Why Haiti?

“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.”

Listening, reading, and speaking are all key to the ancient discipline of Lectio Divina.

“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.  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. Lectio divina 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 percent 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.