A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on John 14:2-3, with a reading from Brian Zahnd's Unseen Existences. Day 55 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

John 14:2-3 (NRSVUE)

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.

If it were not so,

would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and will take you to myself,

so that where I am, there you may be also.

Refrain

God alone suffices.

Quote

Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences

“There are sorrows, but there are also joys.

There are heartaches, but there are also healings.

There are woes innumerable,

but there is also a peace that passes understanding.

There are adversaries, but there is also a Helper.

There are accusations, but there is also an Advocate.

There is anguish, but there is also a Comforter.

And so we press on.

We will find our way home

because the One who calls us home

will make a way even when there seems to be no way.

Be of good cheer, pilgrim. You’re on the right path.

You will make it.

No one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end.

Buen camino.”

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on James 1:2-4, with a reading from Alan Kreider's The Patient Ferment of the Early Church. Day 54 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

James 1:2-4 (NKJV)

My brethren, count it all joy

when you fall into various trials,

knowing that the testing of your faith

produces patience.

But let patience have its perfect work,

that you may be perfect and complete,

lacking nothing.

Refrain

Patience obtains all things.

Quote

Alan Kreider, from The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

“Patience was not a virtue dear to most Greco-Roman people....

But Christian writers called patience ‘the highest virtue,’

‘the greatest of all virtues,’

the virtue that was ‘particularly Christian.’

The Christians believed that God is patient

and that Jesus visibly embodied patience.

And they concluded that they, trusting in God, should be patient:

not controlling events, not anxious or in a hurry,

and never using force to achieve their ends.”

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Isaiah 40:8, with a reading from Peri Zahnd's Every Scene by Heart. Day 53 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

Isaiah 40:8 (NRSVUE)

The grass withers; the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

Refrain

All things are passing. God never changes.

Quote

Peri Zahnd, from Every Scene by Heart

“This is the Meseta,

that middle section of life,

that sometimes boring, sometimes tedious section of life,

but we realize in hindsight how beautiful it all was

and that we wouldn’t have skipped it for anything!...

And then you leave the Meseta and cross more mountains.

You realize the end is nearer, but that it’s really just a beginning....

It’s a mystery, but a mystery I now approach

more trustingly, more willingly,

surrendering myself to the purposes of God.”

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Philippians 4:6-7, with Teresa of Ávila's prayer known as Saint Teresa's Bookmark. Day 52 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7 (NRSVUE)

Do not worry about anything,

but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds

in Christ Jesus.

Refrain

Let nothing disturb me. Let nothing frighten me.

Quote

Teresa of Ávila, “Saint Teresa’s Bookmark”

Let nothing disturb you.

Let nothing frighten you.

All things are passing away.

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things.

Whoever has God lacks nothing.

God alone suffices.

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Jeremiah 6:16, with a reading from Brian Zahnd's Unseen Existences. Day 51 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

Jeremiah 6:16a (NRSVUE)

Thus says the LORD:

Stand at the crossroads and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way lies,

and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

Refrain

Buen camino. May my way be good.

Quote

Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences

“Dear pilgrim, may your way, though not easy, still be blessed.

Despite blistered feet, sore knees, and bone-weary fatigue,

may you find what you are looking for.

May you reach that holy aspiration you are pressing on toward.

And as we both know, our holy aspiration

is much more than arriving at a cathedral

in the city of Santiago.”

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on 1 Kings 19:5-8, with words from the Iona Community communion liturgy. Day 50 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

1 Kings 19:5-8 (NRSVUE)

Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.

Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him,

“Get up and eat.”

He looked, and there at his head

was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.

He ate and drank and lay down again.

The angel of the LORD came a second time,

touched him, and said,

“Get up and eat,

otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”

He got up and ate and drank;

then he went in the strength of that food

forty days and forty nights

to Horeb the mount of God.

Refrain

When my strength is gone, I am fed for the journey.

Quote

From the Iona Community communion liturgy

“This is the table, not of the church, but of the Lord.

It is made ready for those who love him,

and for those who want to love him more.

So come, you who have much faith, and you who have little;

you who have been here often, and you who have not been here long;

you who have tried to follow, and you who have failed,

come! Because it is the Lord who invites you.

It is his will that those who want him should meet him here. Amen.”

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Scripture

Genesis 32:1-2 (NRSVUE)

Jacob went on his way,

and the angels of God met him,

and when Jacob saw them he said,

“This is God’s camp!”

So he called that place Mahanaim.

Refrain

I am sheltered under angel wings.

Quote

Sergius Bulgakov, from Jacob’s Ladder

“The world is sheltered by angel wings.

Angel eyes keep watch without rest over us.

Between heaven and earth

the holy angels ascend and descend unceasingly.”

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A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Matthew 18:10, with a reading from Sergius Bulgakov's Jacob's Ladder. Day 48 of the Unseen Existences series.

Scripture

Matthew 18:10 (NRSVUE)

Take care that you do not despise

one of these little ones,

for, I tell you, in heaven their angels

continually see the face of my Father in heaven.

Refrain

I am not alone. A friend is near.

Quote

Sergius Bulgakov, from Jacob’s Ladder

“At that time the voice of a companion sounded within:

I was not alone but together with my own other I;

it was my guardian angel.

He told me that we had gone too far ahead

and it was necessary to return....

I returned to life from death.

And I knew all this time that I was not alone,

that with me was a friend, the most near, tender and quiet.”

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