Since October, I’ve been meeting most weeks after church with Lima’s confirmation class.  We read the gospel of Mark together, we studied the Apostles’ Creed, and we learned about church membership.  But the main thing I wanted to focus on was helping them learn some spiritual formation practices that will hopefully last them their whole lives.  Every few weeks, I taught them a new prayer technique, and one they liked the best is called Lectio Divina, which means “divine reading”.

Lectio Divina uses the Bible to help us pray.  You select a passage of scripture, and instead of reading it for the meaning intended by the original author, you read it to hear what God is saying today to you.   It is a devotional practice, not a scholarly one, so it can be done by anyone—no special theological training required!  And it’s been done for hundreds of years—when I say it’s an old practice, I’m not kidding.  It dates back to the 6th century!  That’s 1300 years or more of people using Lectio Divina to draw closer to God.

Today during our in-person worship service, our confirmation class will be received into church membership.  They designed the worship service themselves, and one of the things they really wanted included is a time to teach and practice Lectio Divina.  Since they’ve found it so useful, they wanted to share the technique with others.  I’m glad to be able to teach it to you today, too.

There are five basic steps to Lectio Divina.  The first is silence, which is a pretty good starting point for most devotional practices.  Take a few big deep breaths, feeling your body relax as you fill your lungs with air, and then release your breath out.  There are lots of different opinions about how much silence is the right amount—but I think whatever feels like the right amount to you is the right amount! The point of the silence is to allow us to detach from the noise and stress of daily life, and reattach to God.  Personally, I find that just three or four big breaths is enough.  But if you’d like more silence, that’s good, too.

The second step is to read the passage you have chosen.  In reading the text, we’re listening, not for the originally intended meaning of the passage, but for what “shimmers” today.  I love that word, shimmer.  Once in a while when reading scripture, there will be something that stands out, shines bright, something neon you can’t miss.  But most of the time, we have to look a little bit for the shimmer.  What word or phrase is gently calling for your attention?

The third step is to converse with God about whatever it is that has caught your ear I the passage.  You may want to write in a journal, talk out loud to God as if you were sitting with a friend in the coffee shop, or think silently.  Talk about what shimmers.  Ask God to help you see what’s important in this for you today.

The fourth step is to reflect on any insights you have gleaned.  What did you learn about yourself, or about God, or about God’s call on your life in this time or prayer?

The fifth step is to commit to applying whatever it is you learned.  You may want to write a short prayer of dedication.  Or maybe there’s an immediate practical task you want to commit to.  Find a way to carry this prayer time back out into your regular life.

To try this out, I am going to read Psalm 100 aloud two times, and the words will also be on your screen.  I recommend one time just listening to the words, and the second time reading along out loud if you can.  Don’t worry about who originally wrote this psalm and why.  Listen for what “shimmers” for you, today.  The Holy Spirit is always wanting to speak to us through scripture.  Listen for the Spirit.

After I read the passage, maybe you could hit the pause button, and give yourself two or three minutes of quiet to get started on steps two, three and four (converse with God, reflect on insights gleaned, and commit to application).  This is not much time, but it’s a start, just to give you a taste of what Lectio Divina is all about.

Let’s begin with four deep breaths in and out.

I will now read Psalm 100 through twice. Listen for what “shimmers”.

 

Psalm 100

 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come into God’s presence with singing.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he that made us, and we are God’s.

We are God’s people, the sheep of his pasture.

 

Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to God, bless God’s name.

 

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

 

Now spend the next two or three minutes conversing with God, reflecting on your insights, and committing to applying what you’re seeing and hearing.

 

How did that feel?  First of all, didn’t it feel good just to stop and take a few deep breaths?  I don’t know why I don’t do that more often.  It makes such a difference.  I always feel calmer when I remember to stop and breathe.

Then, what shimmered for you?  Was there a phrase that stood out?  I used Psalm 100 for a lectio divina time before recording this sermon, and what stood out for me was “Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving.”  During the confirmation class, I really wanted to help the students come to know that God is good, that God’s steadfast love endures forever.  I wanted them to learn some practices that could help them deepen their faith in God, go through life with less anxiety and more peace, and find ways to cultivate joy.  Hopefully that mission was accomplished.  But you want to hear something amazing? In teaching the confirmation class, all of that happened for me, too!  So I am entering God’s gates today with thanksgiving, and God’s courts with praise.  Because in attempting to pass on the traditions of our faith, I have found my own faith strengthened.  I didn’t realize that until I took time for Lectio Divina today!

One of the things I love about Lectio Divina is that the “shimmering” word or phrase can really stick with us.  I don’t always take time right away to complete step five, committing to application.  Sometimes I just let the word shimmer, trusting that whatever I am supposed to do with it will come in time.  But don’t forget to finish the process.  Reflecting on the insights and committing to application allow Lectio Divina to help us change and grow.

