Lectio Divina, Tuesday Meditation for Advent 2023
Written by Fayelle Ewuakye, Communications Coordinator
Readings:
I was introduced to the meditative practice of Lectio Divina a few years ago, and it’s been a great help and inspiration to my spirit ever since. Lectio Divina is Latin for “divine reading,” “spiritual reading,” or “holy reading.” The goal is to read through a passage of Scripture three times and commune with the Spirit of the living Christ. Read in the mind and out loud, with careful concentration on the words, pausing at the commas, and breathing after the end of sentences. While this is a beautiful practice any day of the year, please join us in thinking of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East as we go through these steps:
- Read through the passage once, as you’d normally read any passage of Scripture. Pause. If your mind wanders, that’s ok. Gently refocus.
- Read the passage a second time, a little slower, pausing when a picture or memory comes to mind. A Palestinian man waits at a checkpoint in the West Bank, weary and wondering how long it will take him to get through this time. He is eager to be home after a long day of work, but he wants to get through without harassment, so he keeps his head down and prays the crossing goes without incident.
- Read through a third time (out loud if you can – it’s helpful for deeper connection and clearer focus), and this time pronounce the nouns and adjectives carefully – rest, living, active, joints, and marrow – and invite the mind to truly imagine what is being said and who is saying it.
- Visualize the mother who kisses her children goodbye and sends them off to school with a heavy heart, praying they make it there and back safely.
- Picture the life and energy of Scripture uplifting the soul of the Palestinian Christian preacher who has been visiting congregants in the community and has found himself frustrated and saddened by the harassment he receives from extremists.
- Wait with an expectation of the Spirit to give you the longing of those tending their olive trees, wishing they could rest easy in the knowledge that the land they’ve had for generations would be promised to them.
- Be gentle with a wandering mind – sometimes, it’s not easy to remain focused. Know that the God of love sees the poor and afraid in Lebanon, wondering if the economy will ever get better, wondering how he’ll feed his family.
- As you go through the final reading, it can be beneficial to take it a step further and journal, jotting down notes of what comes to mind. The goal is not a perfect essay or even complete thoughts, but phrases, doodles, anything that your mind touches on as you read aloud.
May this passage fill you with peace and the presence of the Spirit this season.
Hebrews 4:1-13
Brethren, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again, in this place, he said, “They shall never enter my rest.” Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later of another day. So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him, no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
About the Author: Fayelle earned her B.A. in Humanities at Jacksonville State University, in Jacksonville, Alabama with a concentration in Anthropology and Geography. She’s been the Social Media Curator for her local church in northwest Georgia for 2 years and finds the gifts and benefits of social media to be great blessings toward any organization wishing to reach out to the masses. She wants to be a part of some meaningful work, both locally and globally, and believes peace and justice are two things the public at large needs to know more about.