Lectio Divina
The Company We Keep, prt. 8
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
June 20, 2009
I have to admit a fear to you. I mean, I’m doing great on conquering fear, but I have this fear that my attempts to nudge you toward a life of practicing the means of grace may backfire. I don’t want to just tell you to do it, so I’ve spent a lot of time giving you background and stuff not just to help you think, but to help you think about how you think about this stuff. Thinking is important, but it’s even more important to think about how we think. Because if we go about thinking wrongly, then the content will be wrong – that is, the actual stuff we think will be wrong. What I’ve been trying to do is give you a way of thinking about what it means to follow Jesus and to grow up in Christ and be one of his followers. My fear is that this might seem like a ton of information, that it will seem overwhelming, and that might discourage people from entering into this life. If that’s how you’re feeling, I just want to put these words from Jesus out there.
Matthew 11:30 (MSG)
30 Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Freely and lightly. Freely and lightly. God is not moving in the things that oppress you. At least not for you, and not right now. So if you have felt these sermons to bring not freedom and lightness, but oppression and heaviness, please move past the sermons and just practice the disciplines. Do not allow those feelings of heaviness to lead you to believe this approach is not for you. It is for all who desire true transformation and want to get off the treadmill of just knowing what we should do, trying, failing, and then feeling guilty.
Now I have harped on prayer and Bible reading a little bit the past few weeks because, as it is usually practiced, it does not have much transformational power. If you are serious about following Jesus, then praying and reading the Bible aren’t your goal, CHANGE is your goal! So today I want to show you a way that prayer and Bible reading can become much more powerful for effecting life change than the way we currently practice them. I want to talk to you today about Lectio Divina.
In September 2005, Pope Benedict XVI stated:
"I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of Lectio divina: the diligent reading of Sacred Scripture accompanied by prayer brings about that intimate dialogue in which the person reading hears God who is speaking, and in praying, responds to him with trusting openness of heart (cf. Dei Verbum, n. 25). If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced of it - a new spiritual springtime."
Let’s start with the basics. Lectio Divina means “divine reading.” The practice dates back to the 12th century. For 900 years Christians have found this to be a valuable and effective way of coming close to God. I wouldn’t suggest we abandon it now! Though lectio is spelled with a t, the word is scholarly Latin, and there the combination ct is pronounced like an X, so we have “Lexio,” and not Lec-T-o.” At its most basic, Lectio Divina consists of four parts – Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, and Contemplatio. But let’s ditch the Latin, shall we? It’s probably best remembered as Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest. Say that with me: Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest. Say it again: Read, Reflect, Respond, and Rest.
This approach kind of runs counter to the way we often read scripture today, and that’s what’s good about it. Most of us rarely get much past level 1 in reading scripture. We read it and that’s it. Or we might read it and then reflect on it very briefly. Maybe once in a while we’ll respond to it in some way. And the resting part we usually leave out entirely. Lectio emphasizes that all of these parts (though not necessarily in this precise order) are essential for getting scripture into us and allowing God’s Spirit to shape us through it.
So let’s take a break right there. This brings us back to our intentions. Is it your intention to live the Jesus life? Is it your intention to do what is required to enter into the rest Christ promised you, or would you prefer to stay in the try, fail, blame self, feel guilty, try again cycle? Without a way of bringing scripture to actually shape us, that will be our certain path. We know that God’s Word is central in this – probably no one here would question that. But in our usual enlightenment, modern way, we take something that is supposed to be central, turn it into a set of principles to be learned and facts to be understood, and assume we have gotten out of it all we can so let’s move on. Lectio encourages us to “chew on” scripture – to “feast” on it. After all, how can something we do not digest become part of us? I’m afraid that spiritually speaking, some of us have the runs. It’s going in, but it’s not staying in – so that although we might be taking in scripture, we are still chronically spiritually malnourished. And since we are spiritual beings and our life simply IS spirit, our life as a whole shows the consequences of this malnourishment. So it is your intention to hide God’s Word in your heart? To feast on it, take it into yourself, and allow it to guide you to transformation? Perhaps nothing in the New Testament expresses the importance of God’s Word better than this quote from the Old Testament’s Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 (MSG)
18 Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder.
19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.
20 Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities
Let us once and for all dispense with the notion that significant and lasting spiritual transformation is likely without the steady learning of God’s Word. If your only intake of God’s Word is during the sermon every week, you’re probably on a starvation diet. Now, if you picked a passage from the sermon each week, meditated on it daily, and directed your life according to it, it could really have power to shape your life. However, my guess is that there are significant numbers who hear the sermon, go home, and that’s it for them for the week. This is definitely a starvation diet. It’s barely subsistence-level and I think most of you on that diet can probably look into your lives and see for yourselves that you are subsisting (“sub” meaning “under” so “subsisting” is a step below “existing.”) You’re getting by, but change isn’t really coming and you’re probably suffering consequences for the things that are dogging you. So we go back to the intention question. Is it your intention to take in God’s Word in a way that will lead to transformation? If so, Lectio is a tried and true way of making that happen. Let’s look at its parts.
