Prayer, Attention, Relationship

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

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Prayer of Sacred Reading, Listening and Seeing, Monday, August 18, 2025, 9:00am

 Zoom 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






Purification of Isaiah's lips, or, putting words into Jeremiah's mouth, or, Ezekiel eats scroll. 


                            Fresco, Church of St. Martin, Nohant-Vico , France, 1135-1140


Isaiah 58:9b-14

9 If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.   11 The LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. 13 If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;  14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.





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 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!
Martin Luther This is most certainly true!


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

Closing Prayer   

Lord God, friend of those in need, your Son Jesus has untied our burdens and healed our spirits.  Move us to praise your gracious will, for in Christ Jesus you have saved us from the deeds of death and opened for us the hidden ways of your love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



Friday, August 8, 2025

Prayer of Sacred Reading, Listening and Seeing, Monday, August 11, 2025, 9:00am

 


 Zoom 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



Luke 12:49-56

49  "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." 54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain," and so it happens. 55  And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat,' and it happens. 56  You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?




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 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!

Martin Luther This is most certainly true!


Voice 1   Matthew 6: 9-13

Voice 2 (from "Celtic Benediction," by John Phillip Newell)

 Voice 3  First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament.

Closing Prayer   

Judge eternal, you love justice and hate oppression; you give peace to those who seek it, and you condemn the rage of violence. Give us courage to take our standwith all victims of bloodshed and greed, and, following your servants and prophets, look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Amen