Posted on December 23, 2014
Christmas Greetings!
Hello dear friends
I hope your autumn has been full and rich and that you will have space to reflect on the dawning of Christ’s light in this holiday season.
I am looking forward to reviving the Lectio podcast in 2015! With that in mind, I have a special request from all of you who have used the Lectio podcasts this year.
Would you take 5 minutes to complete a survey about your experience with the Lectio Divina podcast?
If you’ve used the Lectio Divina podcast this year, even once or twice, I’d really appreciate your thoughts and feedback. This survey just has a handful of questions. Would you mind participating?
Please click here to take the survey. This link will take you to the survey monkey website.
Thank you so much friends! Looking forward to sharing more with you in the new year!
Wishing you all a restful and precious christmas time.
Much love.
The dawning light this morning in California, what a gift.
Here is the link to the survey again. Thank you so much!
Posted on October 5, 2014
An Attentive Pause
Hello friends
You may or may not have noticed that it has gone a bit quiet here. And the plan is that it will stay that way at least until the new year.
I found this gorgeous quote from Mary Oliver recently:
“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
The soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
A few weeks ago, I received the same piece of parenting advice twice, first from this podcast, and then on a handout forwarded by my own wise mama. But before it got to me the second time, I had already implemented it.
The wisdom is this: to help your children be well-behaved (due to greater peace and confidence I guess?) spend a bit of time each day being completely engaged with each child, playing and listening and conversing with your whole self. With no distractions.
The soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
Be fully present to each child individually for at least ten minutes every day.
Wow. What a gift. They love it. It is precious. And I can actually do something achievable towards a top, yet slightly nebulous, priority.
Yes, it can at times feel like one more job, another hassle to squeeze in after school. But I come away from the time feeling closer to the child, knowing what’s on his mind and understanding more deeply how he works. My soul is built up. Their souls are built up. Is there anything of greater value?
After Christmas my littlest starts preschool and I will have more time to invest in this blog and podcast.
Until then, it will be quiet here. I will be mulling and praying over the way forward for this space.
More importantly, I will be spending my time and energy building souls, being attentive to those closest to me. I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to do the same.
With much love to you all
Lissy
Posted on August 18, 2014
Psalm 32 sermon
Things have been a bit quiet here because we’ve been fully engrossed in summer time visits and visiting from lots of family and friends!
I preached at church last night, so all the solo moments I’ve squeezed out of our visitors have been devoted to prepping these thoughts.
It’s a bit ragged, I cry my eyes out in the middle of it, but here is the link if you’d like to listen (look through the list for Psalm 32- you may need to scroll down to find it)
http://stpl.churchinsight.com/Media/AllMedia.aspx
My thoughts and plans for this blog are ruminating, I hope to be back more regularly in September.
Much love to you all in the meantime!
Posted on July 16, 2014
LDP#3 Contemplative Listening to Psalm 32
Special Edition! This podcast is a bit different than the others- we’re stepping away from our series in Jesus’ early ministry in this episode, to listen reflectively to Psalm 32.
This psalm covers many themes including: confession and the joy of forgiveness, God’s provision and protection, instruction and personal growth, our hope and joy in the Lord.
The reason this slightly different episode is sneaking in this evening is that I’ll be preaching on this Psalm in a few weeks!!
I wanted to listen contemplatively to the Psalm while I prepare my sermon so I thought I might as well make it into an episode…
I know that you will have rich insights and reflections as you pray with it, so if you do use this in your own prayer time and are struck by insight, I would love to hear it! It just might get folded into my sermon!
Here is the link to the episode.
Every blessing.
PS: I’ve got the next two episodes recorded but I don’t know if I’ll get time to edit and upload them before we go away for two weeks, in order to keep sharing one each wednesday night during the last two weeks in July. If not, they will be ready for the beginning of August when I’m back at the computer!
Updated on April 19, 2024
LDP#2 Lectio Divina with Luke 4:31-37
Thank you so much to those of you who have let me know that you sat down and prayed with the podcast last week.
This weeks episode is a bit longer but I trust that you will find it to be of value to you as you pray with it.
Is there a word or phrase that has stood out for you? Why not share it in the comments section here, it will make the experience more rich for others.
To listen to the podcast in podomatic, click on this link.
Every blessing!
Posted on July 9, 2014
LDP#1 Lectio Divina with John 1:35-39
Thank you so much to the 55 people who went and listened to the podcast introduction on PodOmatic last week!! How amazing is that. Unless it was just five of you who each hit play eleven times. Also entirely possible.
But thank you again, so much, for being here with me.
I realize that listening to on PodOmatic is not the most straightforward format, and I’d really hoped to get it into a much simpler play-format over the weekend. But the technicalities are still winning the battle despite (too) much time and effort on my part to sort it out.
I’m going to hang on in this temporary arrangement for the summer, and use the time to learn and pray about how to make things a bit smoother down the line.
For now, thank you for bearing with me.
This week we’re diving in to the actual prayer experience. The text is John 1:35-39, when John the Baptist points Jesus out to his disciples, and they follow Jesus.
I will always remember Dale Bruner teaching this passage in his course on John’s Gospel at Whitworth College (as it was called back in the day). He stepped out of the lecture room and then popped his hand around the door, with his finger pointing straight ahead. He must have held it there for a while because I vividly remember that hand, and the pointing finger. This was all to illustrate the point of John 1:36. John the Baptist’s purpose in life was to point towards Jesus.
Do you want to give 30 minutes of your week to pray contemplatively with this passage? Might God have something to say to you through this text?
