Through the Bible...

I need a change.

Something fresh.

This pretty well summarized my thoughts as I began to reflect on various spiritual practices that I would engage going into 2012.

Over the years, there have been various ways of engaging Scripture that I've found helpful. For the past several years, I've targeted specific books of the Bible and/or passages to explore, ruminate and study. This year, the desire began to grow to read through the complete Bible from the beginning.

This type of reading plan has often frustrated me, given that I tend to prefer a slower more contemplative reading of Scripture. That being said, this year I'm hoping to be able to accomplish both.

As I'm reading through each day, I am looking for those moments where it seems most needed to slow down, pause and prayerfully reflect and journal about what's there. I'm super excited about the new discoveries that will be found this year...

Two new items that I'm really excited about: The Mosaic Bible and Glo Bible.

I was looking for a new Bible to work through. I didn't want a study Bible, yet I was looking for something that would offer something fresh to my weekly reflections. I came across the Mosaic Bible which does just that. At the front it has weekly reflections-meditations that coincide with the Christian calendar.

The following is a brief explanation by Tyndale:

Holy Bible: Mosaic is about helping you encounter Christ in a deep and authentic way, through insight from every continent and century of the Christian Church. Historical and contemporary art and writings from across the globe offer a depth of Scriptural wisdom and understanding as you read and reflect on God’s word.

Mosaic is arranged so that every week has variety of content for reading and reflection. Each week follows a theme appropriate to the Church season (such as Advent, Easter, etc). The content included for each week includes full-color art; Scripture readings; a historical reading; a contemporary reading; a prayer, creed, hymn or quote; and space for reflection.

The other resource that I'm using is Glo Bible software. As I'm reading through, I'm using Glo's "journal/add note" feature to capture thoughts, insights, reflections and prayers. For just under $35, you can sync notes from up to five devices. This works well for accessing/input from my phone, as well as from my desktop. It also works in partnership with YouVersion.

Guided Prayers

  If you are weary of some sleepy form of devotion,

probably God is as weary of it as you are.
~Frank Laubach

If you're looking to engage God and explore different forms of prayer, check out pray-as-you-go.

They offer a daily podcast (10-13minutes) that provides space for stillness, silence, reflection and simply being with Christ.

There are many different expressions of prayer found in Scripture. There are times to come to God with our lists of needs and concerns. There are also times to simply follow the Spirit's leading in prayer. Another form of prayer is simply allowing another guide our times of reflection and prayer. Pray-as-you-go offer daily reflections of such a genre. I'm committing utilize these guided-narrated prayers several times a week simply as a means of engaging God in a different manner than is typically a part of my weekly/daily rhythms...

Journaling Resources

Journaling slows down the mind to the pace of the hand

so the soul can catch up to the speed of life.

Here are a few online resources to explore journaling...

Examen.me
This is a website that allows you to create a user profile and save all your reflections. It offers daily readings, prayers, etc. You can reflect on a passage, or engage a prayer of examen. You can search entries, as well as export them to you hardrive.
http://www.examen.me


Journler
Journler (spelled as is...) is a downloadable program that allows you to save entries to your computer. You can integrate images, sound and video into journal entries. They can be searched by text, date or tag.
http://journler.com

Ommwriter
Ommwriter is a downloadable program that over-rides your screen - pushing all other programs and notifications to the background (and silent)... I has various background tracks that can be played as you write.
http://www.ommwriter.com

PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD :: PRAYER OF SURRENDER

PRAYER OF SURRENDER

A prayer of surrender is simply a point early each day when you give your day and self over to God.

It could be as simple as, “Today, this is Your day… Today, I am Yours… May Your Spirit lead, guide and prompt me throughout my day… May I be sensitive to Your prompting and respond accordingly… Today, I surrender my life to You…

PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD :: NAMES OF GOD

God took the initiative in revealing himself to humankind. God showed himself to Moses in a burning bush and then told Moses his name – Yahweh – I AM WHO I AM. God’s name revealed the transcendent immediacy of a God who was present. Flippant or magical uses of God’s name was forbidden by the third commandment. 

God revealed himself to Israel in a variety of names. In the bible, names carry particular significance. They are sources of revelation and a glimpse into the mystery of the bearer’s identity. Names and titles for God express something of the character, presence, authority and nature of the divine being. It should not surprise us that images for and names of God can be more mysterious than comprehensible. They invite us into contemplation of the holy One. They compel us toward worship rather than explanations. Behold. Look. See. Meditate. Open wide to the God who is beyond and above, yet at the same moment God in and with us.

SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION ON THE NAMES OF GOD

RECOMMENDED READING :: ENGAGING SCRIPTURE :: MEDITATION

Here are a few books that you may find helpful in learning how to engage Scripture more reflectively.

Recommended Reading:

The Message Remix : Solo by Eugene Peterson

Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation by Richard Foster

Eat this Book: a conversation in the art of spiritual reading by Eugene Peterson

ENGAGING SCRIPTURE :: THE ART OF MEDITATION :: LECTIO DIVINA

Marination, also known as marinating, is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. This is a technique of adding flavor by immersion in liquid. It is commonly used to flavor foods and to tenderize tougher cuts of meat or harder vegetables. The process may last seconds or days.

During this process, the acid causes the tissue of meat to break down, allowing more moisture to be absorbed and giving a juicier end product.

There is a form of prayer that we can engage in that functions a lot like the process of marination... it's a form of prayer that adds flavor to our souls and tenderizes the hard areas of our hearts...that in the process of causing our inner-tissues to break down - becoming more absorbent and more saturated with the Presence & Life of God.

It's called Lectio Divina. In short, Lectio Divina is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God.

For centuries, people of the text have understood that Scripture isn't merely meant to be read or even understood, as important as those components are - but Scripture is to be-lived.

Lectio Divina is a way of approaching the text that “...intends the fusion of the entire biblical story and my story. A way of reading that refuses to be reduced to just reading but intends the living of the text, listening and responding to the voices of that ‘great cloud of witnesses’ telling their stories…” (Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book)

Lectio Divina comprises four elements:

1. Lectio: to read the text,
2. Meditatio: to meditate the text,
3. Oratio: to pray the text,
4. Contemplatio: to live the text.

A European monk, Guigo the 2nd in the 12th Century elaborates on the form of prayer by saying,

“Reading, as it were, puts the solid food into our mouths, meditation chews it and breaks it down, prayer obtains the flavor of it and contemplation is the very sweetness which makes us glad and refreshes us.”