shaped by the word, monday

Monday, June 16

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer: Saving God, you set your heart on us and made us your own.  May we listen with the ear of our hearts to the many ways your Word and your love will be present to us and formed in us this day.  We ask this through Jesus, the Word made flesh.  Amen.  (The Work of God)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Joshua 1:1-9

Reading for Reflection:

 

When it comes to listening to God speak, we must always begin with the Word of God, His clearest and most authoritative voice.  But, as in all listening, we must learn to allow the other Person to speak.  This may sound oversimplified, but in fact it can be a major task.  When we find ourselves trying to listen to someone whose speech is slow or deliberate, the great temptation is to finish their sentences for them.  The same is often the case when we listen to God’s Word, particularly to familiar passages.  Adopting a listening stance before the Word means keeping your mind as quiet as possible and letting the Bible finish its own sentences and stories.  Allowing the Bible to speak for itself means listening with as few presuppositions as possible.

     Often we fail in listening when we read only for theological or doctrinal affirmation.  The baptism of Jesus becomes a proof text for immersion and not a scene to which we are transported by our imagination.  The crucifixion becomes a necessary piece of the puzzle for redemption, the obligatory final step in a long “holy history,” and not a heartbreaking moment of transformation.  Parables and visions become codes to break, sponges to squeeze dry and then leave behind.  Sometimes my own temptation is to merely use the Bible as a folder for lyrics.

     In all these ways and more, we effectively plug our ears to the Voice of Scripture.  The simple act (which is sometimes not so simple) of quieting our minds and hearts and allowing the Bible to speak, as if it has never before spoken in its own voice to you, will transform your time with the Word.  Be quiet, be patient, and let Scripture say what it has to say! (The Walk by Michael Card)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

            

Closing Prayer: Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.  Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth and it stands fast.  Praise be to you, Lord God Almighty.  Amen.