Spiritual Practices: Visio Divina
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
Pentecost
JESUS MAFA. Pentecost, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48388 [retrieved May 22, 2021]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
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The festival of Pentecost celebrates the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit came upon the faithful disciples of Jesus to inspire and energize them. They told the story of what God had done for them in Jesus; they preached, they baptized, they healed, they formed communities, they invited the world to join them. The spread of the early church throughout the Mediterranean regions in the generations following Jesus astonished the world.
The season following Pentecost is known in some traditions as “ordinary time,” when green signifies the church’s continuing work. Discipleship is explored in all its manifestations; to go by faith, not sight; to dance with joy before the presence of God; to test the limits of a sacred boundary and explore the meaning of the Sabbath. The church tells the story, preaching, baptizing, and healing in Jesus’ name. We seek to encounter the passionate flames of the Spirit of christ where they are to be found in the world: sometimes by comfortable hearths, rarely in burning bushes, often on the street around a makeshift fire. We search for the encounter wherever people gather in Jesus’ name to seek the warmth and light of a community fostering Justice and love. Red is the color given the festival of Pentecost: the red of the Spirit’s flames warming, illuminating, fueling the work of the church of Christ in the wide world.
The season following Pentecost is known in some traditions as “ordinary time,” when green signifies the church’s continuing work. Discipleship is explored in all its manifestations; to go by faith, not sight; to dance with joy before the presence of God; to test the limits of a sacred boundary and explore the meaning of the Sabbath. The church tells the story, preaching, baptizing, and healing in Jesus’ name. We seek to encounter the passionate flames of the Spirit of christ where they are to be found in the world: sometimes by comfortable hearths, rarely in burning bushes, often on the street around a makeshift fire. We search for the encounter wherever people gather in Jesus’ name to seek the warmth and light of a community fostering Justice and love. Red is the color given the festival of Pentecost: the red of the Spirit’s flames warming, illuminating, fueling the work of the church of Christ in the wide world.
Imaging the Word An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Volume 3
We remember that your church
was born in wind and fire,
not to sweep us heavenward
like a presumptuous tower,
but to guide us down
the dusty roads of this world
so that we may lift up the downcast,
heal the broken,
reconcile what is lost,
and bring peace amidst unrest.
Garth House, Litanies for all Occasions
was born in wind and fire,
not to sweep us heavenward
like a presumptuous tower,
but to guide us down
the dusty roads of this world
so that we may lift up the downcast,
heal the broken,
reconcile what is lost,
and bring peace amidst unrest.
Garth House, Litanies for all Occasions
Imaging the Word An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Volume 1
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
When the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost and filled the early believers, they immediately began speaking in a language they had never learned. As the crowd began to gather around them, each of them heard the disciples speaking in their ow native language, even though the disciples were uneducated men. At first they didn't know what to make of it until Peter began to explain how this was the fulfillment of God's promise through the prophet Joel.
When the Holy Spirit filled the disciples, he immediately began to flow through them to reach other people. This is one of the primary purposes of the Holy Spirit. He did not come to make the church feel better, although he sometimes does that as well, he came to flow through willing members of the church to impact the world around them. We sometimes focus too much on what the Holy Spirit can do for us an how he can help or serve us. His desire though is to flow through us to reach the world around us for Jesus. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, flow through me
Overview
When the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost and filled the early believers, they immediately began speaking in a language they had never learned. As the crowd began to gather around them, each of them heard the disciples speaking in their ow native language, even though the disciples were uneducated men. At first they didn't know what to make of it until Peter began to explain how this was the fulfillment of God's promise through the prophet Joel.
When the Holy Spirit filled the disciples, he immediately began to flow through them to reach other people. This is one of the primary purposes of the Holy Spirit. He did not come to make the church feel better, although he sometimes does that as well, he came to flow through willing members of the church to impact the world around them. We sometimes focus too much on what the Holy Spirit can do for us an how he can help or serve us. His desire though is to flow through us to reach the world around us for Jesus. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, flow through me