Why spiritual practice?
We sense that the time has come again for the Christian faith to be practised, lived and loved, more than just learned as knowledge (as important as that is). The disciples learned a way of life from being with Jesus as well as from hearing him teach. So the Christian path is something that we do, even something that we become, as much as something that we believe. We hope that you personally will find this reorientation towards a life rooted in spiritual practice liberating and life-enhancing, and that this will be an experience that you will share with the children you work with. When working with this material, ask yourself:
- What could this practice look like for me?
- What could this practice look like in the lives of these children?
- How can I help them explore these possibilities in the time we have together and in other settings (home / family meal / school / church / all-age service, etc)?
Terra Divina: learning from creation
Background
Place in the Christian tradition
Since the beginnings of Christianity, the gift of creation has been valued as disclosing something of the nature of God. At times, this has been highly valued, in other times, less so. The writers of the Psalms and the Old Testament prophets were very conscious of the natural world praising God, ‘All the trees of the field will clap their hands’ (Isaiah 55:12). The sayings and stories of Jesus reveal how much he loved the landscape in which he walked, how he gave it close attention and how much he was formed by it. A high point of interest in the gift of landscape in the British Isles appears to have occurred in the time of the so-called Celtic Church, when Christians seemed to have understood creation as a holy text alongside and in companionship with the written text of scripture.
Our contemporary context
Our sense is that we need to engage again with the gift of the landscape. For our own good, for the good of the Earth and of its creatures, it is vital that we sense again the holiness of the natural world. This is not worshipping nature, but allowing the creator to speak through his creation. Jesus’ instruction to, ‘See how the flowers of the field grow’ (Matthew 6:28), was not a case of him going off-message, but rather a call to treat creation with love, to be alert for signs of God’s loving creativity in the natural world and to be open to the possibility that God may even speak through nature. Terra Divina is a practice that we have evolved from Lectio Divina (the previous practice in this series). Terra Divina means something like ‘sacred Earth’ and it follows the same process: slowly engaging with the text (in this case creation), allowing it to ‘speak’ and then to take us deeper into union with God.
The practice
This month’s practice
Terra Divina follows the classic steps of Lectio Divina that we explored last time. Terra Divina is best done by taking a walk (or sitting) outdoors, deciding together not to speak for a defined distance walked or a set period of time and being alert for whatever catches our attention. At the end of that walk or time (Lectio), we come together for a conversation, the meditation (Meditatio). The prayer stages follow on.
Practice principles
There are four classic steps in Lectio Divina which we have adapted for Terra Divina. This is how those steps have evolved in our own use and experience:
Lectio
This is reading the text of the landscape. This is like reading a book, except now it’s another language that we are reading: of clouds, birds, trees or sunlight. Here we are opening ourselves up to the gift that the landscape may be offering us. What is catching your attention?
Meditatio
This is meditation, the stage where the mind is most active. Here we begin to wonder why whatever has caught our attention might have done so. The gift may be a difficult one, but we can trust that in time it may help us. How or why might this be a gift to you today?
Oratio
This stage is prayer. So now we let whatever has caught our attention (the physical sight, sound or sensation, not our thoughts about it) carry our prayers. As things come to mind, let them be carried by the simple presence of this element of the natural world. Later in the day, when you have left the scene, you can return in your imagination and allow the gift to continue to carry your prayers.
Contemplatio
This is contemplation or presence. Here, we let go of whatever has caught our attention, and in stillness enjoy the sense of being alive, of being held, of being in the presence of the evercreating God who loves us.
The practice in your main settings
Solitary ideas
Ask each child to make a journal for a week of whatever catches their attention in the natural world around them – perhaps in the garden, or on their way to and from school. This could include words, pictures, sounds or video.
Ideas for the family
On a walk in the countryside, agree to do Terra Divina together. Enjoy the way that you may each be drawn to different elements in the landscape. Let, ‘What’s the gift of the landscape to you?’ be a question that becomes familiar with use. Light a fire and sit round it in silence, watching the wood burn and change, and the flames dance.
Ideas for a Sunday School group
Take the group on a walk in the churchyard or park. Go through the Terra Divina steps together. Make sure you walk the chosen route yourself prior to the session and do a risk assessment. You may also want to warn parents so that their children are wearing appropriate clothing. If you are unable to take the children out, then cover the walls with beautiful pictures of nature and go through the Terra Divina steps together.
Ideas for a family service
Build the service around Matthew 6:25–34 (the flowers of the field passage). If you are able to do so, relocate some or even all of the service outside. Follow the Terra Divina steps. If going outside is not possible, ask the congregation to take an imaginary journey to somewhere in the open that they love (or show a video of a journey). What do they see, sense or feel? How might this be a gift to them?
Helpful tips for this month’s practice
- Church groups are pretty good at drawing general principles from passages. We can be less adept at allowing scripture and landscape to be, in God’s care, a gift for us as individuals. Encourage people to be open to the personal nature of the gift.
- Encourage people not to force the process. If nothing resonates, that’s fine.
- Tie Terra Divina in with a wider emphasis on caring for the earth.
- Some children will jump very quickly to conservation. This is a worthy outcome of their reflection and something you might want to pick up with a particular activity later, but encourage them to enter again into the process and see what else God might be saying to them.
Ian Adams is the author of Unfurling, Cave Refectory Road and Running Over Rocks (all Canterbury Press), director of Stillpoint, creator of Morning Bell and partner in the Beloved Life project (belovedlife.org)
Carolyn Edwards is lecturer in mission and ministry at Cliff College and author of Slugs and Snails (IVP)
