Spiritual Practices: Lectio Divina
Lectio Divina, or Diving Reading, is a method of reading, reflecting on, and praying the Scripture that has been used by the church for centuries. It focuses on communing with God in Scripture rather than simply studying Scripture for intellectual understanding. Click here for more information on how to practice Lectio Divina. Here are some suggested verses in this passage that may lend themselves to conversation with God through the practice of Lectio Divina.
Suggested Verses
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
(Psalm 84:1-2)
For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
(Psalm 84:10-11)
Lectio Divina, or Diving Reading, is a method of reading, reflecting on, and praying the Scripture that has been used by the church for centuries. It focuses on communing with God in Scripture rather than simply studying Scripture for intellectual understanding. Click here for more information on how to practice Lectio Divina. Here are some suggested verses in this passage that may lend themselves to conversation with God through the practice of Lectio Divina.
Suggested Verses
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
(Psalm 84:1-2)
For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
(Psalm 84:10-11)
Alyosha did not step on the steps, but went down rapidly. His soul, overflowing with rapture, was craving for freedom and unlimited space. The vault of heaven, studded with softly shining stars, stretched wide and was vast over him. From the zenith to the horizon the Milky Way stretched its two arms dimly across the sky. The fresh motionless, still night enfolded the earth. The white tower and golden domes of the cathedral gleamed against the sapphire sky….The silence of the earth seemed to merge into the silence of the heavens, the mystery of the earth came in contact with the mystery of the stars….Alyosha stood, gazed and suddenly he threw himself down flat upon the earth.
He did not know why he was embracing it. He could not have explained to himself why he longed so irresistibly to kiss it, to kiss it all, but he kissed it, weeping, sobbing and drenching it with his tears, and vowed frenziedly to love it, to love it for ever and ever. Water the earth with the tears of your gladness and love those tears, it ran in his soul. What was he weeping over? Oh, he was weeping in his rapture even over those stars which were shining tor him from the abyss of space and he was not ashamed of that ecstasy. It was as though the threads from all those innumerable worlds of God met all at once in his soul, and it was trembling all over as it came in contact with other worlds.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
He did not know why he was embracing it. He could not have explained to himself why he longed so irresistibly to kiss it, to kiss it all, but he kissed it, weeping, sobbing and drenching it with his tears, and vowed frenziedly to love it, to love it for ever and ever. Water the earth with the tears of your gladness and love those tears, it ran in his soul. What was he weeping over? Oh, he was weeping in his rapture even over those stars which were shining tor him from the abyss of space and he was not ashamed of that ecstasy. It was as though the threads from all those innumerable worlds of God met all at once in his soul, and it was trembling all over as it came in contact with other worlds.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Imaging the Word An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Volume 3
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
This psalm is a celebration of the dwelling place and the presence of God. Look at what the psalmist says in verse two and again in verse ten; he longs to be in the presence of God. That is the essence of this breath prayer.
Prayer
Abba Father, I want to be with you.
Overview
This psalm is a celebration of the dwelling place and the presence of God. Look at what the psalmist says in verse two and again in verse ten; he longs to be in the presence of God. That is the essence of this breath prayer.
Prayer
Abba Father, I want to be with you.