Joining me on the journey and reflections for the road
You can find the lectionary readings for this week here.
The gospel story is one that offers us plenty to reflect on, and to help you listen to it afresh I have two extra resources for you.
Firstly, you can listen to the article below on dwelling with scripture. Most of us are accustomed to read anything with the intention of gathering information, understanding it and assessing how useful it is.
Reading scripture like this allows us to keep it at a safe distance, away from our tender heart and timid soul. I am inviting you to learn a different way of reading. A way of reading slowly without looking for information or an application, but rather with the intention of holding a space open for wisdom and insight to arrive; a space where deep calls to deep and the soul is safe to emerge and to enliven your living.
If you’d like a copy of the text, email me and I’ll send you a pdf.
A different way to read
Once you have spent some time in silencio….
Listen to a story from scripture
An image to engage with
This busy scene almost, but not quite, obscures the revelation and recognition occurring in the back room…where are you in this image? Where would you like to be?
RESOURCES FOR SUNDAY’S GATHERING
Candle Lighting
Brother fire, by your light and warmth we remember the spark of life in us, the gift of God to us.
May this be a flame of love to bless our gathering and to fill our hearts anew. Amen.
Call to worship
God has come and made a home among us: We recognise the face of Christ in one another.
God calls us to listen and to follow: We walk in the way of grace and peace.
God has promised never to leave us: ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’. Thanks be to God
Questions for conversation/your journal/your daily walk…
The theme of not recognising and then recognising Jesus in the post resurrection stories is both a clue and a practice in preparation.
Here’s the hint: Look for Christ in unexpected places…
Here’s what you are preparing for….. eventually you expect to find Christ in all.
Where have you experienced this unexpected Christ in your journey?
How do you practice openness to Christ present in all?
Often insight slips in sideways while we are busy with something else – showering, driving, almost sleeping, sweeping, chopping, cleaning – questions find their answers as we give space for answers to arise.
How do you cultivate the space for insight, and when it arrives, what helps you move to integrate it/share it/act upon it?
The Lord’s Prayer
A paraphrase
Eternal Spirit, Father and Mother of us all,
Holy and blessed is your name.
We pray for justice and mercy to fill all creation, We pray that your good will be done, may heaven and earth become one.
Feed us with the bread we need for today.
Let forgiveness flow like a river between us, from each one to each one.
Lead us into the Fullness of Life, stand with us in trial and temptation and free us from the grip of all that is evil,
For the wisdom, glory and power of Love are yours alone, now and forever, Amen
Blessing
Bless to us, O God
the doors we open
the thresholds we cross
the roads that lie before us.
Go with us as we go
and welcome us home.
Amen.
