Isn't this just a great way to read the bible? Well . . . maybe.
In conversations here and there I am hearing that people feel they
"aren't doing it right" . . . in all kinds of ways. Becoming still
and quiet means suddenly you are napping! You can't slow down enough to
let any word really sink in! Lectio divina as a practice not only
gives us opportunity to read the bible in a different way but gives us
an awareness of what it means to slow down, stop, simply be. The
practice creates space for us to notice that we are tired or distracted
or . . . There is great value in this insight alone.
In my mind, the most important thing about lectio divina is not being
still and quiet - that is simply a way to prepare ourselves for the
task, for a different conversation . . . a conversation with an ancient
text that is "alive" with the Spirit. What is important about lectio
divina is that it teaches us to be in relationship with the Word. We
are not reading for intellectual understanding as we would most other
things we read. We are reading for encounter, embrace, relationship,
intimacy. Lectio divina isn't reading. It is a conversation, an
engagement, with the Holy One.
So whatever way you do it . . . is the right way.
At least that is what I tell myself when I awake from my lectio divina induced nap feeling strangely refreshed.
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