Spiritual Practices

Advent Two – Lectio Divina

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage. (If you haven’t studied this passage, you may find this first reading will stir observation questions in you – such as who, what when, where and how).

Step Two – Read it again. Meditate and reflect on the passage. What is it in your life that needs to hear that word or phrase? Sit in silence for a time, attending to the thoughts, images and impressions that begin to come to you. Turn that into prayer.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Advent One – The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
As we forgive those who have sinned against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Father, what an incredible thing to be able to say, our Father. We hallow your name because of all names it is the holy name. As we enter this season of Advent, we pray that Your kingdom will come soon and Your full and complete will be done, here on earth, in our lives, as it is in heaven. Give us the bread of life that can only come through Your Son Jesus Christ, and may we receive it as sustenance to help us prepare for His return. Forgive our sins of complacency, dullness, self-centeredness; and grant us grace as we forgive others. In this season of preparation, keep us strong when we are tempted and deliver us from the evil that would turn our hearts away from Your return. May we heed the warnings of John the Baptist to repent and believe. In the strong assurance of hope that we have in You, we proclaim that yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Advent One – Lectio Quote

Under the spiritual practices tab I wrote about Lectio Divina, which is a way of reading Scripture that goes beyond knowing about the Scripture to receiving it “into our bones” through reading and reflection. One way to approach this is to read it, reflect on it, respond to it, and resolve to listen to God through it. Charlotte Mason puts it like this – we bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest. We can do this in reading Scripture and we can also do it with other forms of reading (or listening or even viewing – Lectio Visio is a real thing!). Obviously, these other practices don’t hold the authority of Scripture but they do yield great wisdom when we slow down and take in what someone else has created!

We bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest.
Charlotte Mason

I have discovered this new way of reading through keeping a commonplace book. I have done this for years, mostly through typing passages from books I’ve read, etc. into my OneNote app. (Which I love!) But I discovered commonplacing quite by accident at the beginning of this year and the person who filmed the YouTube video I watched challenged us to write these out by hand (I have terrible handwriting). I found that as I slowed down to write or copy a passage out, it stayed with me longer, and was legible as well! My commonplace books have really helped form my understanding of Christian formation and the Church calendar. So each week, I have selected a passage from what I’ve been reading that fits our theme for the week and now want to encourage you to take it and “bite, chew, savor and digest!” I may include at some point some of my other meanderings into commonplacing so that you reap the benefit I’ve received as well! This week’s quote comes from John Shea and is more lengthy than I will probably do in the future. But I love what he says about repentance!

“The more deeply one enters into the experience of the sacred the more one is aware of one’s own personal evil and the destructive forces in society. The fact that one is alive to what is possible for humankind sharpens one’s sense that we are fallen people. The awareness of sin is the inevitable consequence of having met grace… This grace-judgment dynamic reveals that the center of Christian life is repentance. This does not mean that the distinguishing mark of the Christian is breast-beating. Feeling sorry, acknowledging guilt, and prolonging regret may be components of the human condition, but they are not what Jesus means by repentance. Repentance is the response to grace that overcomes the past and opens out to a new future…

Repentance distinguishes Christian life as one of struggle and conversion, and pervades it, not with remorse, but with hope. The message of Jesus is not “Repent,” but “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”
John Shea, A Star is Rising: Advent Meditations

Advent One – Confessional Prayer

The grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin, is present in the confession, and even before the confession has been made, has already worked the restoration of which the confession is not the cause but the sign.
Fleming Rutledge

This is a good prayer to either pray through in your journal, or with others. Praying with others, confessing our sins, is a rich way to build community and humility. If you have any questions about this spiritual practice I’ve included an explanation of this in the spiritual practices section.

Begin by centering your heart in God’s presence… Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.” The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Now let Him begin the process of searching your heart. Are there ways you have not honored Christ this week? Where were your thoughts and desires not centered in Him? How have you failed in obedience to Christ?

Then, simply confess in as specific a way you can the sins that trouble you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember – “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in His forgiveness ask him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank Him that you “have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20). How is He calling you to prepare for His return?

Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Book of Common Prayer.

Advent One – Lectio Divina – Prepare

³ A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isa 40:3-5 ESV)

Step One – Read the passage slowly, attentively. Allow yourself to be taken in by the words – pay attention to any word or phrase that strikes you in the passage.

Step Three – What is God saying to you? What do you begin to feel called to?

Step Four – How does God want you to live this passage out? What are you resolved to do?

Since this is the first passage for lectio divina I’ll share how this went for me. The words that stood out for me in my first reading were prepare and make straight. This was pretty straightforward, so I spent some time thinking about what this meant. I went to the passages in the New Testament where this passage is quoted (Mat. 3:3; Mar. 1:2-3; Luk. 3:4). All three passages speak of this prophetic word from Isaiah. I came back to the passage and read it again, slowly. And the phrase that stood out for me then was “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed”. This led me to a deeper reading and contemplation of the passage. And as I answered the last two questions, I sensed God’s presence and heard his call to respond. Practice may help this exercise flow more naturally. Remember, we are guided by truth here, and our interpretation of a particular passage will not be contradicted by other Scriptures.

The Lord’s Prayer – A Guide

[The Lord’s prayer] was among the ultimate privileges allowed only to those in Christ. It took parrhesia, Holy Spirit boldness, to dare to say Our Father. That is reflected in the introductory formula used in the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by the Orthodox to this day. “And make us worthy that we joyously and without presumption may be made bold to invoke Thee, the heavenly God and to say Our Father…” It is a prayer for Christians, and only Christians are in a position to pray it, because only they know God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (The Forgotten Father, Thomas Smail, 177-178).

I have taken the template of the Lord’s Prayer and written one to fit each week’s theme. I found it very inspiring! But I would also invite you to consider writing your own version, using this guide. And please if you can find The Forgotten Father, please read it!!

W.S.C refers to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I love it because if frames theology within the context of questions and answers!

1. Acknowledgment of who God is:

Our Father in heaven, holy is Your name.

*WSC: The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, which is… teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.

Hallowed be thy name – we pray that God would enable us, and others to glorify him in all that whereby he makes himself known; and that he would dispose all things to his own glory.

2. Prayer for His Will

Your kingdom come; Your will be done.

On earth (in my heart) as it is in heaven.

WSC: thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

Thy will be done- we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.

3. Petition

Give us this day our daily bread (manna) (all that we truly need for this day…)

WSC: In this petition, we pray that of God’s free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy his blessing with them.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (Jam 1:17 ESV)

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phi 4:11-13 ESV)

4. Confession and Repentance

and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us – (may we too have your heart of grace…)

WSC: In the fifth petition, which is… we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon our sins, which we are then encouraged to ask, because of his grace, we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.

Are there people you need to forgive?

5. Prayer for protection:

and lead us not into temptation* (testing) (I know too well how weak and frail I am in the face of testing and trials and even temptation) but deliver us from evil.

* Save us from this time of trial.

WSC: In the sixth petition… we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin or support us and deliver us when we are tempted.

¹²Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, an (Jam 1:12-15 ESV)

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (Jam 1:2-4 ESV)

See also – Ps. 66:10; Ps. 139:23-24; Mt. 26:41; Jn 17:15.

6. Acknowledgement of His Sovereignty – appropriate time for intercession

For the Kingdom of God and all its power and glory belongs to You – both now and forever.

(we desire Lord to fully trust You and Your sovereignty).

WSC: The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is thy kingdom…Amen, teaches us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him; and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.

As you do this, or when you read the weekly Lord’s Prayer the reflections below might be helpful.

I am moved in this prayer by:

I am called in this prayer to:

I hear God saying to me in this prayer:

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina (Latin for Sacred Reading) is an ancient practice that Christians have used as a way to take to heart the Word of God. It involves reading a short passage of Scripture and taking the time to meditate on it, pray through it, and seek how to live it out. As such it helps the Christian to listen to God through His Word. Because the Word is living and active, as we approach it reflectively, we come to understand God’s Word through our senses and intellect, to be nourished by it, and to receive Christ into our lives in a tangible way. We read, we reflect, we respond, and we resolve. Put another way – we bite, we chew, we savor, and we digest. What a picture that paints as we seek to describe this kind of listening!

