Prayer, Attention, Relationship

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

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Prayer of Sacred Reading and Listening (Lectio Divina), Monday, April 6, 2026, 9:00am

  Zoom Meeting ID: 814 8663 8380        Passcode: scripture

Link:   https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81486638380pwd=elNs





"Christ Displaying His Wounds" 
Galli, Giovanni Antonio 





John 20:19-31        Beholding the wounds of the risen Christ

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.



The Lord’s Prayer in Three Voices

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 help the strength of our spirits endure for earth and all its people

Voice 3  and set us free from the evil one & his worthless ways.

Voice 1 For the kingdom, the power, & 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!


Texts  from  Matthew 6: 9-13 (NRSV),  

"Celtic Benediction," by John Phillip Newell,        
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament.





Closing Prayer

Blessed are you,   O God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom we receive the legacy of a living hope,
born again not only from his death. but also from his resurrection.
May we who have received forgiveness of sins
through the Holy Spirit live to set others free,
until, at length, we enter the inheritance 
that is imperishable and unfading,
where Christ lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit. Amen.