“Teach Us to Pray”
Webinar 2
“Praying the Scriptures”
Presented by The Upper Room and Interpreter Magazine
March 19, 2013
Hosts
THE REV. TOM ALBIN
Dean and
Director of Ecumenical Relations,
The Upper Room
THE REV. KATHY NOBLE
Editor, Interpreter and
Interpreter OnLine
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
The Upper Room, www.upperroom.org
Interpreter, www.interpretermagazine.org
Monthly Webinars
www.umc.org/pray
Presenters
ANDREW DREITCER
THE REV. BETH RICHARDSON
THE REV. KATHY
BARBA PIERCE
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To pray the Scriptures …
Lectio Divina
Lectio Divina …
… is a slow, meditative reading and
reflection on a passage of Scripture.
Lectio Divina
A process of




Reading
Reflecting
Responding
Resting
Lectio Divina
 Pick a portion of Scripture.
 Set aside some time when you
won’t be interrupted.
 Read the text 3 times,
listening for a different thing
each time.
Lectio Divina
First reading:
 Listen for the word or phrase that
leaps out at you.
 What word or phrase calls to you or
sticks in your memory?
Lectio Divina
Second reading:
 Meditate on the word or phrase
that speaks to you.
 Let it interact with your thoughts,
your hopes, your memories.
 Consider how the word or phrase is
touching your life today.
Lectio Divina
Third reading:
 Consider how God is calling you
forth into doing or being.
 Allow God to use these words to
shape your life.
Lectio Divina
 Spend a few more minutes in
prayer and meditation.
 Make some notes in your journal.
 Go in God’s peace and love.
Audio Lectio
http://alivenow.upperroom.org/audio-lectio
Praying Scripture
….with the Imagination….
• Throughout Christian history there have two general paths of praying with
Scripture in a slow, receptive style (and both are versions of lectio divina).
______________________________________________________________________
– One way DE-emphasizes the imagination: as you get closer to the experience of God there are
fewer mental images and words and thoughts.
And there’s another way……
This other way emphasizes….
Using the imagination when praying Scripture.
– As images from praying with scripture increase, the experience of God’s
presence increases. The images carry you into a sense of God with you.
(Especially seen in Ignatius of Loyola – 16th century Spain and in Franciscan prayer in the Middle
Ages, but stretching back to the first centuries of Christianity.)
– Engage the “spiritual senses” (“interior” senses that mirror the 5 exterior
senses)
• Imagine yourself into the scene/situation the passage describes. What do you:
–
–
–
–
–
–
See?
Hear?
Taste?
Touch?
Smell?
And who are you in the scene? What are you feeling as it unfolds? What do you say and do?
Basic elements of praying Scripture
by using the Imagination.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Set aside a time of 20 minutes or so and choose a bit of Scripture, e.g., a
story of Jesus.
Settle into a sense of stillness, inviting a sense of God’s presence.
Read and become more familiar with the Scripture passage, and set it
aside.
Imagine yourself into the scene using your 5 ‘spiritual senses’ (without
worrying about getting details ‘right.’): Who and what is here? What do I hear,
see, taste, touch, smell? What do I feel? Who am I? What am I doing and saying?
5.
6.
7.
Allow God’s Spirit to carry your imagination into a connection with the
life of Jesus….And allow yourself to feel that connection.
When this image-filled prayer has run its course, perhaps you might
journal what you have experienced.
Conclude with a prayer of thanks for God’s presence and what has come
to you in this time.
The purpose of this kind of prayer is to intimately
connect your life with Jesus’ life so that you…
• More fully experience God’s loving compassion for you.
• More fully develop feelings of compassion.
• More fully develop compassionate ways of behaving that free
yourself and others.
• More fully discern your Christ-like vocation in life.
Praying the Scriptures
While Journeying to the Stations
“Rethinking Stations of the Cross”
Brentwood United Methodist Church
Brentwood, Tennessee
“Lenten Cross Walk”
Broadway Christian Parish United
Methodist Church
South Bend, Indiana
“Stations of the Resurrection”
Wesley Memorial United Methodist
Church
High Point, North Carolina
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Art from “Via Lucis,” http://familyfeastandferia.wordpress.com/living-the-liturgical-year-athome/lentandeaster/via-lucis-way-of-light
Presenters
ANDREW DREITCER
THE REV. BETH RICHARDSON
THE REV. KATHY
BARBA PIERCE
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“Teach Us to Pray”
Webinar 3
Presented by The Upper Room and Interpreter Magazine
“Becoming a Praying Congregation”
Thursday, April 25, 2013
7 p.m. CDT