Because the Word is living and active, as we approach it reflectively, we come to understand God’s Word through our senses and intellect, to be nourished by it, and to receive Christ into our lives in a tangible way.

It’s important, however, that we not simply grab a passage out of context and make it all about us or our needs. This reminds me of a story I heard often when I first came to Christ. A certain man came to God and asked Him how to find a wife. He then opened his Bible to a passage that read – “grace be unto you” and decided this was God’s way of telling him to look for a wife named Grace!

The best balance to Lectio Divina is to first study a passage in its context. There are some very basic observation tools that help us to do this. If we come to a passage that we desire to listen for God’s Word to us, a natural curiosity to its source, context and place gives us those tools. Look it up! Add some notes about the passage.

An ancient practice for Jewish teachers of the law is called Midrash. This refers to a form of interpretation that allows the teacher or rabbi to apply his own meaning to the text. However, the Hebrew root of this word is “drash” which meant to study, inquire, seek, explain, or investigate. This is a great way of approaching any text of Scripture. We ask questions like, who, what, when, where, and how. We look at repeated phrases or words; we do word studies where we follow the word we’re looking at and see where it is used in other places of scripture. Suffice it to say that study helps keep us on track as we look to read the text meditatively.

Jean Khoury, author of Lectio Divina: Spiritual Reading of the Bible, writes that in approaching the Bible, we must distinguish two levels: the level of understanding and the level of listening. This, I think, implies that we use both mind and heart as we come to the Word. A much-loved professor at Wheaton College, Clyde Kilby, used to tell his male students, “men, you can’t kiss your girl and think about it at the same time. In essence he was saying- both practices are essential – reason and experience.

One story from Scripture helps tease this out. In Luke 24, two disciples, after the death of Christ, were on their way to a place called Emmaus. They were distraught over what had just happened and discouraged as well. A man comes up and asks to join their journey. He then asks them why they are so downcast -and they, in shock, say to him – “you mean you don’t know what just happened?” As they walk, this man begins to open the Scriptures to them, explaining to them why what happened to their teacher, Jesus, had to happen. Once they reach their destination, they ask this man to join them for supper. At first, he declines but then agrees. As they were at table, this man took the bread, and in that moment, they recognized him as Jesus. This is what the text says: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luk 24:30-31a).

“All of a sudden, we just know: prayer is a conversation in which God’s word has the initiative and we, for the moment, can be nothing more than listeners.
Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Another author puts it like this: “All of a sudden, we just know: prayer is a conversation in which God’s word has the initiative and we, for the moment, can be nothing more than listeners. The essential thing is for us to hear God’s word and discover from it how to respond to him. His word is the truth, opened up to us… God’s word is himself, his most vital, his innermost self: his only begotten Son, of the same nature as himself, sent into the world to bring it home, back to him. And so, God speaks to us from heaven and commends to us his Word, dwelling on earth for a while: “This is my beloved Son: listen to him” (Mat. 17:5) (Prayer, Han Urs Von Balthasar, Ignatius Press).

Each week, I will include a passage that I found relevant to the theme of the week and ask you to consider reading it reflectively.

We can also apply this approach to other kinds of writing. While this never carries the weight of taking in God’s Word, it can help us slow down and take in the meaning of certain quotes or prayers or other writings. Some weeks then, I will include a quote or prayer from my studies that hopefully will help, challenge, or inspire you.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus. Collect from the second Sunday in Advent.

Confessional Prayer

There are many practices of prayer in the Christian life: prayers of petition, intercession, praise, worship, and others. One of those prayers that I think is important for the Christian is a regular time of prayer that helps us to confess our sins and receive forgiveness. One such prayer is traditionally called the prayer of examen. Developed in the 15^th century by St. Ignatius of Loyola, it has been used for centuries as a way to reflect on the day’s activities and give it over to God. This might involve ways of seeing God’s movement in the day, or it might be a way to release troubles or challenges we faced that day. Traditionally this prayer begins with acknowledging God’s presence. It continues with gratitude and reviewing the day and ends with asking God to show us how He wants you to respond.

