Lectio Divina:
A Practice for Reconnecting to God’s Word
Douglas S. Hardy
If I have heard it once, I have heard it a hundred times. It is a common
concern expressed by preachers who have been at it for a while and goes
something like this: “My Bible reading has become almost exclusively
utilitarian—to prepare for preaching and teaching. I rarely read
Scripture devotionally, for my own personal, spiritual growth. I am afraid
that I am losing touch with it as God’s Word for me.”
There is a personal history behind this concern. The minister recalls
an earlier time, perhaps before officially entering the ministry or at
least in the early days of service, when reading the Bible was a highly
personal practice, a rich time of feeding the spirit with insights that
were experienced as the Word of God applied to the particularities of
one’s life. But then a shift occurred. With Sunday preaching coming
around, it seemed, every few days, plus teaching and giving “devotionals”
to various groups within the church throughout the week, Bible reading
quickly shifted from a personal “feeding” practice to a pragmatic
“harvesting” practice, with the leading questions becoming:
Is there a sermon outline in this text? How could I develop this Scripture
story into a devotional for Wednesday night? What biblical book might
best serve as the foundation for the class I want to teach next month?
These are not bad questions. Asking them is an indispensable part of
the pastoral task. Nonetheless, it may feel like something important got
lost in the asking. This brings us to the gist of the preacher’s
concern: somehow my relationship with God is taking a hit because of the
work of preaching-teaching ministry. Is it? Perhaps. The concern is legitimate
and points to an all-too common hazard of the profession. Ministers do
neglect their personal (and family) lives as they throw themselves into
the work of “serving” others. Ministers do begin to “use”
the Bible as a tool to be managed and manipulated for getting tasks done
efficiently, rather than allowing Scripture to be used by the Spirit of
God to challenge and transform their attitudes and behaviors.
Disconnections from the Bible as God’s Word
So here is a truth that must be acknowledged: in the course of the work
of preaching-teaching ministry, my relationship to Scripture as God’s
Word can become distorted. Just because I read the Bible does not necessarily
mean I am hearing and being transformed by God’s Word. Even if I
come up with clever ways to proclaim Scripture truths, I may fail to recognize
and respond to the Spirit who is speaking through the Word. In short,
there are ways of reading Scripture that may hinder rather than help it
to be a spiritually formative practice. Consider, for example:
Grazing or proof-text hunting for biblical “support” of
a preaching-teaching agenda I have already established.
Assessing the value of a portion of Scripture based on the insights or
feelings it generates (or fails to generate) in me.
Reading the Bible only when I feel a perceived need to get something
out of it.
Bringing a time of Scripture reading to a close because an insight has
emerged or a particular feeling has been generated.
Engaging my full critical faculties in examining a biblical text, but
not praying with that text.
As preachers, we may find ourselves engaging Scripture in one or more
of these ways, recognizing that something of a previous more-dynamic engagement
with God’s Word has died. To the extent that this reflects a sense
of loss in the quality of our relationship with God (and God’s Word),
this is bad news. However, from a Christian perspective on shifts and
changes in our lives, when something dies, there is always the possibility
of something new emerging in the form of resurrection. Loss always points
to a potential new gain: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears
much fruit” (John 12:24, nrsv).
A Foundational Practice for Re-Connection
So, the good news is that the very conundrum you are experiencing as
a preacher may contain a seed of potential for new life in relation to
God’s Word. The concern, even dissatisfaction you feel may be readying
you for something new and different, a spiritually formative way of reading
that:
Centers on your relationship with God and God’s relationship to
God’s people,
Combines thoughtful study and prayerful contemplation,
Eliminates a sharp divide between your personal use of the Bible and
your professional, ministerial use of the Bible,
Provides a solid foundation for holding together your Christian discipleship
and your Christian ministry.
