Prayer, Attention, Relationship

  • “Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what God says.” — Eugene Peterson, “Eat This Book”

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Prayer of Sacred Reading and Listening, Monday, September 29, 2025, 9:00am

  Zoom Information

                                     Meeting ID: 814 8663 8380


Call to Prayer


Leader    Let Us gather in the welcome of our Triune God, Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. 


Gathered:  Lord, it is good for us to be here. 


Lighting the Christ candle


Leader       Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.  


Gathered:   The Light no darkness can overcome 


Invitation Song to Lectio Divina, written and gifted by music minister John Penoyar of Hinesburg, Vermont


Were not our hearts burning as He spoke

Were not His words words we longed to hear

Were not our eyes opened in the breaking of the bread

Were not our hearts burn -ing as He spoke


Our God is here He walks among us

When two or three of us are gathered in his name

Our God is here and he surrounds us

And all creation sings the glory of his name


And we shall rise, as he is risen

And though he promised us we did not understand

Yes we shall rise as he is risen

And we will know him when he calls to us by name.



Lectio Divina Guidelines


Leader- During the first reading, listen for the overall sense of the passage. Select  a word or phrase that captures your attention, as though the Holy Spirit were flashing a light from the text to your heart, asking you to notice it. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, allow your eyes to be opened and your heart to be warmed as God speaks to you. 

LeaderDuring the second reading let us listen for the feelings, sensations and connections that God's Word stirs in us. What message might God be speaking into your life now?.

Leader- During the final reading let us attend to our own hearts for a response to God’s love. What response will you carry forth from this encounter with the Living Word into the world? 

Leader Let us now rest in the silence and attend once more to the presence of Christ among us. We hold a quiet space to hear God speaking in our hearts.







"Jesus Wanted Poster"
Art Young was a well-known American cartoonist and writer. First published in "The Masses" in 1917.




Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

1 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted. 2:1 I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faithfulness.


The Lord's Prayer in Three Voices

(prayed aloud in sequence by the same three readers for Lectio)



Voice 1 Our Father who art in Heaven
Voice 2 Holy One beyond all names, Eternal Wellspring
Voice 3 O Great Spirit, our Father from above,

Voice 1 Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come
Voice 2 May love rise again in us today 
Voice 3 we honor your name as sacred and holy.

Voice 1 thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Voice 2 with food for every table, shelter for every person,
Voice 3 Bring your good road to us, where the beauty of your              ways in the spirit-world above is reflected in the earth below.

Voice 1 Give us this day our daily bread
Voice 2 and reverence for every living being.
Voice 3 Provide for us day by day--the elk, the buffalo, and the                     salmon. The corn, the squash, and the wild rice. All the                 things we need for each day.

Voice 1 Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against                 us
Voice 2 Forgive us our failings in love,  and free us from all                         falseness, 
Voice 3 Release us from the things we have done wrong, in the         same way we release others for the things done wrong to us.

Voice 1 and Lead us not into temptation,
Voice 2 that the light of our souls may shine 
Voice 3    Guide us away from the things that tempt us to stray                         from your good road

Voice 1     but deliver us from evil
Voice 2    and the strength of our spirits endure for earth and all                     its people
Voice 3 and set us free from the evil one and his worthless ways.

Voice 1 For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours                     forever
Voice 2 this day, tonight,  and forever.  

Voice 1     Amen!
Voice 2 Yes, I commit! 
Voice 3 Aho! May it be so!


Voice 1   Matthew 6: 9-13
Voice 2 (from "Celtic Benediction," by John Phillip Newell)


Closing Prayer 

God of all the ages, you have revealed your grace
in our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we wait patiently on your mercies, strengthen us to live in your justice, that with open hearts we may hear and accomplish your will, through Christ, who lights the way to life everlasting. Amen.



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