The Use of Scripture in Spiritual Direction

The Rev. Beth Maynard

March 19, 2011

John 5: 39-40 Jesus says, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

What connects relationally with God is companionship, not correct info about the Bible.

Heb 4:12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

·  What questions will invite a directee to experience God through the text, notice/name that experience, and stay with it (giving God time to act)?

Themes that often come up in direction

·  Trust issues, God caring for you personally (Good Shepherd in Jn 10, Ps 139, Is 43)

·  Listening for God (Samuel in 1 Sam 3, Elijah in I Kings 19)

·  Serving (washing feet in John 13)

·  Not clinging to the past (Abraham in Gen 12, “hand to the plow” Luke 9: 59-62)

·  Awe at Creation (Ps 8, Ps 148)

·  Fruitfulness from barrenness (Hannah in 1 Sam 1, Elizabeth in Luke 1)

·  Healing (John 5 “do you want to be healed”, many stories in Mark and elsewhere)

·  Lament before God (Ps 69, 13, 88, 130)

·  Afflicted but not crushed (2 Cor 4, 2 Cor 11)

·  Calling (disciples in Luke 5:1-11, Moses in Exodus 3, Jeremiah in Jer 1)

· 


Ps 119:27 Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds.

Praying with longer passages - stories

1. Choose a passage before your prayer time begins.

2. Ask God to touch you through the passage you will be praying with.

3. Read it over several times, pausing to notice details, let questions occur to you.

4. Enter into the story imaginatively, with your senses, as a participant.

5. Let the drama unfold; feel whatever you feel in reaction to taking part in the events.

6. Then let yourself respond to Jesus about your feelings, asking what they mean, asking for what you want in light of the story, until you have said all you need to say.

7. Close in some definite way (the Lord’s prayer?)

Praying with longer passages - non-story passages

1. Thank God for the truth in a doctrinal passage.

2. Ask for a greater appreciation of it

OR

1. Tell God you want to obey him in the way pictured in a behavioral passage

2. Ask for greater empowerment to do so

OR

1. Join in with one of the conversations/interactions already embedded in Scripture

Praying meditatively with shorter passages

Ps 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Super-slow reading

Breath prayer

Lectio Divina

Lectio: Read along slowly, pausing to notice (even verbalize) phrases or words, until something strikes you.

Meditatio: stay with what has struck you by repeating the phrase gently. Absorb it, muse over it, take it in on an intuitive level. Associations may come, personal connections.

Oratio: As you become aware that the words have made an impression or produced a feeling/question in you, express that reaction to God.

Sometimes the expression can give way to, or even consist in, just quietly resting in the presence of God. (Contemplatio) Or not.

When you find you have nothing much more to say or you can’t sustain the rest attentively, return to the “lectio” stage of slow reading.

Suggestions for your prayer time:

For a story: Luke 14:1-6, John 12:1-8

For a doctrinal passage: Ephesians 1:3-14

For a behavioral passage: 1 Peter 3:8-16

For a conversation: Ps 28 or 30

For super slow reading or lectio: Ps 63, Is 43:1-7, Luke 9:23-27