Ruth Rigden leads us in the third and final Lectio Divina of this season from the passage Matthew 5:38-48. Ruth is a friend of Marcus who grew up in India as a missionary kid. In 2019, Ruth graduated from Cambridge with a degree in linguistics. She now lives in the coastal English town of Kent, working as a teacher.

Lectio Divina is a contemplative way of reading the Bible. It is a way of praying the scriptures that leads us deeper into God’s word, dating back to the 6th Century.

It is not Bible study or an alternative to Bible study but something radically different. The practice understands Scripture as a meeting place for a personal encounter with the Living God. It is a practice we come to with the desire to be changed on all levels. It operates very much on the emotional rather than the purely cerebral level. It is perhaps hearty rather than heady. Through it we allow ourselves to be formed in the likeness of Christ; it is about formation rather than instruction.

adapted from www.anglicancommunion.org