for us the way of love for the whole universe.
Loving God, open our ears to hear your word
and draw us closer to you, that the whole world may be one with you as you are one with us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Communal Sacred Reading, Tuesday, August 8, 2023 8am

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Meeting ID: 854 5947 2625.   Passcode: 684195

Lectio Divina Process:

    1st reading:  Read:  Listen for the overall sense of the passage.  Choose one word or phrase that captures your attention as you listen, as if the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from your heart to the text , asking  you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what opens your eyes or warms your heart as God is speaking to you?

    2nd reading: Reflect- What feelings, sensations or memories are you experiencing? Describe something God be telling you as you listen.

    3rd reading:  Respond-  Are you moved to say something to God in response to the meanings and observations you are hearing? Is there a request, a question, or realization that you would like God to hear from you? 

    After the 3rd Sharing, Share the Silence: Rest in God-  Hold a quiet space to listen to God speaking in your heart,  beyond words.

Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 1859-1937. Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water

Matthew 14: 22-33

        22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." 28 Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29 He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Lord's Prayer  (recited together).  

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  for thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer

• Through the storms of life, O God, you are with your people in the person of Jesus your Son. Calm our fears and strengthen our faith that we may never doubt his presence among us but proclaim that he is your Son, risen from the dead, living for ever and ever. Amen.