Month: November 2023

Keeping watch.

• It’s what we do when we anticipate goodness.
• It’s what we do when we’re on guard against evil.
• We focus our senses so that we can be prepared for what is coming.

Advent is the season for preparing for the coming of Christ.

• We look forward to his return in glory even as we celebrate his earthly arrival in humility.
• And in many of the Scripture passages we read during the season of Advent, Jesus calls us to keep watch.
• The phrase “to keep watch” comes from the Greek word gregoreo. It means to watch or to be vigilant.
• In Mark 13:32-36, Jesus tells his disciples, “Be on guard! Be alert!” and later, “keep watch” because we don’t know the hour of his return.
• We have the same admonition at the conclusion of the parable of the ten virgins. Be ready “because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13).
• And just before his death, when he went into the garden to pray, Jesus told his disciples, “Stay here and keep watch” (Mark 14:34).

Two thousand years later, the day and the hour of Jesus’ return are still unknown.

Yet the call for us to keep watch remains.

• What might it look like for you, for us, to keep watch in our lives, work, and leadership?
• How can we train our attention and focus our senses on Christ so that we can anticipate not only his return but also his coming near to us in our daily lives?

During Advent this year we want to learn to keep watch.

• Each week, we’ll engage in both Lectio Divina and Visio Divina, two ancient practices designed to help us pay attention to God and the movement of the Spirit in our midst.
• We’ll also read, reflect, and engage in activities that will help us apply the weekly Advent theme to our life, work, and leadership.
• Through these practices, we will prepare our hearts to receive from Christ messages of hope, peace, joy, and love.

I hope you will join me this Advent season in keeping watch!

Lectio Divina and Visio Divina [follow the link for an explanation] are Latin phrases meaning “divine reading” and “divine seeing“. They are ways of helping us enter into the biblical text and into images that may draw us deeper into what God is doing and saying.

LECTIO DIVINA

A few times each week, we will walk through a modified version of Lectio Divina, an ancient practice that can help us slowly and prayerfully attend and respond to the Word of God.

The process has four steps:

• Read,
• Reflect,
• Request, and
• Respond

READ

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple. ~Psalm 19:7

At the beginning of each practice, we will read that day’s Scripture passage and identify a word or phrase that jumps out at us.

REFLECT

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. ~Psalm 1:1-2

After reading or listening to the passage, we will reflect on it using a series of questions as a guide.

REQUEST

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. ~James 1:5

Next, we will ask or request understanding and wisdom of God. We could make this request at any point in this practice, but we want to ask God how the truth in this passage applies to our present circumstances.

RESPOND

But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. ~James 1:22-25

Finally, we will decide on one action or attitude to adopt in light of what we sense God inviting us to do or be in today’s passage.

 

 

VISIO DIVINA

On Fridays, we invite you to engage in a practice called Visio Divina. Sharing its roots with the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, Visio Divina, or “divine seeing,” focuses on images. We will invite you to encounter God as you prayerfully consider and interact with a work of art.

You’ll engage in a four-step process:

• Look,
• Reflect,
• Request, and
• Respond

LOOK

At the start of the practice, we will look at the image and let our eyes stay on the very first thing that captures our attention. We will try to keep our eyes from wandering to other parts of the image.

REFLECT

After looking intently at the image for a few minutes, we will reflect on it using a series of questions.

REQUEST

Next, we will ask God for wisdom and insight as we reflect on the image

RESPOND

We will conclude by responding to God. This could look like deciding on one specific attitude or action we can adopt that day in response to what we’ve experienced.