 Ten
young men and women, all in their twenties and thirties,
arrive on foot or by bike and sit in a circle of chairs
arranged on the dirt floor of a pink elementary school
building in Dabòn, a town a couple of hours outside
Port-au-Prince. The walls don’t go all the way
up to the roof, so two perfect coconut trees stand watch
as this group Bible study, which came into being through
a new program of Beyond Borders called Living Words,
meets on a recent Thursday afternoon.
Local leaders with the new Living Words
program pray together during an evaluation meeting
in Dabòn, Haiti. |
Each
week a different person leads. Today, Claudy starts
by singing a hymn, and the group joins in vigorously.
After welcoming everyone—most of whom have been
attending this group since mid-February—he reads
Luke 1:46-55,
"Lè
sa a Mari di: Nanm mwen ap chante pou Mèt la
ki gen pouvwa. Lespri m pran plezi nan Bondye ki delivrans
mwen…” And Mary said: “My soul
glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior…”
Claudy
first learned about this participatory approach to
Bible study, based on the ancient Christian practice
of lectio divina, in an introductory seminar
held in Dabòn in early February. He is leading
Refleksyon Bib la (its Creole name, meaning “Reflection
on the Bible”) for the first time, but is already
confident enough that the Creole step-by-step explanatory
booklet is nowhere in sight.
He
instructs people to listen for a word or phrase that
grabs their attention and then reads the passage again:
[The
Lord] has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he
has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their
thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled
the hungry with good things but has sent the rich
away empty…
After
a brief silence, Claudy asks, “What in the passage
stood out to you?” Each person in the group
says what struck him or her. The ability of Scripture
to speak universally yet individually is on display,
as only a few phrases from the passage are repeated
more than once. Adding to the diversity, nine different
denominations are represented.
Listening,
reading, and speaking are all elements of lectio
divina, the spiritual exercise at the core
of the Living Words program. |
From
this first pilot group, participants have gone out
to start four different Refleksyon Bib la groups in
their own churches. On one side of the circle sits
Rakine, a quiet, insightful man of about thirty who
wears thick glasses. Last Friday, Rakine started a
group in his church, which is a thirty-minute walk
away. He used Psalm 1 as their inaugural passage.
Beside
Rakine sits Wilio, who along with Claudy started another
group a couple of weeks ago that includes a few illiterate
participants, “who are fully contributing, just
as much as anyone else!” It is almost unheard
of to invite educated and uneducated Haitians to reflect
on Scripture as equals. But one hope of Living Words
is to help to break down some of the false pride,
categories, and hierarchies too often found among
children of God in Haiti (and, of course, in the U.S.
and elsewhere).
Then
Claudy reads the Scripture again: “This time
listen for how the passage speaks to your life right
now.”
[The
Lord] has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he
has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their
thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled
the hungry with good things but has sent the rich
away empty…
Some
people have taken awhile to warm up to the idea of
sharing how God seems to be speaking to them personally
through the passage. A few people respond to Claudy’s
invitations with sermonettes (“Here’s
what I hear God saying to you/us”). But others
share how they find Mary’s testimony encouraging
or insightful in their current circumstances.
Abelard,
an elementary school principal in his late thirties,
shares what he finds in the passage. He is part of
a small team that is beginning spread this method
in Haiti. Before the meeting he’d told me of
a recent conversation he had with some other Bible
study participants. They’d realized that the
technique was valuable not only for studying Scripture
and listening to God, but also for leadership training:
“People in the group are learning to listen
to others share their insights,” he said. “It’s
a more participatory leadership than we often see
in Haitian churches. It gives us hope, because it’s
creating more unity and building up our faith through
weekly meditation on God’s Word with other people.”
Then Claudy says: “This time after we read the
passage, we’ll each take turns responding to
God in prayer.”
[The
Lord] has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he
has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their
thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled
the hungry with good things but has sent the rich
away empty…
Among
the prayers is Jude, a young man who is part of the
coordinating team for this project and who works with
our sister organization, Limyè Lavi. He offers
a lovely prayer about God being the source of our
collective and individual wisdom.
Earlier
in the afternoon, Jude and I were talking with our
colleague Fremy about our plans to begin introducing
this method in different cities. “I really appreciate
this new approach,” said Fremy, “because
people can enter into a deeper relationship with the
Bible, which is where they tap into the source of
their hope. In a way, people’s hope and energy
for life are reinforced because their intimacy with
God’s Word is deepening.”
After
people finish praying, Claudy leads the group in a
final hymn. As people stand to leave, conversation
quickly turns to whether they will be able to catch
the conclusion of the France/Brazil soccer match that
the rest of the country has been watching or listening
to on the radio for the past hour. (After the Haitian
team, Brazil has the most fans here.) We laugh and
shake hands; we look forward to listening to God and
each other again next week.
Kent
is program coordinator of Living Words. He led the
first few sessions for this group in Dabòn.
Now he’s grateful to participate alongside everyone
else—as he also continues to find ways to support
new groups, to provide necessary materials, and to
understand how this approach can be helpful in other
parts of Haiti. If you are interested in learning
more about this new program or supporting it financially,
please contact
Beyond Borders, visit www.living-words.org,
or e-mail Kent at kent@beyondborders.net.
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