Reading the Context, Reading the Practice: Lectio Divina as a Pedagogy for Pastoral Reflection

Pastoral and ministerial leaders encounter new contexts and practices regularly in their pastoral responsibilities. While classical methods of theological reflection can be helpful, the rigorous monastic practice of lectio divina offers a centuries-tested method for "reading" a context or practice appreciatively and prayerfully. Participants will be invited to "read" a context or practice and reflect on it for transformative insights using a four-mode method expanding on the traditional lectio divina moments: read, meditate, pray, and contemplate. Approaching contexts and practices in this way avoids objectifying contexts and practices, missing their unfathomable riches. It invites the "reader" to experience an integration between immersive self-implication and scholarly investigation, invoking a stance of humility before all that we don't know, yet seek.