Month: July 2019

Colossians 3:1-11 – Get Rid of Anger

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Colossians 3:1-11

1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

5Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8But now you must get rid of all such things-anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes focusing on the Breath.
  • Bring your attention to your body being pulled toward the earth.
  • Feel the sense of being grounded and rooted in God.
  • From this place groundedness, what do you know?
  • From this place of faith, what do you see?
  • Feel God’s love and light.
  • Is there someone or something in your life today that wants to condemn or disqualify you and draw you away from God?
  • When we are grounded, this lightening strike will pass through us into the ground.
  • How do you desire to respond from this place of groundedness?
  • How do you desire to respond toward growth in God?
  • What is God’s message for you?
  • Reply as you feel led in the box below.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 4, 2019, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

Psalm 107: Redeemed from Trouble

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Psalm 107:1-9, 43

1O give thanks to the LORD,

for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.

2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,

those he redeemed from trouble

3and gathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

4Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to an inhabited town;

5hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

6Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress;

7he led them by a straight way,

until they reached an inhabited town.

8Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

9For he satisfies the thirsty,

and the hungry he fills with good things.

43Let those who are wise give heed to these things,

and consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit in silent meditation 5 to 15 minutes paying attention to the breath.
  • What do you cry out to God today?
  • How does this cry reflect God’s desire for you?
  • Sit with God’s desire for you.
  • How does your desire and God’s desire for you meet?
  • What fruit is growing?
  • Give thanks to God for this time to consider God’s desire for you and for any new insights you have received.
  • Share as you feel led in the reply box below.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 4, 2019, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

Hosea 11:1-11 – Remember How God Healed You

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Hosea 11:1-11

1When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. 3Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

5They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. 6The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours because of their schemes. 7My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.

8How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. 9I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

10They shall go after the LORD, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. 11They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD.

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes in silence bringing your attention to the Breath.
  • Bring your attention to an idol in your life that keeps your from God.
  • Notice how this idol keeps you turned away from God.
  • Hear God roar to get your attention.  
  • Notice the compassion of God that accompanies the roar. 
  • Remember how God took you up in God’s arms.
  • Remember how God healed you.
  • How do you desire to embrace God’s compassion for you?
  • How do you desire to embrace compassion for yourself?
  • What is God’s invitation for you?
  • What is your message from God?
  • Give thanks to God for this time in prayer and for any new insights you have received.
  • Share as you feel led in the reply box below.
 

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 4, 2019, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

Luke 11:1-13 – Ask. Search. Knock.

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Luke 11:1-13

1He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes focusing on the Breath.
  • Bring your attention to the Breath.
  • As you pray this morning, let your focus shift to your deepest desire?
  • What do you need to ask for this desire?
  • Where do you need to search for this desire?
  • How do you need to knock for this desire?
  • Ask again.
  • Search again.
  • Knock again.
  • Notice how much more the Holy Spirit is present to those who who keep asking, keep searching, and keep knocking.
  • What is God’s message for you?
  • Give thanks to God for all that you have received.
  • Reply as you feel led in the box below.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, July 28, 2019, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85:1-13
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19) – Do Not Let Anyone Disqualify You

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)

6As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

16Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes focusing on the Breath.
  • Bring your attention to your body being pulled toward the earth.
  • Feel the sense of being grounded and rooted in God.
  • From this place groundedness, what do you know?
  • From this place of faith, what do you see?
  • Feel God’s love and light.
  • Is there someone or something in your life today that wants to condemn or disqualify you and draw you away from God?
  • How do you desire to respond from this place of groundedness?
  • How do you desire to respond toward growth in God?
  • What is God’s message for you?
  • Reply as you feel led in the box below.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, July 28, 2019, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85:1-13
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.

Psalm 85- Restore Us Again

/ Lil Smith / Leave a comment

Psalm 85:1-13

1LORD, you were favourable to your land;

you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

2You forgave the iniquity of your people;

you pardoned all their sin.

Selah

3You withdrew all your wrath;

you turned from your hot anger.

4Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation towards us.

5Will you be angry with us for ever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

6Will you not revive us again,

so that your people may rejoice in you?

7Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,

and grant us your salvation.

8Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people,

to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

9Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,

that his glory may dwell in our land.

10Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

11Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

12The LORD will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

13Righteousness will go before him,

and will make a path for his steps.

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes in silent meditation paying attention to the deep breath
  • Where do you notice God working…
  • in the world?
  • in the people around you?
  • in creation?
  • in you?
  • As you consider all of these places where God is at work God’s creation, what similarities to you notice?
  • What differences do you notice?
  • Is there a message for you from God?
  • Pray for you to be open to receive God’s message in God’s time.
  • Give thanks to God for this time to reflect on the ways God interacts in the world and for any new insights you have received.
  • Share as you feel led in the reply box below.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, July 28, 2019, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85:1-13
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

If you use these prayers in other groups, please give credit to author. Permission to use in not-for-profit settings.  (c) 2019 The Rev. Dr. Lil Smith, DASD

Rev. Dr. Lil Smith is a trained spiritual director, supervisor, and co-founder of Retreat House Spirituality Center in Richardson, TX.  Upon completion of her spiritual direction certification, Lil began Praying the Lectionary in 2011 as a spiritual practice for her morning prayer time.  Instead of reading about someone else’s experience of God, it was important for her to create a prayer practice that would encourage felt sense experience of the Holy emerging from within.  It dawned on her others might enjoy the practice, as well.  So she began to share them on this site.

As you experience the practice of Praying the Lectionary, adopt a loving, caring, and compassionate stance.  If the end of your prayer and meditation time is not pointing to love and hope, there is more work to do.  Keep wrestling.  God is faithful to your journey.  Love and hope will emerge.  Be gentle with yourself and befriend any judgment that arises in you.