Christena Cleveland from their preaching team shared a beautiful and thoughtful message on the Beatitudes and then in the final 15 minutes she led the congregation back through the passage (Matthew 5:1-10) using Lectio Divina, the ancient practice of reading the Scriptures…
* At the conclusion of her talk, Cleveland led into the Lectio Divina exercise by reading the passage 3 times, slowly and thoughtfully. Already she had read the passage at the beginning of the talk. She asked us to be listening for a word that God might want us to ponder or speak to us about.
* She then had us meditate and journal for about 5 or 6 minutes. The congregation merely sat quietly during this time, some praying, others writing.
* Finally, preacher Cleveland read the passage one last time and made a few closing comments. It was simple and elegant and she gave the Scriptures a chance to speak to each of us.
* At the end of the service the congregation was encouraged to pick up a set of 40 readings with attached Lectio Divina exercises for each day.
* This kind of reflective service is what I really like, to be honest, and this morning was no different. Very inspiring service…
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