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For this month we are going to adjust and simplify our weekly routine.  On Mondays (when that day isn’t a holiday) we will continue with the day’s liturgical prayer.  For the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Fridays, you will be invited to read and pray one of the readings prescribed for that week in the lectionary we follow at St. Stephen’s.  Each day will be a different reading, and the reading for each Friday will be the passage that the sermon on Sunday will be based on.  This is a special opportunity for you to sit with God with that reading, before you hear what the message is on Sunday.   We hope you find this to be a life-giving shift that complements the rhythms of this summer in your life.  After Labour Day we will return to our more varied weekly routine.

One way for you to pray the scriptures is using a practice called Lectio Divina, or devotional reading.  For centuries Christians have engaged in a practice of devotional reading as a way to engage more deeply with God’s words to us.  It is a way we can not just read scripture, but experience it. 

“We understand what the wind is by feeling it blow on our face.  We know what snow is like when we make a snowball or watch snowflakes collect on our mittens.  This sort of knowing transcends the intellect; it is direct, sensate and experienctial.  Devotional reading, or lectio divina, invites us into this kind of knowing.” 

( From: Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us”)

However you choose to pray with these passages, I pray that each will be a rich time for you, when you meet and sit with God, surrounded by His complete love for you.

As you come to the reading given for each day this month, here is the simple five movement practice called Lectio Divina that you may want to follow to engage with God through these readings in a more personal way.

1.      Silencio - Quiet yourself.

Bring yourself into the presence of God.  Become quiet and offer yourself to God.

2.     Lectio - Read the word. 

Read the passage slowly and out loud.  Allow the words to resonate and settle in your heart.  Linger on any word or phrase that catches your attention and lights up for you.  Sit with the word or phrase and savour it as a word of God for you.

3.     Meditatio - Meditate. 

Read the passage again and listen for where the word connects with your life right now.  If you like and if the reading lends itself to this, imagine yourself entering the story, and pay attention to what you hear, experience, see and feel. 

4.   Oratio - Respond and pray.

Read the passage one more time and listen attentively.  Respond to God with what you are thinking and feeling, honestly and without reservation.  You don’t need to censure your thoughts.  Talk freely with God about what has come to you in this time.

5.   Comptemplatio - Contemplate, rest and wait in the presence of God.

Deeply receive God’s Word and rest in his presence and love.  Ask God for the grace to take God’s Word for you today with you throughout the rest of your day.

May God’s blessing be upon you each day,

Dianne