When we approach Scripture from a sacramental perspective, we are making the faith assumption that God not only called us into ministry but desires to address us personally. Based on that assumption, the first challenge is to learn how to listen.
For clergy, schooled in how to exegete Scripture, we are invited to step back, to learn again how to read Scripture devotionally. While it is important to learn how to investigate the background of a Scripture passage and learn what its original truth was, it is also true that Scripture can be a living document. While we should heed the warning of not reading into Scripture what is not there, we also need to trust that God can use Scripture to speak to us of new truths. The truth of Scripture is not a frozen truth embedded in history but a living document that continues to speak to us.
For it to be a living and personal document, we need to bring our true selves to the hearing of it. With the incarnation, we recognize that the Divine finds expression in the finite elements of life. God not only gave us the gift of Scripture but also the gift of a brain, our emotions, our desires, etc. All of them can be in dialogue with each other.
As a beginning, find a half-hour not at the end of a long exhausting day but while you are still fresh. Go to a place where you are not continually reminded of your professional responsibilities. Maybe it is on a bench in a park, or in a fast food restaurant, or in a hospital chapel. For this first experience, bring a Bible but not much else. Enter in to a time of prayer asking God to be with you as you open Scripture. Then, recognizing any particular personal concern in your current life, begin leafing through Scripture until a word, phrase, or story jumps out at you.
Now simply play with that word, phrase, or story asking yourself how it can give you a way to reflect on an issue in your life. Don’t expect a blinding revelation but simply a way to begin your dialogue.
More tomorrow.l
