Lectio Divina-"The Nature and Practice of Spiritual Reading"

I recently joined a Bible study group called Soul Care. It is a Bible study for seminary wives. When I went to the introductory meeting I was not really sure what to expect. Carol (the lady who set up Soul Care) handed out the books that we were going to study. I looked at the cover and read "Soul Feast" Marjore J. Thompson. "Hum interesting title" I thought. I had never heard of this lady or her book. I listened as the book was described as a practical way of developing spiritual disciplines. I was immediately interested. I need spiritual disciplines. I find myself constantly fighting my flesh over the areas of scripture reading, prayer, fasting, worship, confession, service... the list can go on!

This past week we studied the second chapter of the book which talks about a spiritual discipline called Lectio Divina. This just basically means scripture reading. It is a practiced developed by early church fathers, and was practiced all throughout church history. She says "instead of analyzing or judging the text, we receive it as given and attend to what my be spoken through it." She previously had described scripture as "a lake whose depths have never been fully plumbed. On the surface it looks like any other lake; that is, we see human words like those in other books. But when we jump into the lake and begin to swim downward, we may be unable to find the bottom. It is as if those human words become transparent to some mysterious and infinite depth we can never fully grasp."

The way to practice Lectio Divina is in four basic phases. I will not go into the Latin terms for these four steps, mainly because it is easier to remember what is called "the four R's"

The first step after choosing a scripture is Read. You read it slowly, as if it was a love letter. Your read a small portion of Scripture, like 10-12 verses (or less). You read a line, then pause then read a line and pause. For some people reading silently causes our minds to wonder, so she suggests that for those people reading out loud helps. Then when you are done reading it, read it again. Read it three or four times.

The second step is receive. You start to listen for what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. It might be a phrase from the text that stands out, or a image that came to mind. You are essentially meditating on the text to find out what it might be that stands out about this text.

The third step is respond. You take this phrase or image and you start to pray and find out what it is the Lord wants you to learn from this text. Marjorie says "Perhaps the Word has touched our pain, and we cry out in hurt, anger, or frustration; perhaps God has revealed our sin, and we whisper in confession and repentance; perhaps the Word has evoked gratitude, and our words leap up in thanksgiving; perhaps it has sparked our joy, and we sing out adoration and praise."

The fourth step is rest. After you have gone through all this you just sit quietly and rest in the presence of God. She likens this step to "a weaned child [sitting on his mother's lap who is] not seeking anything at its mother's breast; it is content to rest quietly, enjoying the simple comfort of the mother's loving presence, an image of complete peace."

During our Bible study we practiced Lectio Divina. It was something that I had never done before, and it is now something that I will practice the rest of my life. The feeling is something that cannot be described. The Lord reveled himself to me that night. He reveled a sin in my life. There I was face to face with my heavenly father crying out for forgiveness. After repenting I moved into the rest stage. I really thought this was going to be the hardest stage because my mind is always wondering off thinking about the kids, what needs to be done.. well pretty much thinking about everything. But it was not hard. There I was in the presence of God. It was this peaceful feeling. Everything was calm. It was as if no one else was there, just me and my Savior. I was truly just resting in the presence of the Lord.

I urge you all to try this way of scripture reading. We did this for 30 minutes and it felt like 10. Find a quiet place in your house. Try to get in a place with no distractions. Snuggle up in your favorite chair, get comfortable, and just let God speak to you through his word. I also would recommend having a piece of paper and a pen with you. I found it a lot easier to journal through this process. Here are a few of the scriptures that she gave us to practice this discipline with; Psalm 121, and Proverbs 2:1-6.

I will end this blog entry with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears and working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love. And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did. That is all. That is meditation...Do no ask "How shall I pass this on?" but "What does it say to me?" Then ponder this Word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you."