Such an approach is found in a practice known by its Latin name, lectio
divina. It means “sacred reading” of Scripture and its roots
are with the Benedictines, a religious order founded by St. Benedict of
Nursia in the sixth century c.e. It is still a vital presence throughout
the world today. You may already be familiar with this classic Christian
practice, or at least heard of it. It has become quite popular in evangelical
circles of late, especially with youth.1
As with all classic Christian practices that are “re-discovered”
and “brought forward” for use in a contemporary context, lectio
divina is not just another spiritual technology that can be easily learned
and applied. Fortunately, there are a number of good, accessible resources
to help one understand the history, theology, and methodology of the practice.2
My objective in this article is more modest: to highlight some ways that
the multi-dimensional practice of lectio divina can help you to enter
into a more God-centered engagement with the Bible as God’s Word.
Traditionally, lectio divina is described as a process that includes
a series of prayer dynamics.3 Together they move the reader of Scripture
to a deep level of engagement with the text and with the Spirit that enlivens
the text. Consider how each of these dynamics might help you to reconnect
the reading of the Bible with transforming prayer.
Silencio
Silence. As a young person in the Church of the Nazarene during the 1970s,
I was encouraged, as were most young evangelicals at the time, to set
aside a “quiet time” each day (preferably in the morning)
for Bible reading and prayer. I am not sure who came up with the phrase,
but it is a pretty good one. The classic wisdom of the Christian tradition
affirms that the primary posture of the believer when approaching the
Bible and/or prayer is one of open, receptive listening.
What might it look like for you to begin your times of Scripture reading—whether
devotionally or in sermon preparation—with silence? Simple, embodied
practices of quieting yourself and your environment can help you to enter
a place that, in its silence, tunes you into the formative work of the
Word and the Spirit. For example, try:
Closing your eyes and slowing your breathing
Lighting a candle
Disconnecting from the Internet
Turning off your radio, CD or mp3 player
Moving to a room or area that has less “stuff”
Gently surrendering up to God each thought/idea/concern that emerges
and waiting until you are mentally at rest
Then, out of the silence, offer a simple, verbal invitation to God to
join you and speak to you from the text.
Lectio
Reading. Most of us do not remember when we first learned to read, but
we have heard enough from our parents (and some of us have had enough
practice as parents ourselves!) to know that you begin by reading out
loud to a child. In its most primitive form (and therefore, at is most
formative), reading is audible, slow and deliberate, carefully articulated,
imaginatively evocative, and relational. There is greater chance of the
text of Scripture becoming a part of us when we read this way, not the
ways we have been encouraged to read in Western educational systems: silently,
quickly, skimming.
When coming to a passage of Scripture devotionally or to prepare to preach
or teach, try first reading the passage aloud, slowly, at least twice.
As you do, use your imagination to engage any and all of the five senses
that may be reflected in the narrative. Place yourself in the text, even
as you listen to the sounds (and imagine the sights!) of the words you
speak. Hearing these words come at you from “outside” your
head may help remind you that this Word is a spoken word from God to you.
Meditatio
Meditation. To meditate is to think about or mentally “chew on”
what you have read. Many of us preachers seem to have no trouble engaging
this dynamic. We read commentaries about the Scripture text, consult the
perspective of contemporary authors, brainstorm sermon and lesson ideas,
search our memories for life-connections and practical illustrations.
If we have Attention Deficit Disorder, we may find it difficult to not
constantly think about and around the Bible texts on our mental front
burners.
A closer inspection, however, often reveals that our mental activity
is not really meditation. To meditate, as the Psalmist reminds us, is
less like an intense mental whirlwind and more like a relaxed mulling
over: “I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches
of the night” (Psalm 63:6). The following practices might help you
be more meditative in your study of the Bible:
Take one word or phrase and stay with it longer than you normally would,
repeating it out loud and freely associating.
Ask questions about the text, but do not press for answers—live
the questions for awhile.
Find a corresponding or linked Old Testament text if you are reading
in the New Testament or find a New Testament text if you are reading in
the Old (a Lectionary can be helpful) and immerse yourself for awhile
in the other Testament’s viewpoint.
Oratio
Praying. “Thinking about” and “praying” are not
completely disconnected activities, but they are not necessarily identical
either. I have found it far easier to think about God-stuff than to talk
directly to God about stuff, even while reading the Bible. If this is
true for you as well, then nurture this dynamic by more intentionally
praying about what rises up in your mind and heart as you read and meditate
on Scripture.