The prayer of examen is not explicitly found in Scripture but the principles are certainly biblical. This practice has made a comeback in recent years as many Christians, especially Evangelicals, have been drawn to a deeper prayer life. Unfortunately, most of the versions I’ve seen omit what I think is critical for Christian formation – and that is regular confession of sin and receiving of forgiveness. One writer talks about the “two doors” to this prayer – the first being an examen of consciousness (being aware of God’s presence with us) and the second an examen of conscience (where we have fallen short).

I have found as well that most of us are probably able to identify sin in our lives but don’t know what to do about it other than feel guilty, so we just tend to ignore it. But our life with Christ is shallow without this practice of confession because this is the heart of the gospel and the very thing our baptisms and the Communion Table speak to – taking our place in Christ’s death and in His resurrection!

Leanne Payne in The Healing Presence quotes William Barclay as he reminds us: “An easy-going attitude to sin is always dangerous. It has been said that our one security against sin lies in our being shocked at it. Carlyle said that men must see the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin. When we cease to take a serious view of sin we are in a perilous position. It is not a question of being critical and condemnatory; it is a question of being wounded and shocked. It was sin that crucified Jesus Christ. It was to free men from sin that he died. No Christian should take an easy-going view of it”.

This is also why I believe this prayer should always include an intentional receiving of Christ’s work on the Cross for that sin, for that struggle. We need to receive forgiveness! Perhaps it might better be said that we need to walk into the forgiveness of sin that Christ died for. He died once and for all time, but we often fail to hold onto that reality and so regular confession of sin and its resulting forgiveness becomes a way for us to apply His work to our lives.

For that reason, I am calling this regular practice of prayer – Confessional Prayer. It follows the principles of the prayer of examen but allows us to embrace our freedom in Christ through its adherence to dealing with sin.

There are four steps to this prayer. I’m including scriptures that I hope will help you go through each step

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness
Lamentations 3:22-23

Begin by centering your heart in God’s presence… “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” Psalm 145.8. Give thanks to Him that you do not need to hide anything from him. Affirm that He is faithful and good, and his mercy and grace are “new every morning.”

Ask the Spirit to show you any sin you need to bring to Christ. Bring that to your confession. The list of questions listed below might help.

“Search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

As the Holy Spirit is revealing those things you need to bring to Christ, simply confess as specifically as you can the sins that trouble you. Don’t rush through this process. Simply rest in God’s presence as He does this.

Now choose to let this go and receive Christ’s forgiveness for you. Remember:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jo 1:9 ESV)

And finally commit this confession to the Lord. As you rest in his forgiveness ask him how to walk this out. Ask for the supernatural power of His Spirit to give you what you need to move forward. Thank him that:

“[you] have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [you] who live, but Christ lives in [you]” (Gal. 2:20).

I’m including at the end of this explanation a series of questions that you might find helpful in this prayer. At the same time, we are not called to introspect and try and find all those “hidden sins” we think must be there deep in our unconscious minds. I agree with the author of this quote: “The Examen is not primarily concerned with good or bad actions but with the impulses that drive them”. At the same time, making this prayer a regular practice of our prayer life will help us more quickly identify our diseased sins and attitudes.

In some weeks of this guide, I will include ways that this prayer might help us with the themes of that week. At other times, it will simply stand on its own.

