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

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

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85459472625?pwd=RWY5b1hJRXRrZi9OMmVMeXhPZU5XQT09

 

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.