You can use this technique with almost anything in Scripture.  And you don’t need a whole long passage. I think one of the things our confirmands liked about this prayer practice is you can choose just a couple verses. It’s pretty exciting when something shimmers!  Yes, God is indeed wanting to get your attention!  I hope you will try this out again later this week.  You may want to use one of the other scriptures from our worship service today.  What shimmers?  I hope you will enjoy having more time to reflect on that.

Speaking of reflecting, another element the confirmands wanted included in our worship service today is something we did in class called partner reading.  They liked it so much, they wanted everyone to have the chance to give it a try.  So in person, we will be handing out pocket sized mirrors. They have a sticker that reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” on the outside, and “He has anointed me to bring good news” is on the inside.  The reason we’re giving away these mirrors is because, a few months ago, we used small mirrors in our confirmation class, and took turns looking at ourselves while someone read from Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Jesus opened his public ministry by reading these words from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown synagogue.  He wanted everyone to know the scope of his mission.  It created quite a stir when he told all the people he grew up with that he was anointed!  But you know, as Jesus’ followers, the Spirit of the Lord is upon us as well.  We too have been anointed to bring good news to the poor.

The members of the confirmation class thought it was very powerful, to hear these words said over them, and they wanted everyone in worship today to have the chance to experience that as well.  So, if you have access to a mirror, would you look at yourself in it for a minute?  And if you don’t have a mirror, how about closing your eyes and picturing yourself.  Or get out your driver’s license and look at the person pictured there—you!—as you listen to these words:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, because he has anointed you to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent you to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  If you ever wonder what you’re doing on God’s green earth, this is it.  You have been called, anointed, and gifted to join Jesus in his work of redemption!  Remember that every time you see yourself in the mirror!

There’s one more thing I want to tell you about, that was important to the members of the confirmation class.  In our gospel lesson today, we read about how Jesus walked on water, and how this terrified the disciples.  Even when Jesus is very close to us, we can still feel fear and anxiety.  This is a normal part of life.  But we want to be able to draw on the resources of our faith to push past our fears and anxieties, and live with peace, hope, and joy.  The faith of our confirmands is strong.  They believe in Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and Friend.  They want to commit their lives to serving God.

But frankly, they need support. This spring I talked with people who do youth ministry full-time, and they tell me our teenagers are dealing with stress and anxiety levels much higher than in years past.  We don’t know all we need to know about how to help young people navigate our complex world with shalom—a sense of wellbeing and wholeness.  But we do know some things.  And one thing we know we can do to help young people is to help them form relationships with people of compassionate and justice-seeking faith.  That’s our call as baptized Christians.  So first, look at your own discipleship.  By strengthening your own connection with God, you not only set an example for our young people to follow, but your discipleship serves as a steadying force in a turbulent world.  By deepening your own discipleship, you pave the way for the next generation of disciples to grow, too.  And second, pray for our younger generations.  And third, reach out!  By making an effort to befriend younger people in your sphere, you encourage lives of spiritual awareness, prayer, meaning and compassion.

Almost seventeen years ago now, when I first started in ministry, I was nervous about a lot of things.  But an older person on the church staff became a great mentor to me.  He had been a church organist his whole life, starting at age 13, and he had been playing the organ at Harriman, my first appointment, for more than fifty years.  He was such a steadying force for me as I got started in ministry! I had no idea how to do a funeral, or a wedding, or a baptism, but he had seen it all.  One day he handed out a new anthem to the choir and said, “This is based on my favorite scripture.”  As we sang the song, I was surprised I had never heard the passage before, but I immediately fell in love with it.  “Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire you will not get burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”  (Isaiah 43:1b-3a)

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I am pretty confident in predicting that our confirmands will go through some deep water in their lifetime.  They will walk through fire from time to time.  Life will not always be easy.  But God will always be with them.  God has called them by name.  God knows them, loves them, and wants to be at work in and through them.  And that goes not just for our confirmands.  It’s true for you, too!

So I hope you will give Lectio Divina a try this week.  Select a short passage of scripture, get quiet, read the passage, listen for what shimmers, reflect on your insights, and commit to applying them.  I hope you will remember every time you see yourself in a mirror that the Spirit of the Lord is upon you and has anointed you to bring good news to a hurting world.  When you feel afraid, don’t forget that even the disciples felt afraid, and Jesus was right there with them!  When you’re nervous or afraid or overwhelmed or angry, you are in good human company.  But the resources of our faith can help us move past the fear and anxiety into hope and peace and joy.  On this confirmation Sunday, claim for yourself a faith that can last your whole life long—and beyond.  Amen.

Benediction:

May the light of God surround you.

The love of God enfold you.

The power of God protect you.

And the presence of God empower you.

Go in peace and serve your Lord, Amen.