“The act of penitence and the reception of pardon are definite acts – a very real transaction with God, and we fail in this when we turn from God to seek feelings or states of our own minds.”
Leanne Payne, Real Presence

I want to return to why guilt and shame can keep us from this practice of confession and pardon. It has to do with the distinction between our feelings about the guilt or shame and the objective act of confession itself. C.S. Lewis struggled much of his life with introspection, the drowning as it were, in the waters of subjectivity. He, like many of us, believed that his feelings about his sins were the most important thing about them. And because of that, he had a hard time trusting the act of receiving forgiveness for his sins. He might confess his sin and try to “receive” pardon, but the guilt would remain in his unconscious mind and pop up at the worst times! When that happens to us I think we believe that if we don’t hold onto the guilt or shame then we are not sufficiently repentant. Lewis would go on to conquer this bad habit and entered joyfully into confession and pardon!

Confession and pardon are acts of the will and are not to be swallowed up by our feelings or subjective beliefs. Quoting Leanne Payne here – “The act of penitence and the reception of pardon are definite acts – a very real transaction with God, and we fail in this when we turn from God to seek feelings or states of our own minds.” (I highly recommend reading Real Presence by Leanne Payne, chapter 6 and or looking up what Lewis wrote about this subject). When we find that we can be honestly objective about both the sin and the pardon- it lifts a weight off our souls that is incredibly freeing.

Helpful Questions for Examining your Heart

Where have I been drawn into the mindset of the world?
Where were/are my thoughts and desires not ordered toward God?
Where have I resisted the voice of God in this season of my life?
Is there a part of my heart/life that I keep back from God? a place I am unwilling to surrender?
Do I compare myself to others? Either in ways that convince me I will never measure up? or in ways that make me feel superior?
Where did I consciously sin today?
What patterns of sin do I struggle with these days?
How have I failed in love?
How have I failed in obedience to Christ?

The Lord’s Prayer

Notes from The Forgotten Father, by Thomas Smail

If any of what I’ve written inspires you to read more, please, please read The Forgotten Father by Tom Smail. I’m just including some of my highlighted text for this section on the Lord’s Prayer. I can’t do it justice but perhaps you’ll be inspired to pick this book up!

Abba is vocative; it is prayer before it is theology. There is a right theology of God’s fatherhood, but the data for it are discoverable only as we actually draw near in prayer to the Father.
The Forgotten Father

When God is called Father in Paul and the synoptics the context is most often prayer and worship, which is not surprising when we remember that the word Abba itself goes back to Gethsemane and the prayer life of Jesus that reached its climax there. And of course, this address to the Father is central and definitive in the prayer Jesus gives to his disciples. (p. 175)

The hallowed name – The first petition, Your Name be hallowed is obviously specially relevant to our subject. God’s name has been uniquely revealed to be Father and in our worship the character of his fatherhood is to be glorified and proclaimed. (p. 178)

A man-centered religion will begin and end with confession and petition, with our own sins and need in the center. But when the center ceases to be “Lord, bless me,” and has become “Bless the Lord”, when we begin to praise God for his grace, power, and love as Father… then the name of the Father is being hallowed by being made first and central. (p. 179)

The coming kingdom – That the kingdom has come gives the Christian prayer, over against the similar Jewish one, its peculiar confidence, that it keeps on coming give is its distinctive expectation; that it will come completely as and when God decides, gives it its unique hope (p. 180)

The provided bread – “The food which God provides is food for body and soul; he gives men what they need, and he gives them a foretaste of the rich provision available in the kingdom of God.” (p. 181)

The available pardon – It is in the power of the cross that we pray this prayer for pardon, knowing that the account can be squared because the debt has been pain… Forgiveness received manifests its reality in forgiveness shared. The forgiven community is also a forgiving community among its own membership and towards its enemies outside. (p. 182)

Freedom from temptation – “Cause us not to succumb to temptation,” which gives a good and natural sense. It is in fact a prayer for sanctification for those who are on their way to holiness and find it strewn with many traps and allurements. (p. 183)

The setting of the Lord’s prayer within Luke 11:1-13 has reminded us once more that even in the synoptic teaching Christian prayer is seen as at least implicitly trinitarian. It is addressed to the Father, the way to whom is through Christ the Son who teaches his disciples to pray, and the possibility of that praying is the gift of the Holy Spirit. (p. 184)

Aghh – I have to stop here – but please find this treasure and read it devotionally!