Lectio Divina

Every year we have a quiet service on the first Sunday of January as a way of entering gently and reflectively into the new year.  Along with quiet music and silent prayer, the sermon is replaced by lectio divina, an ancient practice for entering prayerfully into the reading of scripture.

The passage we chose this year was Isaiah 60:1-6, which begins “Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”   The passage was read four times, and listeners were invited to enter the passage in four different ways:

Lectio:  slow and careful reading and listening, alert for words or phrases that seem to speak especially to you, words that “shimmer” for you.

Meditatio: letting the word or phrase speak more deeply to you, as though the passage was being spoken directly to you.

Oratio: offering a prayer to God; this can take many forms, though in our service we relied on silent prayer

Contemplatio: resting quietly with God in the new understanding of God’s word.

We invite you to experiment with Lectio in your own devotions, and to consider it as a way of doing Bible study with others.