“Teach Us to Pray” Webinar 2 “Praying the Scriptures” Presented by The Upper Room and Interpreter Magazine March 19, 2013

Hosts THE REV. KATHY NOBLE Editor, Interpreter and Interpreter OnLine THE REV. TOM ALBIN Dean and Director of Ecumenical Relations, The Upper Room

The Upper Room, Interpreter, Monthly Webinars “Lord, Teach Us to Pray”

Presenters THE REV. BETH RICHARDSON ANDREW DREITCER THE REV. KATHY BARBA PIERCE

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To pray the Scriptures …

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina … … is a slow, meditative reading and reflection on a passage of Scripture.

Lectio Divina A process of  Reading  Reflecting  Responding  Resting

Lectio Divina  Pick a portion of Scripture.  Set aside some time when you won’t be interrupted.  Read the text 3 times, listening for a different thing each time.

Lectio Divina First reading:  Listen for the word or phrase that leaps out at you.  What word or phrase calls to you or sticks in your memory?

Lectio Divina Second reading:  Meditate on the word or phrase that speaks to you.  Let it interact with your thoughts, your hopes, your memories.  Consider how the word or phrase is touching your life today.

Lectio Divina Third reading:  Consider how God is calling you forth into doing or being.  Allow God to use these words to shape your life.

Lectio Divina  Spend a few more minutes in prayer and meditation.  Make some notes in your journal.  Go in God’s peace and love.

Audio Lectio

Praying Scripture ….with the Imagination…. Throughout Christian history there have two general paths of praying with Scripture in a slow, receptive style (and both are versions of lectio divina). ______________________________________________________________________ – One way DE-emphasizes the imagination: as you get closer to the experience of God there are fewer mental images and words and thoughts. And there’s another way……

This other way emphasizes…. Using the imagination when praying Scripture. – As images from praying with scripture increase, the experience of God’s presence increases. The images carry you into a sense of God with you. (Especially seen in Ignatius of Loyola – 16 th century Spain and in Franciscan prayer in the Middle Ages, but stretching back to the first centuries of Christianity.) – Engage the “spiritual senses” (“interior” senses that mirror the 5 exterior senses) Imagine yourself into the scene/situation the passage describes. What do you: – See? – Hear? – Taste? – Touch? – Smell? – And who are you in the scene? What are you feeling as it unfolds? What do you say and do?

Basic elements of praying Scripture by using the Imagination. 1.Set aside a time of 20 minutes or so and choose a bit of Scripture, e.g., a story of Jesus. 2. Settle into a sense of stillness, inviting a sense of God’s presence. 3.Read and become more familiar with the Scripture passage, and set it aside. 4.Imagine yourself into the scene using your 5 ‘spiritual senses’ (without worrying about getting details ‘right.’): Who and what is here? What do I hear, see, taste, touch, smell? What do I feel? Who am I? What am I doing and saying? 5.Allow God’s Spirit to carry your imagination into a connection with the life of Jesus….And allow yourself to feel that connection. 6.When this image-filled prayer has run its course, perhaps you might journal what you have experienced. 7.Conclude with a prayer of thanks for God’s presence and what has come to you in this time.

The purpose of this kind of prayer is to intimately connect your life with Jesus’ life so that you… More fully experience God’s loving compassion for you. More fully develop feelings of compassion. More fully develop compassionate ways of behaving that free yourself and others. More fully discern your Christ-like vocation in life.

Praying the Scriptures While Journeying to the Stations “Rethinking Stations of the Cross” Brentwood United Methodist Church Brentwood, Tennessee “Lenten Cross Walk” Broadway Christian Parish United Methodist Church South Bend, Indiana

“Stations of the Resurrection” Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church High Point, North Carolina

Art from “Via Lucis,” home/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light

Presenters THE REV. BETH RICHARDSON ANDREW DREITCER THE REV. KATHY BARBA PIERCE

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“Teach Us to Pray” Webinar 3 Presented by The Upper Room and Interpreter Magazine “Becoming a Praying Congregation” Thursday, April 25, p.m. CDT