THE FIRST LESSON Mathew 10:40-42
THE SECOND LESSON Romans 6:12-23
MEDITATION "The Problem with Sin"
Worship Notes
Today is the thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and we continue to integrate the practice of lectio divina into our worship. Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or "holy reading," and represents a traditional Christian practice of prayer and scriptural reading. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to read (Lectio), study (Meditatio), pray (Oratio) and listen (Contemplatio) to a bible text. The systematization of spiritual reading into four steps dates back to the 12th century. Around 1150, Guigo II, a Carthusian monk, wrote a book titled "The Monk's Ladder" wherein he set out the theory of the four rungs: reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation.
The central text for worship is from the sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans considered a pivotal argument in his theological framework. Paul wrestles with the issue of sin and while this may seem an antiquated discussion to our modern ears, the question of sin and grace has much to reveal about human life. Our Prayer of Confession was written by John Henry Newman, a Roman Catholic priest and mystic who lived in England in the nineteenth century. The Affirmation of Faith is a prayer written by Howard Thurman (1899-1981), an African American theologian and Civil Rights leader. His most famous book was Jesus and the Disinherited(1949) which had a deep influence on Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. During the prayers of the people you will be invited to enter into an extended period of silence called contemplation in the Christian tradition (Most Eastern religions refer to this as meditation though they are the same practice). We encourage you to quiet your mind and listen for God. If you find yourself distracted, you could simply focus on your breathing as a way to still our busy brains.
