The Contemplative Stream: How Broad Is The Kingdom Of God
February 12, 2005 (Lectio Divina on Mark 10:46-52)
Children’s Time
I want to tell you a little story, to help you understand one of the ways that people talk to God and worship God. Over the past little while we’ve been talking about how God made us different as people – some that are really enthusiastic and like to worship God with big music and dancing and, and others that like to sit in total quiet, with nothing around them. This week, in the adult service, we are going to talk about another one – called “contemplative”. It is a way of worship that concentrates on one thing.
Here is my story. On Wednesday night, I was working quite late – I left the church here at about 11:15 (we had an elders meeting…). When I got home, I expected everyone in my house to be fast asleep, but my wife, Joanne, wasn’t – she was still awake. When she heard the door open, she came downstairs (in her pajamas…) and said, “Oh, I’m so glad you are home. I’m worried about Thomas.” You see, Thomas was sick again this week with another cold and stuff.
Now, let me tell you something about me. I am a man. Now, I hope that is pretty obvious, but one of the things about most men (and me in particular) is that we like to solve problems – we like to make things better, we like to fix things. And, we get frustrated when we can’t fix things. And so right away, when Joanne said she was worried about Thomas, I tried to think of how I could make Thomas better so that Joanne wouldn’t have to worry. And, you guessed it, I couldn’t, and so I felt frustrated. Then later on I felt tired because Thomas was sleeping in the middle of my bed and kept kicking me in the head all night long…
The next day, I started to think about why Joanne was glad I was home when I couldn’t fix the problem. And I figured it out – it was because I was with her. I was here. She was no longer alone, but now both of us were together and could walk through the problem together.
Did you notice a moment ago that I told you that “contemplative” worshipers concentrate on one thing? That one thing is this: that God is with them. That right in the middle of life, whatever problems or joys there might be, they are never alone because God is with them. They love to spend time in prayer, talking to God and listening to Him, sometimes imagining that they can crawl right up into God’ lap and sit on His knee and wrap their arms around Him and give Him a big hug. That is the one thing: being in God’s presence, especially in prayer.
(pray, dismiss)
Call To Worship
The idea of the past 6 weeks has been for us to explore How Broad Is The Kingdom Of God, and as you just heard this morning we want to explore the Contemplative Stream, also known as “The Prayer Filled Life”. It appeals to people who are by nature contemplatives, it also appeals to naturalists and often those who worship best through using their senses. In this next time of worship through song, I invite you to engage your heart in worship in the contemplative stream. Pray the songs, use your imagination, study the flower alongside Rom 1:20 (“since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made”). Because God is with us, His love and presence and power are here. Let us enter in.
Teaching Time (Later in the service)
As with all the streams, Jesus is our best example of a contemplative. We might think that, since Jesus was God, He wouldn’t need to be a contemplative person who desired to be in the presence of God. But once we appreciate how at the very center of God is relationship, between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we quickly realize that the opposite is true. Jesus wanted and needed to be in the presence of His Father, and wanted and needed and was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus took time to be in prayer. Luke 5:16, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” A chapter later, just before Jesus chooses the disciples, Luke tells us that “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12). It is a pattern that continues throughout Jesus’ life, even on the cross.
Ways To Read
I’ve decided to do things a little differently this morning. Instead of preach a sermon on the contemplative stream, and try to explain what “the prayer filled life” looks like, I want to teach you a way to actually do it. My premise is this: most weeks, I take a text from Scripture and I study it, read it in its original context to determine what it meant; and then I try to read our present context and apply the truths in Scripture to our lives. My hope and prayer each week is that God would speak to all of us through His Word. This approach is very much a part of the “evangelical stream”, which we examined several weeks ago, where the main point is to understand and discover the truth and then obey what it says.
As much as I value that way of reading Scripture, it is not the only way. From the contemplative stream we find other ways of reading Scripture, of meditating on Scripture, of contemplating God and life through His word. In these, the main point is not cognitive understanding, but rather to be fed in our souls; to be led into communion with God through His Word. This morning I want to lead you through one of those other ways.
Introducing The Lectio Divina
It has a fancy Latin name, “Lectio Divina”, which simply means “divine reading.” In spite of the fancy name, it is really very simple. It is an ancient practice, and has many forms, but always the same goal – to enter into the presence of God and be molded in our spirits by God’s Spirit speaking through His Word. Often it is done alone, but it can also be done in a group. This morning we are all going to do it together, and I have a small group that will lead us through it and do some of the sharing in between.
The way it works is this: we take any passage of Scripture – this morning I’ve chosen Mark 10:46-52 – and we read it. We’ll actually read it a total of four times. In between, we will make time in quiet for God to speak through His Word, straight to you. Rather than me sharing the things that really stood out to me, we’ll make the time for God to make something really stand out for you. Normally if you did this in a small group of 4-8, you would take time to share together very briefly after each reading. For this morning, we aren’t all going to do the sharing part but this small group will demonstrate how that works.
It works like this. I’ll read the story through once. Your job is to prayerfully listen, and ask God to speak to you through His Word. This first time through listen to become familiar to the story. Then, fairly quickly after reading it the first time I will read it a second time. This time, just listen for one word or phrase, asking the Holy Spirit to make one thing stick out. During this second reading, I personally find it really helpful to imagine that I am right in the story, one of the people in the story observing it first hand, and sometimes I try to see which person with whom I identify. Then I’ll leave a few moments of silence, for us to contemplate and meditate on that one word or phrase. At the end I’ll ring a little bell.
Then I’ll read the text the third time. This time, we are listening and praying. What is Jesus saying to us through the word/phrase? Why is Jesus saying that, what does it mean for us deep in our souls, how does it form us and feed us and shape us? What does that mean for your life today? Again, I’ll leave silence for God to speak, and again I’ll ring a little bell at the end. We’ll share briefly, just one or two sentences, and then read again.
The fourth and final reading of the text is next. This time, we are listening for God to speak through His Spirit and to call us to be and to do. As a result of that word or phrase in the first silence, and then what Jesus has said to our hearts in the second silence, what is Jesus calling us to do or to be? What do we “take away” from this time in God’s Word.
I hope that is clear: four readings – 1. to hear the whole text; 2. to hear the Spirit in one word or phrase; 3. to hear what Jesus is saying to our hearts through that word/phrase; and finally to hear what Jesus is calling us to be and do. I’ll put it on the screen behind us in case you get a little lost. Let us pray, and then we will practice.
Ending the Lectio
With my Baptist heritage, I believe very strongly that God speaks. And I believe that God speaks most often and most clearly through the Bible, which is in fact the only authoritative way that God speaks. And I believe in Hebrews 4:12, which says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This method of divine reading attempts to make space for the Word of God and the Spirit of God to do exactly that.
As you go, let me challenge you to do two things. First, share what you experienced today with someone else. And second, try it again – either on your own on in a group. On the back table is an article that describes this in more depth, which I invite you to take with you. Listen, and God will speak.
HANDOUT PAGE:
1. Reading for familiarity
2. Reading to hear one word or phrase (1-2 minutes of silence)
3. Reading to hear Jesus speaking that word or phrase into our life (2-3 minutes of silence)
4. Reading to hear what we should be or do (2-3 minutes of silence)
Mark 10:46-52:
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
49Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you." 50Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
52"Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
