January: Setting Our Intentions
As we enter a new calendar year, we can begin to set our intentions for the next twelve months. How can we better experience God’s presence this year? How can we continue to cultivate our own spiritual growth? There is a litany of ways to enrich our prayer life, thus improving how we hear and respond to the Spirit’s prompting. Over the next few months, I want to set forth a different form of prayer that will, hopefully, aid us in how we encounter God.
For this month I will highlight the practice of lectio divina. This is a form of meditative prayer that simply means, “divine reading.” The idea is to take a specific scripture within the Bible and read through it four times, each time bringing a different focus to the text. Eugene Peterson put it like this, with lectio divina, we aren’t so much reading Scripture, as Scripture is reading us. This is a fantastic practice for those that have been Christians their entire life or for only a short while. In some cases, we might even find our attention is drawn to something within the text, that we would have never found without this focused reading. The practice of lectio divina is divided into four separate stages - lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.
Let us use Psalm 19:12-14 as our focus text.
12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. 14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Let’s begin the practice.
Lectio (Read) - As you read for the first time, try to do so as though it’s your first time reading the passage. Read slowly. Read the passage a second time, this time focus on a word or phrase that is speaking to you. Now, sit in silence for one or two minutes.
Meditatio (Meditate) - On the third reading, meditate on that word or phrase that the Spirit is drawing you to. Do not force anything to happen but remain present. Sit in silence for one or two minutes.
Oratio (Speak) - Sit with God and ask, “God, is there anything you are asking me to do or be in the coming days?” Read the passage one final time.
Contemplatio (Contemplation) - Pray and reflect a few more moments on the passage, paying particular attention to what the Spirit is illuminating. This is the stage to sit in silence as long as you need. Sit it all before God, without an agenda in mind.
Close out in prayer.
Now that we have a basic grasp of the practice of lectio divinia it can be applied to any Scripture. When first utilizing this practice, it might be beneficial to use a shorter passage. Ultimately, the purpose of contemplative styles of prayer is to engender a deeper connection with God. Within our busy lives we can often lose touch with God’s guiding voice and grow weary while trying to find it again. The contemplative prayer model allows us to come to God, with arms extended and hands open, attentive, and willing to embrace that which He gives to us. This year my prayer and hope for each of us is that we all learn to encounter God in new and powerful ways.
Peace to you,
Rev. Taylor Kibler
