March 18, 2026

Lent – Practicing Our Faith

As Lent is quickly drawing to a close, the Series that we have been doing in worship on Connecting to God will be ending in the next week. This past Sunday I spoke about Spiritual Reading and wanted to share a few resources related to this. Next Sunday, the closing sermon will be on Developing a Rule of Life, focuses on developing active spiritual practices within your own faith journey.

Connecting to God through Spiritual Reading is about deepening our spiritual lives through reading—either books for spiritual enhancement or the Bible. Below are some recommendations for reading outside the Bible and also the process that I shared called Lectio Divina.

This is not the ONLY way to practice Lectio Divina. If you want to know more, I would suggest searching for a podcast that will guide you through the practice.

Books for Spiritual Reading: During my sermon, I mentioned that there have been books that have been ones that have been very meaningful to me in my spiritual journey. Often it is merely that they had the “right” word for me at the right time. Each of our journeys is different. You might read the same book and think “meh, not for me.” But I wanted to share with you some titles that have been significant in my life.

• Memories of God by Roberta Bondi
• With Burning Hearts by Henri Nouwen
• Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

Other books that might stretch your thinking about God: Love Wins (Rob Bell), The Universal Christ (Richard Rohr), Faith After Doubt (Brian McLaren), Why Religion? A Personal Story (Elaine Pagels)

For something completely different: If you are a Harry Potter Fan and are open minded, a podcast entitled Harry Potter and the Scared Text explores the Harry Potter books using Lectio divina techniques.

Prayer Poem by Marcina Wiederkehr

All-seeing One, above me, around me, within me,

Be my seeing as I read these sacred words,

Look down upon me

Look out from within me

Look all around me

See through my eyes

Hear through my ears

Feel through my heart

Touch me where I need to be touched;

And when my heart is touched,

Give me the grace to lay down this Holy Book

And ask significant questions:

Why has my heart been touched?

How am I to be changed through this touch?

Rachel Gonia