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Reading Scripture for Relationship
Scripture
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening”
-
I Samuel 3:9
Message
What if we approached God’s
Word with the same longing with which we approach a love letter?
Savoring each word, contemplating it’s meaning for our life and for our
relationship? When we receive a love letter, we usually go off to find a
quiet and private place to read it. We anticipate the wonderful
feeling we get when this special person expresses feelings for us.
Going
Deeper
Lectio divina (divine or
sacred reading) is an approach to the Scriptures that sets up an
opportunity to listen for the word of God spoken to us in the present
moment:
- Preparation
- Take a moment to come fully into the present. Let your body relax,
and allow yourself to become consciously aware of God’s presence
with you. Express your
willingness (or your willingness to be made willing) to hear from God
in these moments.
- Read
–Read your chosen passage of scripture (about 4-6 verses) slowly,
pausing between phrases and sentences.
Allow the words to echo and resonate.
Listen for a word or the phrase that strikes you or catches
your attention. Repeat that word or phrase softly, pondering it and
savoring it as though pondering the words of a loved one.
This is the word that is meant for you.
Be content to listen simply and openly; without judging or
analyzing.
- Reflect
- How is my life touched by this word?
Listen for the way this passage connects with your life.
What is it in my life right now that needs to hear this word?
What do I imagine as I hear these words addressed specifically to me?
- Respond
– What is my response to God based on what I have read and
encountered? Allow your prayer to flow spontaneously from your heart
as fully and as truly as you can.
Enter into a dialogue with God sharing with him the feelings
the text has aroused. Pay
attention to any sense that God is inviting you to act or to respond
in some way to the word you have heard.
- Rest
- You are invited to release and return to a place of rest in God.
Move into a time of waiting and resting in God’s presence.
- Resolve
- Emerge from this place of personal encounter with God to the
company of others, resolve to carry this word with you and live it out
in the context of your daily life.
Prayer
Oh God,
You
call me to love You with my heart, soul, and mind.
Help me to experience the intimacy of my relationship with You by
reading Your love letters to me.
Amen.
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