Living Lectio Practice for Advent

Waiting in Wonder Retreat

Dear Human is a Verb Community-

This fall I helped create a resource for Christian leaders preparing for Advent. You can sign up for it here. It is free thanks to the generous support of the New England District Discipleship Committee. Advent opens the Christian year with its strange blend of anticipation and uncertainty. We wait for the arrival of Jesus, both the infant in Bethlehem and the promised renewal of all things. Advent names what we often try to avoid: the hard work of waiting, the stretch of liminal space, the tension of expecting something without any sense of when it might arrive. All of that is normal. I am living in my own extended Advent season right now, and I would be lying if I said I was not ready for it to end. But because waiting without resolution is such a universal human experience, Advent becomes a season worth leaning into. It teaches us how to be human.

This week I co-led a 90-minute retreat for Christian leaders, especially those preparing their communities for Advent, alongside Rev. Michael Kennedy and Rev. Dr. John Nielsen. I guided participants through a “Living Lectio,” and then my friend and colleague John offered a powerful reflection on lament in the Advent story.

The practice I led can be used with a spouse, a friend, a colleague, or a small group. Ideally you would have 30 to 40 minutes to move through it.

Here is the Lectio Life Practice, which can be used personally or in a group. You need something to write with—either digitally or by hand:

1. Consider your last week, choose a small story from their life like a recent moment or a memory that carries a sense of wonder, surprise, or invitation.

Give yourself 10 minutes to consider that story using the following questions:

• Where were you? Picture the scene.

• What caught your attention or stirred your heart?

• What felt alive or full of possibility?

• What do you sense God might be showing you through that moment?

As you write, try not to edit yourself. If you get stuck, just write about ‘being stuck.’ This is a prayerful activity, not something that will be read.

2. Holy Listening in Pairs (20 minutes total—10 minutes each). We only had half of this time, and it was clearly not enough. One person is the ‘sharer’ and the second person is the listener and question asker. Then switch roles.

When the speaker pauses their story or when three minutes have gone by, the listener asks and repeats the same question:

“What might God be inviting you to notice—about God, or about yourself?”

Allow a brief pause for reflection before switching roles.
The listener is to hold silence and curiosity rather than responding or reacting with advice or me-too stories. The focus is on the sharer, and the listener asks a question to help the sharer delve deeper.

4. Gathering and Blessing (5 minutes)

Bring everyone back together. Offer space for brief reflections:
“What was it like to listen in wonder to your own life?”

Close with this prayer:

Prayer
God of coming light,
Awaken our hearts to the quiet wonder of your presence.
Teach us to wait with trust,
To listen for your voice within our stories,
And to welcome your peace as it unfolds among us. Amen.

In the next 6 weeks, I’ll be sharing a podcast miniseries that is for Advent. I’m really excited to unveil the Waiting in Wonder podcast miniseries that integrates the voices of the Advent gospel texts, a woman’s voice from Christian history, and one of my colleagues from Eastern Nazarene College, who partnered on the Advent resource.

Peace,

Julene