Lectio Divina, Prayer Walks, and Community Hospitality

Action and Reflection

Reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating are the four steps of the Lectio Divina. By inviting the community to take part in this process, my goal was to increase the presence of the Holy Spirit in the community and in the hearts and minds of the people around me. By directly engaging with this community through prayer walks in the neighborhood and prayer readings followed by a period of silence, I was able to engage with community members, get to know them, share experiences with them, and discuss those experiences in a focus-group setting. These actions together provided much reflection, as I felt that the more we all directly engaged with God, the more the Spirit was felt among us in a very positive way.

The prayer walks through the neighborhood were particularly meaningful, as the community is a good one for walking and many neighbors are about when the weather is nice. Everyone is friendly and always saying hello. Even though we are praying during the walk, it feels right to stop from time to time to talk with neighbors and show that we are part of the community. We tell them what we are doing and invite them to join us, or ask if there is any intention they would like us to remember in our prayers. People are particularly touched by the idea that you are willing to pray for them. This is something that Green has noticed among nurses working with patients who request prayer for themselves. It is also something Dever has noted is important to consider when engaging in prayer: we are not just praying for ourselves, but for the intentions of others as well, that God might work through them and enter into their lives, minds, and hearts. When people see that you are willing to take on their concerns, they really begin to understand what you are about — that you live for union with God. They are quite often touched by this and moved to want to be part of that union with you.

During our prayer walks, therefore, I am always interested in talking with neighbors when I see them, even if only briefly, even if only to ask how they are and whether there is anything they need. Nothing draws one into sympathy with your aim like genuine solicitation, and my aim was to bring them into sympathy with God and into union with the Spirit. By sharing my care and concern for them — just as Christ commanded His disciples to do, going two by two ahead of Him, healing the sick, and showing God's concern for them — the Spirit was moving me to show God's concern for His people in the community.

Those who wanted to join were invited to prayer readings followed by silence and contemplation. This was an activity that very many enjoyed because it gave them an opportunity, amid their busy lives, to spend some time with the Word of God, with their own thoughts, and with God — speaking to Him and listening back in silence. At the focus group meeting, we shared these experiences and everyone was quite pleased with the outcomes and effects they were seeing in their own lives. They talked about feeling stronger and more at peace than before. No matter what the issue or concern they were praying about, they knew that God was there with them, never going to leave their side. It was a great joy for me personally to hear this, as it confirmed that the Spirit was indeed with us.

Theological Rationale

The theological rationale for speaking to members of the community and to neighbors during the prayer walks — for asking them if there was anything they would like me to pray for, and for inviting them to prayer readings and contemplations — is rooted in Luke 10:1–12, particularly these verses: "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house." What we see here is Our Lord commanding us to be about His business, preparing the way for Him, just as John the Baptist did when He was coming to forgive the sins of the world. John the Baptist prepared the way by preaching repentance and teaching the people — he fasted and did penance as an example of what one needed to do to amend one's life. Then when God appeared in their midst, they understood and were ready to hear His words more clearly. His way had been prepared.

This is what Christ was getting at when He asked His disciples to go two by two before Him to prepare His way. They were not to replace Christ but were rather going to be the new John the Baptists — preparing the way so that the hearts and minds of the people could be opened to God. By showing the charity of God, healing the sick, and bringing peace to men of good will, the early Christians were able to work with the Spirit and spread the love of God that God wanted spread around. It takes effort and perseverance, and not everyone is going to respond in the same manner. But that is all part of the plan, and even God writes straight with crooked arrows (Sheen).

The theological rationale for this practice is also located in the fact that God has specifically requested it of us. As the Georgia Baptist Mission Board has stated, "intercession is hard work. It means becoming involved in another's life because intercessory prayer does not stop with prayed words. Our intercession prepares the way for personal ministry to them. The greatest reason of all to pray for others is because God told us to do. He honors our obedience and it makes a difference in their lives and ultimately in ours Matthew 7:7–11." What can be seen in these verses is the justification and rationale for interceding for others and showing others that you want to intercede on their behalf. As Matthew writes: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7–8).

Many people do not even realize they can go to God with their troubles. They do not realize that God is waiting and listening. They have forgotten that God exists, or that there is One above them who will hear them if they just think to speak out, reach out, and ask in prayer and petition. That is why it is so important to remind them. God will not turn anyone away who comes in supplication — that is not His way. If one asks in truth, one shall receive what God has to give. This is what God wants all of us to learn, to realize, and to practice in our own lives. We are all meant to imitate God — to be with Him, to be of Him, to reflect His ways and His intentions. Matthew 7:9–11 reflects the justness of this practice: "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

By keeping this in mind, the rationale for stopping and getting to know one's neighbors during a prayer walk makes perfect sense: it is a perfect opportunity to practice intercessory prayer and to learn about the needs of others, pausing at a house where there is a welcoming rather than drifting from house to house looking for handouts. This practice is all about showing others in the community that we are here for them — to pray on their behalf and to remind them that God wants us to bring our troubles to Him first so that He can address them. By asking my neighbors if there is anything I can pray for to help them, I offer them an example they may never have had: that God is present and God is waiting to hear from them, from all of us.

How It Relates to Hospitality

This practice is related to hospitality in a very real way. When one invites another to be nearer to God, one is inviting that person to invite God into his or her heart and mind. It is the ultimate act of hospitality to extend such an invitation on behalf of another, or even to welcome someone into one's own home so that the acquaintance may be made in the first place. This is what God commands the disciples to do when He tells them to go two by two to the houses, to knock on the doors, to eat what is placed before them, and to give peace to those who will receive it. He is telling them what it means to be hospitable — for they are the ones preparing a place for Him in the hearts and minds of those they visit. They are making the way: sweeping the floors and clearing out the cobwebs. Through their preaching, healing, praying, and presence, they are making the place ready for the Lord.

Hospitality shown to others in charity is hospitality shown to God. God gave two commands: (1) love God, and (2) love one's neighbor. To love one's neighbor for God's sake is to be hospitable in holiness. To pray for others and to invite them to read and pray in silence is to be hospitable in holiness. To be neighborly, welcoming, inviting, and solicitous in charity is to be hospitable in holiness. This is the way that Christ has asked His followers to be.

Works Cited

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/

Dever, Mark. Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus. Crossway, 2016.

Dulles, Avery. The Assurance of Things Hoped For. New York: Oxford, 1994.

Georgia Baptist Mission Board. A Brief Theology of Intercessory Prayer. https://gabcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/A-Theology-of-Intercessory-Prayer.pdf

Green, Cheryl Ann. "Complimentary Care: When Our Patients Request to Pray." Journal of Religion and Health 57.3 (2018): 1179–1182.

Sheen, Fulton. Life of Christ. NY: Image Books, 2008.

Smith, Christian. "Why Christianity Works: An Emotions-Focused Phenomenological Account." Sociology of Religion 68, no. 2 (2007): 165–178.