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Lectio Divina is an ancient Christian practice going back to the third century. It literally means “divine reading.” In its origin, it has four parts: reading, meditating, praying, contemplating. It is not so much reading Scripture as text, but as Living Word.

That sense of Living Word has been a spiritual practice for our council president, Heather Slocum. I asked if she could share her practice with us as it has taken 21st century form—in an app. Heather writes,

“I wish my aging brain could remember who recommended the Lectio 365 App to me because it has been such a gift, but I have been using it daily for over a year now. 

There is a morning and evening devotion and I usually read it, but there is an option to listen to the narration. The morning devotion has a passage from the Bible that you read twice with plenty of space to listen for God to speak through it. I try to start my day with the morning devotion before I go into the office. It helps me approach my job and my coworkers with the love of God. It takes about 10 minutes and it's structured around the acronym PRAY - Pause to be still, Rejoice with a Psalm and Reflect on the Bible, Ask God to help us and others, and Yield to his will in our lives. 

The night prayer helps me process the day and I read it right before I go to sleep. The final portion of the evening devotion always starts with verse 8 from Psalm 4 - "in peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety." There have been so many times when I have been feeling overwhelmed and worried about something and if I really focus on that verse "dwelling in the Lord's safety, I know that those troubles are small and temporary, and that God is keeping me safe. I give my worries to God, and am able to sleep peacefully, knowing that He is watching over me.”

Thank you, Heather for sharing this meaningful spiritual practice. You may wish to learn more about Lectio Divina and its rich Christian history or explore the app that Heather uses. The Word of God is indeed living.

Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live