In this retirement phase that I am seeking to explore, I look forward to a whole new way of reading Scripture. I am not sure exactly how it will go, but I know it will be different. During my active phase of ministry, when I wasn’t reading Scripture as preparation for a sermon or some class that I was teaching, I was at least reading it with my church in mind. For me the center of my ministry was the incarnation as reflected in the Body of Christ. With full awareness of the human frailty of the organizational church, I still believed that Paul was speaking of more than a metaphor when he spoke of the church as the Body of Christ. In some transcendent way, I believe that God is seeking to be present to the world through the people of God, and for Christians that finds expression in the Body of Christ. I still worship in the church and seek to understand God’s Word expressed in a Divine power that is made perfect in our weakness, but now there is a new phase to my spiritual journey.
I want to read Scripture to listen to what God seeks to say to me personally about this phase of my life. Of course it will have meaning and validity for others but I hope to not be listening for a message that will preach or a lesson that can be taught. What is it that I can hear from Scripture that has no necessary purpose beyond the nurture of my own soul? For me, at least, that will be a new way of listening for the Word of God through the Scripture. I look forward to it.
