Lectio Divina: Love and Compassion
Date: April 14, 2025
Scripture: Lamentations 3:22-24

Karen Bott

Part 1: Inward Focus 

Welcome. Let’s stop for a moment to pause and take a deep breath. Our theme for this month is love and compassion. We open our hands in a posture of prayer, demonstrating our willingness to stop and be with God, to be receptive to his word and to welcome his presence.  Today, we’ll be reading from

2 Cor. 13:11-14.

Dear brothers and sisters,  I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

 Greet each other with a sacred kiss. 13 All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Paul’s last words in this letter to the Corinthians seem like a tall order to fill. Joyfulness, maturity, encouragement, harmony and peace. Which of these do you long for most?

Pause

Talk to God about this longing. How might he be answering that prayer in your life?

Pause

Part 2: Outward Focus

As we reread this passage, allow God to bring to mind a young person you know experiencing disharmony and turmoil. 

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

 Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

What actions might you take to invite this young person into harmony and peace?

Pause

Carry the grace you received from the Lord into your day.

Part 3: We’ll end this time together with the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours. 

Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. 

Put me to doing, put me to suffering. 

Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, praised for you or criticized for you. 

Let me be full, let me be empty. 

Let me have all things, let me have nothing. 

I freely and fully surrender all things To your glory and service. 

And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, You are mine, and I am yours. 

So be it. 

And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it also be made in heaven.

Amen.

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