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About Lectio Divina and Haiku
About Lectio Divina
Lectio divina is a way of experiencing God’s presence in
scripture. Widely practiced in the early Christian church, it
involves reading a passage of scripture slowly and prayerfully,
listening for God’s voice, and using the language of the
passage in prayer.
Traditionally, lectio divina has four steps:
Reading a chosen passage of scripture slowly, usually aloud;
listening through the passage for the voice of God; hearing in the
passage the particular word or phrase that speaks to you now.
Meditating on that word or phrase; letting it speak through
thoughts, memories, hopes, and dreams.
Praying with that word or phrase; holding it up to God along
with yourself.
Falling silent and resting in the presence of God.
As literacy increased over the centuries and people took to
reading silently – and quickly – to themselves, the widespread
practice of lectio divina declined. But the tradition was
kept alive in monasteries and convents as part of practicing
awareness of God's presence at all moments of life. Today, lectio divina is again
being taught and practiced in church communities.
For a more in-depth discussion of the history and practice of
lectio divina, see
www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html.
About Haiku
Haiku is a Japanese verse form known for distilling the essence
of a moment in time and place through strong nature imagery.
Most haiku in English consist of three brief, unrhymed lines.
Early haiku in English followed a convention of five, seven, and five
syllables for each line. Many haiku written today are even
shorter. A successful haiku relies not on exact syllable count,
but on close attention to a momentary image and the feeling it
evokes.
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A giant firefly:
that way, this way, that way, this -
and it passes by.
-- Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) |
Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!
-- Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694)
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The haiku examples here are
taken from “Haiku for People” at
www.toyomasu.com/haiku,
where you’ll find both a more thorough discussion of the haiku
form and more examples.
How my inner speed reader slowed down with Lectio + Haiku
In grade school, I was a fast reader right from the starting gun
and took pride in being the fastest in my class. Whenever the
teacher staged a timed reading exercise – results to be posted
on the bulletin board – I always came in first. And was not
above cheating to maintain that rank. So, many years later, my
first encounter with lectio divina ran against every
instinct.
During a Wednesday night Lenten series at St. Paul’s, we learned
the steps of slow, prayerful reading from the Bible and were
encouraged to practice them during the week. The idea behind
lectio divina appealed to me. I knew that words carry power,
and that their power rises and falls with the tides of daily
life. Paying attention to that ebb and flow in relation to words
from scripture sounded interesting.
But during the week, practice was rough. I tried to slow down,
to focus on individual words and let them “sink in,” but I could
never relax and get into it. Couldn’t keep that speed reader in
check. Spent a lot of effort trying. The practice didn’t stick.
In the weeks after Easter, it slipped from occasional to almost
never.
Then the following winter, I took a class in poetry writing from
Carol Light that included a session on haiku. Carol brought in a few natural objects – a flower, a branch, a
stone – and had us choose one, then spend time looking at it and
jotting down all the descriptive words and images that came to
us. From those jottings, we picked one or two words to begin
writing a haiku.
It was much easier to slow down and pay attention to a stone
than to a passage of scripture. Unlike in grade school, the
teacher didn’t try to turn the exercise into a race. Instead, we
were told to take our time. It worked. I wrote a bunch of haiku
and had fun doing it.
And the next time I tried lectio divina, something
clicked over. Suddenly, I could see the scripture passage the
same way I saw the stone: not as a chance to win another race,
but as something worth spending time with for its own sake. I
read the passage, listened, then wrote a haiku response almost by reflex.
Lectio + Haiku is a place to continue
that conversation and share the results with each other. Here we
read sacred texts, and we write haiku.
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