This week's lectio divina

Our lectio divina group has been meeting weekly at First United Methodist Church in Corpus Christi, TX for the past ten years or more. It is a small group that has been faithful. This week we had three friends from St. John's Methodist Church join us. (And as my husband pointed out, one of the group was from All Saints Episcopal Church--me.) I so often am blessed with an insight at this weekly meeting that I still wonder why I am not practicing lectio on my own, which I seldom do. However, this weekly discipline certainly blesses me.

I facilitate the group and always choose a short selection of verses from the week's lectionary. This week we prayed with Luke 15:8-10:

15:8 "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

15:9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

15:10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I was struck by the phrase "calls together" and realized how much God has grown me to the realization that people care about me, so I need to "call together" friends. I still tend to isolate, but the past two days have shown me how happy I am when someone "calls together" with me. Yesterday someone I knew from a class last year took me out to lunch, after meeting in our local HEB supermarket. (HEB is the ONLY supermarket existing in Corpus Christi, TX) We had a stimulating conversation about our histories (both growing up as "military brats") and God. Then today Mary took me out to lunch, and her doing this was a gift from God. Her husband died in March, and she has suffered with back pain since then and hospitalizations. I was guiltily thinking about her, as I hadn't called her since before my trip to Washington State, over a month ago. This week she called and asked me to lunch! She made it easy for me to contact her in the future, just like the person I met at HEB. They showed me that holding back is not as much fun, even though I've tended to do that.

I need these lessons in reaching out to others. The woman in Luke rejoiced with her friends in finding the coin. I think she may have called them together to mourn the loss of it if that was the case. She cared about and trusted the reciprocity of affection with her friends and neighbors.

I've learned a lot since I grew up moving around every few years, with no family nearby. I grew up with the admonition that "people don't care" and not to "bother" them. Somehow God's love, especially shown through the actions of Jesus, is growing my heart to believe that I can trust. I am lucky to be in a protected area of the world to have the opportunity to learn this lesson. It's ongoing.