I invite you to set aside the time, find a comfortable, fairly distraction-free spot, hit play and be guided through the prayer time.
If you do the prayer, I’d love to hear how you find it.
You can also leave a comment below about which word or phrase stood out for you, and, if you like, why it was significant for you.
Because this isn’t widely available yet, I feel it is still something of a ‘trial run’. If you have any constructive criticism on anything about the podcast (other than the fact that its awkward to play), I’d love to hear it.
Ideally I will post a podcast every Wednesday over the summer, but I’m not going to kill myself to make it happen. I feel more called to spend my time listening and waiting in God’s presence for insight into the way this project should go.
For now, follow this link to listen to LDP#1
Thanks for being here friends.
Posted on July 2, 2014
Lectio Divina Podcast: Introduction Episode
The moment has arrived!
The introduction episode to the Lectio Divina Podcast is now online! And you can listen to it right now, by clicking right here. Or by opening the link to podomatic (you might need to take a few seconds to make an account) http://lectiodivinapodcast.podomatic.com.
Note: All these technicalities of hosting and RSS feeds are totally new to me, but I hope to have it all figured out over the next few days. Next step: get it on iTunes?! Apologies for the clunkiness… learning as I go!
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about why I am doing this, and the current vision statement is this:
To provide a series of guided audio contemplative prayer-with-scripture sessions which
— enable listeners to experience a deep and authentic encounter with God and
— facilitate a growing understanding of self, God and God’s love.
This introduction episode is not a guided prayer session, but instead covers some background on what Lectio Divina is, how I got involved with it, what to expect from the prayer sessions, and some practical advice about engaging with the prayer (including dealing with distractions and what to do with the silent pauses!)
Beginning next week, I will be posting a guided prayer session each week, which will be approx 30 minutes. Are you interested in incorporating this prayer session into your weekly rhythm of prayer?
I hope that some of you who use the prayer sessions will feed back in the comments on this blog about what was significant for you in prayer. There is scope for some rich sharing and community to develop around this, even if you are around the world! I’m looking forward to seeing how it unfolds.
My hope and prayer for this project is summarised in this verse:
“All who contemplate the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18 NIV
May those of you who find this to be the right place for your prayer life just now have the grace to deeply contemplate the Lord with your authentic self, and be transformed by the process.
Every blessing, and thank you for being here!!
Posted on June 29, 2014
Wide Open Space
After being stuck at home all week (chicken pox quarantine), my cabin fever was becoming a far greater liability than Mr B’s spots!
A walk through our local open space was a serious soul-reviver this afternoon. These scenes quite literally rescued me from a very, very dreadful mood.
And tonight these luscious colours were my companions while I finished editing the first Lectio Divina Podcast!
I’m so excited to be so close to this podcast actually happening. Keep your eyes open on Wednesday of this week. If all goes to plan the podcast will be available on this blog and on iTunes by Wednesday evening GMT. This week’s episode will be an introduction, to be followed by eight guided prayer sessions published weekly on Wednesday evenings. More details to follow!
I’m really looking forward to sharing Lectio Divina with you all. In the meantime I hope that you’re getting plenty of your own wide open space.
Posted on June 16, 2014
My New Monastery
Micha Boyett has written that rare book that is both in the spirituality genre and also a total page turner. I’m tearing through it in the bath, wanting to linger on the meaty truths but unable to stop my eyes from flying across the pages.
Maybe it is because she is so near to me in age and stage and life experience– at home with two small boys, former church youth worker, living in San Francisco and finding her way into a deeper, more contemplative faith. Or maybe it is just because she is a great writer and so helpfully honest. And real.
Either way, I want to share with you this nugget from the book, Found. She writes on page 168:
“In the thirty-first chapter of the rule, Saint Benedict states something so remarkable that I keep coming back to it each night as I stack bowls and dry plates. He says ‘All the utensils of the monastery and in fact everything that belongs to the monastery should be cared for as though they were sacred vessels of the altar.’
All the utensils.
… With Benedict’s words, I feel my world is being reborn holy. Suddenly my life, all these small daily instruments I am packing in my home, and the very sippy cup I fill with milk and raise to my boy’s lips, is an instrument of worship.”
So it turns out that my house, neither clean or tidy, and driving me to despair once again, this is the very place in which God’s glory is revealed. And in my every day tasks — smearing suncream into edible-babyfat cheeks, emptying the dishwasher, frying sausages, folding laundry, teaching boys age 5 & 2 to play a board game — it is here that the sparks of grace and glory spray, here that the Word once again is made flesh and dwells among us. If only I have the eyes to see.
I have recently discovered that I have an actual sanctuary of beauty and perspective in my house, that I need only to pull down the ladder, climb into the roofspace and open the skylight. If this house is now my monastery, when I’m at that attic window I’m in the glorious stained-glass chapel. Why I haven’t until recently gone there to watch the sunset and listen to the birdsong I do not know! But mercifully I’ve discovered it and now I tear up the ladder at the first hint of a beautiful evening sky, to peer and gaze and breathe. To stop. And remember that at every moment God is writing his song of beauty and love and joy over all of our messy and frustrating lives.
Thank you so much Micha, for being a sister and keeping it so real. Bless you Mama! And bless all of you as you seek to open your eyes to the holy in your ordinary, everyday lives.
Xxxx
And thank you Annie for bringing me my copy! Xoxo
Posted on June 1, 2014
Abundance
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-24
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16
“Oh Love that fires the sun, keep me burning” Bruce Cockburn