(How do you say “lectio”? Since it’s Latin, I’ve been trying to say “leck-T-O”, but it often mushes together into the Americanized “lecksho”.)
Mark 1:14-15 Lectio: Jesus went. We are called to imitate Christ, so we, too, are to go. But Jesus didn’t go willy-nilly, he followed the Spirit’s leading. So where is the Spirit leading me? Where is Jesus already going, what is he already doing, among my friends at work?
++ Help me to have faith that you are already at work. I don’t want to try to make something happen; I just want to follow behind you where you are already going. ++
…That wasn’t very profound, it’s old Vineyard theology. But lectio isn’t about being profound, it’s about connecting. Yesterday, I was certain that I would find something profound in Jesus’ baptism (heaven opened, the Spirit descending, the Father speaking). But if God’s word, for me, this day, is “Jesus went,” he has his reasons. A nice thing about focusing on a short phrase is that it is easy to meditate on it throughout the day and see where it leads. (The stuff I’ve read talks about “a word or a phrase,” but I’ve never had just a single word, that seems so short! I wonder what it’s like.)
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latin pronunciation
I think its ‘lek-TEE-oh’ (or is that what you meant?:)
Yeah, that’s what I meant. The Intro to Lectio link on March 06 gave me depth, but what got me started was the July 2000 issue of Cutting Edge, page 18. All those years that our last pastor talked about “meditating on the scriptures” or “praying over the scriptures,” I never got a handle on it — maybe because it was so cerebral. I think Lectio Divina appeals to the non-rational side of me.