On Daily Prayer

Greetings in the name of Christ,

I'm Rev David Cathcart, currently serving Trinity United Church in Port Coquitlam, BC.

This blog is an invitation to daily prayer.  Lectio Divina or sacred reading has been part of my daily practice off and on for 20 years.  Currently, I have been practicing 15 minutes of Lectio Divina each day.   I use it in my preaching as well as in my personal coping with what life brings to me.  At home, the prayer is personal.  I ask for what I need in the day/week.  At work, the prayer is corporate.  I ask for what my congregation and wider community need as we navigate a time of significant change in the world and the church.  This blog will focus on the later.  It is my hope that a few congregation members may choose to journey regularly with me.

The practice.

I begin by taking a few deep breaths and lighting a candle.  I set a timer for 15 minutes and  center myself with a simple prayer asking for what I believe I need for the day.  Often this prayer is the same invocation for several days, weeks or even months (There are somethings for which I've been praying for a long time: patience, tolerance, compassion, empathy...).  Then I use a text for lectio divina. 

There is no right or wrong way to do sacred reading.  The practice I will be using for this blog follows.  I select a short text, usually no more than 5 to 8 verses.  I'll talk more about text selection later.  I then read that short text slowly, several times.  I do the following three steps in the order given, as I continue to read and re-read the text slowly:

1) I jot down the words or phrases that seem to stand out to me. 
2) I journal random thoughts and images evoked by the text.
3) I answer the question, "What is the text inviting of me, right now."

I conclude with a short prayer (The result often looks much like what one might find in a daily devotional publication).

Following 15 minutes of Lectio Divina, I usually sit for 20 minutes in Centering Prayer, often using a few words from my lectio as a mantra or breath prayer.

You are invited to read along with me.

Blessings in the name of Christ,

Rev David Cathcart