Love Letters

Do you remember the letters we sent to our crushes as children? the ones that said:

I Like You. Do You Like Me?

Check yes or no.

We even included convenient little boxes for the checkmarks. Please tell me I’m not alone in this. These were some of our earliest love letters. 

As we got older and wiser, we graduated to real love letters, pouring out our hearts to the one we love most. And we eagerly anticipated their letters back to us, opening them with trembling fingers and pounding hearts, anxious to hear the voice of one who loves us. 

Though most of us don’t, THIS is how we are to come to the Bible - because it is at its most foundational, a love letter from God to each of us personally.

The first communication we learned as infants, connecting through eye contact, verbal and non-verbal cues, helped us bond with our caregivers. It is a language of personal intimacy and relationship. This is same intimate language of prayer. We aren’t completely comfortable with this language as adults though. The things that have happened to us and around us as we’ve grown have taught us to put up defenses to guard our hearts. Vulnerability and risk taking are scary words. 

One place we can step back into this intimate vulnerability is the Book of Psalms. Psalms is the Hebrew prayer book, and in it you will find every human emotion you can imagine. The Psalms are full of agonized cries of despair and grief, confessions of sin, demands for revenge, open-hearted praise, and unabashed love and devotion. 

Learning to pray is not learning anything new. It is rediscovering our first language. It is the core of who we are. We only need to learn how to excavate it.

We have become proficient through our educational and work lives at reading for information. Remember back in high school and college when we learned to read as little as possible to get the grades we needed? Most of us became pretty good at cramming information into our heads and keeping it there just long enough to regurgitate it back out for a test or essay. 

The problem is we have applied this skill to our reading of the Scriptures. We approach the Word of God the same way we do a textbook. This is so very common in Western culture, but we have to learn how to overturn our habit of reading for mastery. When we are in this mode, it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to hear anything new because we have so many unconscious defenses in place.

The deeper longing of our hearts - to hear a word from God that is personal and intimate - requires us to go beyond Bible study. Now hear me - Bible study is absolutely important, but it’s not the only way to encounter scripture. We must learn again to read for intimacy and transformation. This means listening to God relationally, in that first language we learned, rather than trying to learn more about God cognitively. 

When we are doing Bible study, it is ok, and even important, to read Scripture asking questions like

What does this say? What does it mean? How do I apply it to my life?

Those questions are cognitive - informational.

Eugene Peterson, in his book Answering God, says that in order to grow in relationship and intimacy with God, we ask different kinds of questions:

How do I feel about this? What resonates? Where do I feel resistant? 

Why do I feel this way? What part of my life is being touched by this word? What do all of my reactions tell me about myself? Am I willing and ready to look at it in the presence of God?

Something powerful happens when we are willing to pay attention to what is happening inside us as we read God’s word to us. We turn to wonder and curiosity. We choose to have a conversation with God that touches us in our deepest places and creates transformation.

So today, I want to teach you about a spiritual practice that helps us move from reading scripture for information to reading scripture for transformation. It is called Lectio Divina, and it is a form of holy listening that helps us listen for what God is saying to us right now in this present moment. Lectio Divina is rooted in the belief and understanding that the Scriptures are alive and active and we can engage them for spiritual transformation.

Let’s use Psalm 63:1-8. First I want you to close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. Still your mind and slow your breath.

Now I invite you to read the scripture passage slowly, and I want you to listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention - the word or phrase that shimmers - what God illuminates for you. 

Psalm 63:1-8

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

1 You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6 On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night.

7 Because you are my help,
    I sing in the shadow of your wings.

8 I cling to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

Now take just a moment of silence and sit with your word. Savor it as a word of God for you in your right-now life. 

Now read the passage again, listening for where the word touches you today - where it intersects your life. What part of you needs this word today? Take another moment of silence as you contemplate this.

Finally, read the passage one last time.  This time I want you to meditate on how God is inviting you to respond to the word today. Let the scripture lead you to a prayer response. Don’t censor your emotions or thoughts - speak it all freely in the presence of the God who loves you and meets you here today.

In one last moment of silence, hold God’s invitation deep within you and rest in the Spirit’s presence. It is God who will enable your response as you carry your word with you into today. As you meditate on it throughout the day, allow the word to live within you. End your Lectio Divina with a time of gratitude to God for meeting you in this way.

As you read the Bible at home, when you want to practice Lectio Divina, here are some simple instructions. Choose a short passage - 6-8 verses. Read the passage through 3 times, looking for the 3 “i” words we talked about:

illumination - what word or phrase captures your heart?intersection - where does the word connect with you right now?invitation - how is God inviting you to respond?

Make sure you take time to sit in silence as you go through this process. You are reading a love letter after all!

This practice has changed the way I encounter the scriptures. I’ve always been a book nerd and a studious good girl. I like right answers and essay questions where I can show off all I know. But Lectio Divina has taught me to slow down and dwell deeply on the words in scripture. God meets me there, and I am being transformed.