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Reflection on God's Word: Introduction

As we now know, the central documentation of the Church is the Bible. In it are contained the core teachings of our faith, the teachings from which all the beliefs of our faith take root. However, this documentation is not a list of faith statements; instead, it is a compilation of the experiences of faith-filled people across millennia. The purpose of our Sacred Scriptures is not to spoon feed us something that believers in the past discovered, but to connect us as individuals with the God that has been known through the ages. The Sacred Scriptures are a way to connect with God by relating our experiences to the experiences of people across generations and across communities. It is a way of helping us identify those core experiences that define what it is to be human, and to make those experiences significant by showing us a way to connect them with our source and destiny: God.

By taking time to interact with Sacred Scriptures, we allow ourselves time to understand the experiences of our own life, to see the wisdom contained in those experiences, and to be led by those whose reflections on similar experiences were seen as inspired. In short, by connecting our experiences with the experiences of others, we see the significance of our lives, and we open ourselves to wandering the path that led others to express the insights into faith and life that was recorded in this holy book.

We will interact with the Sacred Scriptures in 3 ways. Our first approach will be by reading a Scripture passage and then simply answering some questions about it.

Our second approach will be through something called Reader Reaction criticism, in which we try to enter into each passage of scripture as if for the first time.

1. Read a passage of the Bible once. It would be great if you could do it out loud, because remember, the stories were basically transcriptions of orally transmitted stories.
2. Write down any thoughts you might have. If the reading is a psalm, write down a couple lines about what the meaning of the psalm might be. If it's some history, write down the names of people or events you might not know. If it's a parable, imagine that you're one of the original listeners and write down some questions or discontinuities it might cause for you and try to answer them as best as you can by yourself.
3. Read about the passage in a commentary. There are lots of good ones out there. Find out more about the passage than might have first met your eye and seek answers to your questions if you can.
4. Read the section again, listening for how your deeper understanding changes your experience.
5. Stick with that deeper understanding and let it challenge or affirm you - let it marinate your heart. But don't close shop as soon as you are done with the second reading, otherwise you'll grow learned in the Scriptures, but not wise.

Our final approach requires less work, focusing on prayer more so than study, is called Lectio Divina, or "prayerful reading." Its goal is to seek union, not knowledge with a thirst for transformation, not information. In this approach, pick a passage and read it slowly, again out loud if possible. Read it so slowly that you think about every word. You might want to even savor the words. You might want to repeat words or passages, letting them soak in for effect by just sitting with them.

To find the readings for this week, click here.