Sunday, October 8, 2023
Joy and Suffering
Music
Introit
Hymn #794
Hymn #470
Hymn #469
Hymn #536
Sermon Notes
By Becky Covington
Scripture:
Philippians 1:12-18Theme:
An introduction to comtemplative prayer and “The Spiritual Exercises”.
Reflections:
The Spiritual Exercises are a compilation of meditations, prayers, and contemplative practices developed by St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuit order, to help people deepen their relationship with God. For centuries the Exercises were most commonly given as a “long retreat” of about 30 days in solitude and silence. In recent years, there has been a renewed emphasis on the Spiritual Exercises as a program for laypeople. The most common way of going through the Exercises now is a “retreat in daily life,” which involves a months long program of daily prayer and meetings with a spiritual director.
I was taught the spiritual exercises, over a weekend, during a recent silent retreat I attended, and will offer a condensed version in the sermon, as well as an invitation to practive them in our individual lives.
Exercise 1 – Know Thyself: Spend time, in silence, telling God your story. Be real with God. Bring both the good parts of who you are in your story, as well as the broken. Journal it, draw it, or meditation on it. Speak it silently to yourself, or in solitude. But tell God your story, in your words.
Exercise 2 – Know Jesus: Spend time, in silence, getting to know Jesus. Pretend you are dating him. Put forth the time and energy in learning all about who he is, where he came from, who his friends are, what he likes or doesn’t like. Not from a perspective of religiously, but as someone you are trying to get to know on a personal level. Read a story or two from his life in the bible, and imagine you are there witnessing the story.
Exercise 3 – Sacrifice: Accompany Jesus in his crucifixion and his grace.
Exercise 4 – Discernment: Spend time discerning you calling, your vocation, what is yours to do.
Questions/Thoughts:
1. Think about your prayer life. How do you pray? When/Where?
2. Choose a sacred word for comtemplative prayer. This is a word between you and God. Ideally, it should be one syllable.
3. Practice the first of the spiritual exercises, “Know Thy Self”.
Music Notes
By Kenneth Jones
Reflections:
Introit: “As a Child Rests”; the imagery of the resting child evikes for me the sense of resting in and with God through prayer.
Opening Hymn: “O Savior, in This Quiet Place” is “a model for how to pray honestly, but not selfishly.
Special Music:The Chancel Choir will sing an arrangement of “Without Him” by Mary McDonald.
Responsive Hymn: From the footnotes of “There Is a Longing in Our Hearts’, “the refrain…explains why we pray, and the stanzas indicate what we pray for.”
Sending Hymn: “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”.
Benediction: Second verse of our October benediction, “Rise, O Church, Like Christ Arisen”.