Today's service was led by members of the congregation since our minister had taken some time off. The reflection (aka sermon) was the part of the service I enjoyed the most, as the people that gave it really engaged me into the subject. I wish I could say the same for the other prayers. I have trouble "getting into" the prayers that this one member writes. I always have the feeling that he does now converse with us but rather just reads and somehow this just does not work for me. As most members of the congregation enjoy them I guess it is something that I need to get past.

The Ahhh moment came when I was reading the chapter on daily Bible reading for tomorrow's Discernment Committee meeting. There is a section which talks about Lectio Divina. That is the process of reading a passage of Scripture aloud, usually three times, with a period of silence between each reading. We are to focus on a word or phrase that strikes an inner chord and imagine that it is Jesus talking to us. Our minister has been doing something very similar at each of the meetings I have attended. I has now become clearer as to why she has been doing it.

Speaking of the chapter, I think I need to reread it again and again to become more familiar with all the material that is there. I guess the same could be said about the book itself. But I feel like I am missing something - forgotten or overlooked - by only reading that section once or twice.

And speaking of our minister, she has sent us links to a couple of web sites as ideas to spark our imagination. They are links to St. Mary's Road United Church and to one of its programs: The Thin Line. It is certainly an interesting setup that they have. I would like to think that we have started down a similar road already with the Sunday Wonder Program for example, but a lot of ground work still needs to be done.

God Bless You!