You begin with something to transition you from what you were doing before to what you’re about to enter into. For those of you who remember when I talked about The Daily Office, this would be the centering stage. You need to spend a few minutes in quiet, probably some deep breathing to help you relax, and then a brief prayer to ask God’s Spirit to guide you through your reading. Then you are ready to begin.
Step 1 is Lectio, or reading. Here you choose a section of scripture (often lectio divina is used to work through entire Bible books or sections) and you give it a cursory reading. This is where you take a bite. You carefully read the passage through a few times. You might write down words that particularly stand out to you or grab your attention. This comes from the realization that your Spirit and God’s Spirit are connecting as you read scripture. God knows your heart, and knows your deepest needs. You will only respond to him according to what he is saying to you, and you will experience what he is saying to you according to the way God has created you. It cannot be any other way. After all, when you meet with God, it is not St. Augustine, or Rick Light (unless you actually happen to be Rick Light) or Billy Graham or Mother Theresa – but it is YOU. You are the only one you can bring before God.
Step 2 is Meditatio, or reflecting. If Lectio is where you take a bite out of the Word, this is where you begin chewing on it. Here you read the text again, and really reflect on one or two of those words that have grabbed your attention. Spiritual director Jan Johnson says that the word that may often be right for you will often cause you at first to think, “Now why did I choose that word? What is it about that word?” It will not usually be obvious, and you don’t simply select a word. You allow a word or phrase to come to your attention.
Step 3 is Oratio, or responding. Lectio is taking a bite, Meditatio is chewing. Oratio is savoring. You know, you bite into a piece of pizza, then you begin chewing it, and as you are chewing it, you experience its full flavor as the different toppings, the crust, the sauce, and the cheese mix together in your mouth. You just enjoy it and savor its goodness. That’s what happens here. You read the text again, paying attention to whether the word or phrase that stuck out to you continues to do so. You ask God to show you what it might mean. And you talk to God about what you are hearing and understanding. This is based on the assumption that God wants to speak to us not only collectively through his Word, but also individually through the Holy Spirit. Also, you allow God to heal you during this time. You are not forcing a word into your mind and then forcing an understanding of that word, you are simply seeking to identify what is stirring and respond to God about it.
Step 4 is Contemplatio. Here you may not read the text again at all, but simply focus on God with love. You might imagine Christ before you, or hear him saying to you, “Peace, be still.” You might pray the Jesus prayer over and over – Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” What matters is just sitting quietly before God for a while.
Now when I was researching for this article I found a lot of websites that contain articles that viciously oppose lectio and its practice, on the grounds that as far as we know, Jesus didn’t practice it and didn’t teach any of the disciples to practice it. There is a criticism about searching for a word or a phrase as we read, because God has never promised us that he would communicate with us in this way. As I close today’s message I want to respond to some of these objections. I know some of you probably go out to the Internet and read about stuff, and I at least want a chance to give you my perspective.
Lectio has been around a long time. There was a point in history where nearly every serious Christian in the world was learning and practicing lectio. There is no perfect way to connect with God, and we certainly can’t MAKE God appear with any particular method or technique. There is no lamp we can rub to conjure him. If you’re the paranoid type, lectio’s focus on meditation can sound very Eastern-y, almost Hindu at times. But the question is not whether Lectio sounds Eastern, and the question isn’t about Lectio’s beginnings in the Catholic Church. We should not choose not to do things simply because people do them who might believe different things than we believe. In the words of Dallas Willard, I’m not going to stop eating breakfast just because Muslims eat breakfast. Eating breakfast is a good idea.”
Some are critical of Lectio’s “pick a word” approach. After all, Jesus never said that when we read scripture we should pick a word and assume that that is God’s Word for us. But the purpose of Lectio is simply to make us into listeners – people who read God’s Word carefully and listen closely to what the Holy Spirit might be saying. Furthermore, Lectio assumes that God isn’t done speaking. That yes, God has given us his Word in the Bible, but God continues to guide us personally today and if we listen carefully to God’s written Word, we might hear God speaking his personal Word to us. I don’t see anything wrong with this idea.
Next, the fact that Jesus never taught Lectio and never practiced it doesn’t mean it’s wrong for us to do. Jesus never founded a church but I think we’re safe for having done it. Jesus never did communion using wafers and grape juice, but I think we’re okay. As far as we know Jesus didn’t preach regularly in a church or synagogue every week, but I think we’re safe. Heck, as far as we know Jesus never even wrote a sermon!
My friends, we must learn to hear the Spirit of Jesus, which draws us to God. At the end of time on judgment day, God is not going to say, “You fool – you allowed yourself to be misguided by Lectio,” or “You didn’t learn the proper wording of The Lord’s Prayer, or “You did not have the proper information about Jesus because you grew up in a Buddhist country.” God will judge rightly and fairly. Our calling in all things is to pursue God and God’s law of perfect love. As Christians we believe that Jesus Christ is the best revelation of God ever given to mankind and that following him and learning to be like him is a certain way of coming to know God. We believe in his death for our sins and his resurrection from the grave. We trust him to guide us into all truth. On those occasions when we are deeply troubled by a teaching or a practice, we can reject it and pray that God will guide us. But we are, I believe, on very solid ground with the ancient practice of Lectio. Anything that teaches us to listen more closely to God is okay by me.
