Lent & Easter
A contemplative’s journey.
LENT DAY 2
Journey Together.
Lent is a Christian Tradition
It’s a season for reflection, marked by fasting, to enter into a time of remembering Christ’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection. For forty days, this symbolic time cultivates places for self-examination, newness, repentance, transformation, and other rituals of letting go that come from acts of abstinence or intentionality of how to spend time. In this season, over six weeks, waiting through the mystery of Lent shapes a new awareness that culminates in Easter, a resurrection of new life.
Selah Community
We extend these words, poems, prayers, songs, and images as a way to enter this time with an open posture of listening for the places where the Spirit invites you. Take time to pause and ponder what may speak to you throughout this season. Explore an image through a Visio Divina by absorbing what appeals to or repels you. Or choose a poem that you can use as a daily Lectio Divina. By journaling your responses, you may make new discoveries through your observations.
Selah Center
We call our contemplative community Selah, meaning “pause,” ending with the word Center to name the place of our core self where we listen for the welcoming invitation of the Divine presence in our lives. Because contemplative living is not meant to be a solo act, Selah offers deeper participation in community and encounters for those who desire to develop their spiritual practices’ capacities. We embrace these values, holding onto the promise that, no matter what our circumstances, theological stances, and religious or other spiritual backgrounds, all God asks of us is our desire to journey together.
Here & Now Blog
Consider this blog an invitation to listen, to explore, to pause, and to enter into the places where God wants to encounter you. Go slow. Go gently. Go with grace.
Join us on this journey.
Resources
Receiving the Word of God
QUOTE
The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all….Do not ask “How shall I pass this on?” but “What does it say to me?” Then ponder the word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Spiritual Practices
Lectio Divina & Visio Divina
LECTIO DIVINA is Latin for “Divine Reading.” It is a practice of reading the Bible to enter into communion with God. This meditative form of prayer aims at gaining a deeper understanding of God’s Word. The focus of Lectio Divina is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example, given Jesus’ statement in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you,” an analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context, etc. In Lectio Divina, however, the practitioner “enters” and shares the peace of Christ rather than “dissecting” it.
VISIO DIVINA is translated as “divine seeing.” It is related to the prayer from Lectio Divina (divine reading). Still, instead of Scripture, this form of prayer uses visual elements, such as a picture or object, to help set your mind on prayer. It allows God to speak into your heart through the image.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Select a small passage of Scripture.
- Come to silence held in God’s presence.
- Read the passage and listen for the phrase/word God brings to your attention.
- Re-read and pay attention to what God is revealing under the words.
- Re-read and be open to any invitation that touches on your present experience.
- Rest, thankfully, in what God has given.
You might also be interested in…
Kairos Mornings
ONLINE
FRIDAYS
10-11 AM
ZOOM
FREE
Coming together online each week, the community of Kairos provides a unique contemplative experience with a spiritual practice and breakout group that shares the time through silence, art, music, and teaching. Kairos opens space to encounter the Spirit, one another, and oneself through God’s inviting presence.
Search “Kairos” in the Events Calendar on the Selah Center website for the next Kairos event. There you can register to receive the Zoom link.
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