Talk to God about it as you would in a close, personal, human relationship.
Speak to God (preferably out loud) or write your prayer in a journal.
Do not expect God to just “read your thoughts”—it is
not that God cannot; rather, by externalizing your prayer, a conversational
dialog with God as Author of Scripture is more likely to emerge. As in
any love relationship worth its salt, the lover must risk putting him/herself
“out there” in a way that is directed toward and can be received
by the beloved. Is your praying with Scripture:
Honest? (does it require vulnerability?)
Immediate? (or do you postpone it to other designated prayer times?)
Dialogical? (do you leave space for response?)
Contemplatio
Contemplation. Stop and rest silently before God. Receive whatever the
Spirit gives. Be content in the moment. This may be the most difficult
dynamic for us preachers because it cuts across the grain of our busy,
achievement-oriented lifestyles. It feels anti-climactic, unproductive,
even a waste of time after the rigors of meditation and the liveliness
of spoken or written prayer. Some evangelicals have re-arranged the classic
order of these lectio divina dynamics so that the process finishes with
oratio rather than contemplation4—certainly more in line with what
many of us are used to, but missing the whole point of lectio by giving
us the last word.
After engaging Scripture, there is supposed to be a “letting go,”
if you will, of the written text and the spoken word, so that we can keep
anchored in the God who not only speaks through the text, but who is above
and beyond the text. God who is and who wants us, ultimately, to be.
Compassio
Compassion. The fruit of the contemplation of God is love—love
of God and love of neighbor. This is the ultimate test of our engagement
with the Bible as God’s Word: do we live it in ways that are visible
to those around us, especially those with whom we live and work. Whatever
insight, feeling, or commitment emerges from our time with Scripture is
to be shared as grace with others. God’s grace transforms our lives
and, consequently, witnesses to God’s transforming grace for others.
This is where reading the Bible devotionally and reading it for preaching-teaching
come together around a single goal.
But there is a catch. None of us preachers are in a position to evaluate
ourselves according to this criterion of compassion. Only others can by
their experience of us. And so, we are dependent on our friends, our spouses,
even our parishioners to tell us, in so many words, whether or not we
are “walking the talk” or just “talking the walk.”
We may cultivate and nurture Scripture practices that are more inclusive
of silencio, lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio, but if these
do not bear fruit in ever-increasing compassionate living, then our problem
may not be a devotional reading of Scripture vis-à-vis a ministerial
reading of Scripture at all. Rather, it may be that we have yet to come
to terms with the God revealed in Jesus, “full of grace and truth”
(John 1:14).
1. See, for example, the Nazarene Publishing House/Barefoot Ministries
series of books, Lectio Divina for Youth.
2. For starters, I recommend reading Michael Casey, Sacred Reading:
The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina (Liguori, MO: Liguori/Triumph, 1995)
and Eugene H. Peterson, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Arts
of Spiritual Reading (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006) for grounding
in theology; the following websites provide succinct summaries with suggestions
for practice: www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html; centeringprayer.com/lectio/lectio.htm;
www.upperroom.org/
methodx/thelife/prayermethods/lectio.asp (accessed August 28, 2008).
3. Classical descriptions name four dynamics: lectio, meditation,
oratio, and contemplation. I follow the lead of Clay Oglesbee, “From
Praying to Proclaiming: The Lectio Divina in Sermon Foundation,”
Preaching (Vol. 5 No. 4, November-December 1989, 16-19), in naming
two other implicit dynamics: silencio at the beginning and compassion
at the end.
4. The Lectio Divina Bible Studies Series, produced by the Wesleyan
Publishing House and Beacon Hill Publishing inverts the traditional order
of oratio followed by contemplation. The publishers explain the change
as seeking to remain true to the spirit of lectio while adapting its methodologies
to the evangelical context. However, in my judgment, the change results
in a missed opportunity to teach contemplation as honed through centuries
of monastic practice.
Dr. Doug Hardy is Professor of Spiritual Formation and Director of the
Doctor of Ministry program at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas
City, Missouri.
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