A Shared Journey Through Lent
Zoom (online) · email john@thesanctuarydowntown.org for a link
Click the image above to watch a scene from "The Shack".
Making Space Together In the Garden of You
The journey inward, into the garden of you, was never intended to be traveled alone. It was always meant to be a journey of discovery and conversation with the Lord. We invite you to join us on a meditative journey through Lent to make space for growing in the awareness of the Lord's loving presence. Let your longing for 'more of God' be our common motivation to come together and experience the presence of the Lord-- in us, with us, through us, and between us. Each week we will come together to quiet our souls and attentively abide with the Lord through meditating on the mission, passion, and resurrection of Christ. Space will be given for reflection and sharing in small groups. The theme and Scripture passage for each week will be drawn from the Lenten and Easter Reading Plan.
Week 1 – DESIRING LIFE AND HINDRANCES TO RECEIVING LIFE
Week 2 - THE LIFE OF SELFLESS LOVE
Week 3 - THE ABANDONED LIFE
Week 4 - THE TRUE KING DESPISED AND REJECTED
Week 5 - JESUS ON THE CROSS
Week 6 - JESUS SUBMITS TO DIE
Week 7 - EASTER MORNING, UNCONQUERABLE LIFE
Week 8 - REPERCUSSIONS OF THE RESURRECTION
Five Movements of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)
Readiness: Welcome the Lord and yourself into this place of meeting. Relax the body, mind and heart in a place free of distractions, business and worry. Focus your intention (receptive heart) more than your attention (concentration). Nurture attention in the heart accompanied by a feeling of warmth towards God. Expressing gratitude to the Lord for recent gift (a hug, a conversation, a moment of experiencing beauty, etc.) is an excellent way of attuning the heart to His loving presence.
Read: Read a short passage, slowly, prayerfully, lovingly with a relaxed and receptive heart, mind, and body. Repeat it two or three times. Pay attention to anything that seems to stand out: a single word, short phrase or thought.
Reflect: Meditate, ponder, pay attention. Listen and reflect on the literal, moral, and allegorical levels of the passage. We engage the disciplined use of reason, imagination, memory, and emotions to assimilate truth and develop a deeper relationship with Christ.
Respond: The spontaneous movement of the will in response to these reflections. (Also known as oratio, affective prayer.) Pay attention to your emotional response. The body and emotions have a way of revealing what we try so hard to hide from God, ourselves and others. Whether our response is worship or woe, open the door and invite the Lord into that place. Give your soul freedom pray as it desires. Sing spiritual songs as the Spirit overflows. Rejoice. Weep. Cry for help. Respond with the Spirit, however and wherever the Spirit leads.
Rest: We rest in contemplative prayer, the opening of the mind and heart –our whole being—to God beyond thoughts, words, or emotions. We pass beyond imagination, fantasy, and intellect into a holy hush with the Lord. This is a gift, we can’t make it happen, but we can nurture our receptivity of this gift by standing before God with the mind in the heart.
Four Levels of Reading/Listening to Scripture
Literal: Focuses on the meaning of words and cultural background to understand how to interpret those words. The goal is to attain information, more than insight. We are learning the historical message and example of Jesus.
Moral: We begin putting the message into practice and live by the Scripture.
Allegorical: As we read Scriptures it slowly dawns on us that the passage is about us—our own lives are mirrored in the pages. As trust and honesty with God develops out of a lively identification with Scripture, we are able, with God to love and protect us, to confront our darker side. The shell around the emotional damage we have accumulated since conception is cracked, and ready to be emptied, bit by bit, preparing us to experience divine union, live life motivated by the true self rather than the false self, with its excessive demands and hidden agendas.
Unitive (aka anagogical): We become so immersed in the word of God that the word is coming out of you as a continuing revelation.
Note: This version of lectio divina is largely based on Intimacy with God, by Thomas Keating. I also sprinkled inspiration from The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, compiled by Igumen Chariton of Valamo.