"The Incredulity of St. Thomas" Caravaggio, 1602

This past week my friend, Jim, once again invited me to speak with his class of high school seniors at a Christian school on the south side of town. These students are great kids and if you ask me, their voices are prophetic… if you dare to listen carefully enough. In my hour with them I spent half the time describing New Monasticism as an alternative expression of church and then I spent the second half of class experiencing Lectio Divina with them. Together, we quietly and carefully read through John 20: 19-29 and I found their resulting responses seriously profound.

“No one ever messes with our routines like this… can you teach our Bible class too?”

Nearly every student out of the twenty or so in the room had a similar comment. Most of them said something to the effect that they seldom hear the permission or are invited into a quiet space in which they can confront the reality of the scriptures together with the realities of their lives– especially the conflicts and disorienting dilemmas.
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During this recent Lenten season some friends and I spent time reading through John 20:19-29 as a Lectio Divina practice. As I’ve carefully read through this passage several times now, one distinct theme has been coming into focus similar to the way the picture within the picture emerges after you’ve stared at one of those 3D images for a time. Based on this narrative I’d say God gets a good kick out of us when we pay attention to our world via the senses he created within us. I wonder what the look is on God’s face when we resign our theological development only to traditional environments such as church pews and seminary classrooms?

Yes, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed, but the story crescendoing toward this concluding statement tells of a God who desires to engage the treasured soul of his children through the beauty of their senses…

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