A Novena for Lent - Praying with the Gospel of John

Reverend Sue
5 minutes ago
4 min read

In the busyness of our world, especially in the long journey of Lent and Easter, it can be very hard to find the time, frame of mind, and openness of heart to enter into the spacious uncertainty, challenging encounters, and the harrowing story of our Lord’s passion for us.

This year I am exploring with you a contemporary version of Novena – the discipline of praying for nine days the same prayer as a way of opening our hearts more fully to the Divine and to seek greater clarity in our life. (If you spend more than nine days wonderful but at the least it should be a sufficiently “bite size” spiritual discipline that even busy persons can keep!)

Over the nine “days” of this Novena we will explore a part of the narrative according to John’s gospel of Jesus’ ministry and last days. During Advent and Lent the church considers portions of John’s gospel but we never stay within this gospel. So I am taking this opportunity to stay with the gospel of John for this journey. I am exploring with you how this journey invites three spiritual goals, as expressed over eight hundred years ago by Saint Richard of Chichester (1197 to 1253).

“Day by day, Dear Lord,

of Thee three things I pray:

To see Thee more clearly,

Love Thee more dearly,

Follow Thee more nearly,

Day by day.”

So, we will explore how we see or perceive, how we love and allow ourselves to be loved, and how we follow. Some of the readings chosen will be heard on Sunday mornings but not all of them. In deciding which portions to read and reflect on I am indebted to the work of:

David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Kimberly Bracken Long, editors of “Feasting on the Word: A Thematic Resource for Preaching and Worship, Lenten Companion”, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2014.

Our Novena for Lent:

We seek your presence Lord,

from which we are never truly absent,

and we seek to open our minds, hearts and lives

so that we may know you more fully.

We pray you still our racing minds and repitative thoughts

so that we might know something beyond ourselves.

We pray you settle our overworked anxious hearts

until we can feel the pulse of your love and invitation.

And we pray you help us put aside pride and shame and worry

that we might lie open our lives before you

and know your healing and awakening presence.

We allow ourselves to notice our breathing without needing to change it.

Let us enjoy for a moment this present moment.

As we quiet and unfurl in your loving holy presence

reveal the shadowy fears and longings of our hearts

so that we can let go of what is no longer ours to hold,

allow hidden treasures to reveal themselves,

and discern what is ours to take up and become.

We spend as much time as we need in prayerful presence and then go about our day or evening.

Hallowed be your name. Amen.

Day One:

Read John 3:1-21.

This story of Nicodemus, the Jewish leader, who comes to Jesus at night (so he can’t be seen?) is a wonderful story that John bookends with comments by Jesus about sight and being seen. “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without out being born from above.” vs 3 And this story concludes with a description of the judgement “that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil … but those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” vs 19 – 21

The gospels, including John’s gospel, have many stories about blindness and healing from blindness. Here it is spiritual blindness. This story is very much about how we see, our perception, and about the need and desirability of bringing things into the light.

The spiritual journey requires a deep and disciplined regular checking of our perception - of how we see, what we see, and how we are seen. How do we look at God, the kingdom, our world, our selves? Are we clear eyed? Do we need to soften our gaze or look more sharply with less distortion?

On this day we especially pray that our eyes be opened, the lens of our perception be cleansed that we might see the divine more clearly in the grandeur and vulnerability of creation; in our neighbours, family and friends and in those we struggle to see the divine; and in the busyness and brokeness of our own lives help us see as God does all that is to be celebrated and all that is to be let go of.

Novena: