Change Inside & Out, by David Diggs

Please join us for our 6th Annual Open Meeting, being held September 10-12 at the Temenos Retreat Center near Philadelphia.

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“Well, this way of reading the Bible is okay for educated people like us,” one young man said fervently as a group of Haitians discussed their first experience with the Living Words approach to group Bible reading and prayer, “but it’s not for just anyone. The Bible is for us to interpret. It is for us to tell other [uneducated] people what it means.”

“No, no, not true! The Bible is for everyone,” others in the group responded with as much passion.

Both positions are valid in their own way. As things stand now in Haiti, the young man is right. The Bible in Haiti is something largely reserved for the educated, especially professional clergy, to draw meaning from and interpret for others. Because of the high rate of illiteracy and because of old habits and structures, the great majority of Haitian Christians do not easily turn to the Scriptures for their own spiritual sustenance. The young man could see clearly how things are; he just couldn’t imagine how they should be. Others in the group were right to protest. This is not how it should be. The Bible should be for everyone.

Listening, Reading, Speaking are all key to the ancient discipline of Lectio Divina.

A new Beyond Borders program called Living Words is working in the gap between these two positions, between how things are now and how they should be.

Living Words presents a method of small group prayer and reflection on Scripture based on lectio divina, an ancient Christian method of reading Scripture slowly, repeatedly, and prayerfully.

The Living Words approach is particularly valuable in the Haiti for several reasons:

First, not everyone in a group needs to be literate to participate, a boon in a nation where at least 60% of the adult population can’t read. By including illiterate people, Living Words also helps break down prejudices in the culture (and the church) where uneducated people are often considered inferior, unthinking, and undeserving of a voice.

Second, in a place where denominational lines are drawn so starkly, this method makes it possible for people to come together in a safe, structured way outside their individual churches and find unity in the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

And, finally, Living Words presents a discipline for letting one’s life be shaped by Scripture—and so advancing in one’s love of God and neighbor.

What's been accomplished so far?

In our first six months:

• We have seen more than a dozen groups start weekly or monthly Living Words gatherings in several different parts of the country. (We also occasionally we hear of a new group being started by someone who was at a seminar or read a guide booklet and took the initiative to create their own group.)
• We have developed ways of introducing this new method to Haitians of varying educational and denominational backgrounds without alienating them. The overwhelming majority have enthusiastically embraced this as a valuable new tool they hope to employ.
• We have printed an eight-page Creole guide that explains lectio divina. Because some people do not have access to the Creole Bible, this booklet includes a dozen Creole Bible texts.
• We have offered seminars for more than a hundred people and planned several seminars that we will lead in different cities in the coming months.

We’re excited about the initial momentum and will continue to listen, serve, and see how things develop.

More Information:

For a thorough explanation of how lectio divina can be used for both private and group prayer and contemplation, read this article by Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.

Click here for a quick summary of lectio divina by the same author. Fr. Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.

Want to go even deeper? Here are three books on lectio divina:

More questions or comments? Please contact Kent Annan, program coordinator of Living Words.