Hello friends and welcome to this Lectio Divina.
We're continuing to work our way through Psalm 78 and this is the third part of that psalm.
So as you arrive I invite you to be comfortable,
To settle into your space and your body,
To let yourself be here,
Allowing the day so far to fall away,
Welcoming the Beloved to unburden any weight that you're carrying,
To surrender any concerns or anxieties.
Know that you are welcome here just as you are every part and you are met with love and goodness.
May you know yourself held in divine love as you listen to these words.
I'm going to read this part of the psalm all the way through and then return to a small section.
Through famine and floods the Beloved has brought forth new life.
All through the ages the earth has yielded its bountiful harvest,
Yet valleys and mountains,
Forests and fields have been misused.
Yes,
Greed has become the great destroyer of life,
Taking without offering back,
Consuming the earth with abandon,
Leaving death,
Disease and destruction in its wake.
We cannot be spared what we have sown.
Generations to come will suffer from our willful ways.
Their lives will be a mirror to blind and stubborn hearts.
Injustice,
Oppression and greed will turn back upon hearts of stone.
Children unborn will reap a harvest of lost dreams.
Even so,
The source of life remains faithful,
Ever ready to lead us out of the wilderness,
To speak to us in the silence of our hearts.
Yes,
You are our hope,
Our strength and our comfort.
Our fears will not overwhelm us.
You will guide us to the new Jerusalem,
To the mountain of hope,
The city of light.
You will be an ever-living presence to those who call upon your name,
To all who open their hearts to love.
When,
O peoples of the earth,
Will you stop testing and rebelling against the source of life?
When will you awaken and live according to love,
And attune yourselves to the music of the spheres?
For as you turn to the Beloved,
Listening for love's voice within your own heart,
You'll live with integrity.
You will radiate love.
When you call upon the Beloved,
Your prayers will be heard,
Your needs will be met abundantly.
The Beloved is a stranger to those who choose to walk in darkness.
To all who are the enemies of light.
For you,
Love of all loves,
Gift us with freedom to follow the way of life or to live in the shadow of death.
Who will awaken our sleeping minds and lift up our hearts to the truth?
Who will rouse us from apathy,
Quicken our spirits that we might serve your plan?
The Beloved awaits our response to the new dawn,
Where the people of the earth will be united in peace,
Where harmony will reign forever in the beauty of diversity,
And all nations will bow before the Most High.
I'm going to return to a section of this part of the psalm three more times.
So as I read these words the first time,
Let them come without attaching to any in particular.
Even so,
The source of all life remains faithful,
Ever ready to lead us out of the wilderness,
To speak to us in the silence of our hearts.
Yes,
You are our hope,
Our strength,
And our comfort.
Our fears will not overwhelm us.
You will guide us to the new Jerusalem,
To the mountain of hope,
The city of light.
You will be an ever-living presence to those who call upon your name,
To all who open their hearts to love.
On this second reading,
Notice any words or phrases that capture your attention.
Even so,
The source of all life remains faithful,
Ever ready to lead us out of the wilderness,
To speak to us in the silence of our hearts.
Yes,
You are our hope,
Our strength,
And our comfort.
Our fears will not overwhelm us.
You will guide us to the new Jerusalem,
To the mountain of hope,
The city of light.
You will be an ever-living presence to those who call upon your name,
To all who open their hearts to love.
And on this third and final reading,
I invite you to welcome those words or phrases to really bring their gift where they're needed.
Be curious about what they're offering you and how they make you feel.
Maybe they draw a response from you.
Maybe they bring a challenge or an invitation.
Maybe they simply offer you some reassurance and comfort that you need at this time.
Even so,
The source of all life remains faithful,
Ever ready to lead us out of the wilderness,
To speak to us in the silence of our hearts.
Yes,
You are our hope,
Our strength,
And our comfort.
Our fears will not overwhelm us.
You will guide us to the new Jerusalem,
To the mountain of hope,
The city of light.
You will be an ever-living presence to those who call upon your name,
To all who open their hearts to love.
I invite you to linger with these words,
To re-listen if you want to,
To let them land and settle within your being and take root there.
And I offer you love and grace and goodness from my rather breezy garden here in England.
Amen.
