Books
Teaching
Listening to God in Scripture: Lectio Divina
James Bryant Smith | The Practice
How great was it to have James Bryan Smith with us last night? He shared his experience with “the jogging monk” and led us in the practice of Lectio Divina. Lectio is such a beautiful way of listening to God in scripture. It moves us as the monk explained to Jim, from examining the text to allowing the text to examine us.
I was also moved when Jim said the experience of hearing from God in Lectio is like sleep. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves sleep. We can only create the right environment for sleep to come. We also cannot make God speak, we can only create an environment and place ourselves in a posture to hear from the Lord. What an incredible metaphor, not just for the practice of Lectio Divina, but also for life with God.
Scripture
John Mark Comer | Bridgetown Church
Is this strange, ancient book still relevant?
We are all being formed by something. The scripture is a library of writings both divine and human, that tell a unified story, leading us to Jesus. But are the words in this strange, ancient book still relevant? Do they still mean anything to us today? To Jesus, the Bible is trustworthy. To Jesus, the Bible has authority. The scriptures were designed to be read for formation. To shape us into the image of Jesus. In this book, we find life. In this book, we find a new way to be human.
Teachings
Before you begin the practices with your community, listen through these teachings to understand why this practice is important and discover what it can do in your life.
Practice
Follow along with each part of this practice. We recommend you work through it with your community, a small group triad, a weekly meal with friends or neighbors, your roommates, whatever works. Get a group of people, set a time each week to share a meal, then talk and pray for about an hour. Transformation happens in community.
Videos
The Bible Project
Bible Project is a nonprofit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated Bible videos and other Bible resources to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere. We create 100% free Bible videos, podcasts, and Bible resources to help people experience the story of the Bible.
Our Bible resources help people experience the Bible in a way that is approachable, engaging, and transformative. We do this by showcasing the literary art of the Scriptures and tracing the themes found in them from beginning to end. Rather than taking the stance of a specific tradition or denomination, we create materials to elevate the Bible for all people and draw our eyes to its unified message.
Audio
Daily Office
The Practice
In this season of disruption and uncertainty, we invite you to join us in an intentional rhythm of prayer. How might our days be grounded more deeply in God’s presence if we pause each morning, midday, and evening for silence, scripture, and prayer?
Below you will find three prayers to practice throughout the day, one in the morning (10 minutes or less), another for midday (5 minutes or less), and one for the evening (10 minutes or less.) We encourage you to lean into these prayers and hold them through the entire week. May we live more fully in the presence of the Lord as we steep ourselves in a single passage and prayer throughout the week in a time of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.
Lectio Divina
Pray as You Go is a daily prayer session, designed to go with you wherever you go, to help you pray whenever you find time, but particularly whilst traveling to and from work, study, etc.
We also have a number of prayer tools, retreats and resources to help supplement your prayer life.
Lectio Divina Part 1: An Explanation
Lectio Divina Part 2: A Guide
Podcasts
The Burning Word Podcast
John Perrine
What if the Bible is actually a burning word, where you were invited to bring the most urgent and pressing questions of your life and discover in your search, a reply from the living God? Through the podcast, and accompanying study, the Burning Word invites you to return to the word. Each series of the podcast will explore a book of the Bible with a burning question, and that offers an opportunity to encounter the living God in his Word again. To go deeper in your bible study. To encounter God again. And to apply ancient truths to your life.
Where is God in my Suffering?
The Burning Word Podcast offers beautifully designed PDF bible study companions released in full alongside each podcast series. Enjoy a therapeutic, existential and educational accompaniment to John’s teachings that help you return to the word and encounter God again.
Online Retreats
Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
Christine Valters Paintner | Abbey of the Arts
Expanding the ancient practice of sacred reading beyond scriptural texts to include visual art, music, nature and your own sacred stories.
Lectio divina, which means sacred reading, is an ancient contemplative practice of listening deeply to the voice of God in sacred texts. In recent years there has been a reclaiming of the riches of contemplative prayer forms of Western traditions. Through the practice of lectio divina you become present to each moment in a heart-centered way. Gradually, the practice of lectio expands your capacity to sense God’s presence until all of life becomes a cascade of prayer.
Drawing on her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner breaks open the movements of this spiritual practice. She makes them accessible to the contemporary reader who longs for a more pervasive experience of the holy in the everyday but lives far away from the sanctuary of a monastery.