Chapter 3 Addressing God

Chapter 3 selected 7 scripture passages to illustrate how God was addressed by some of the people in the Bible (with my personally assigned title for each passage):

Luke 10:25-28 (The testing lawyer calls Him “Teacher”)
Matthew 6:1-4 (Give confidentially, except for the Father’s knowledge)
Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments – “I am the Lord your God”)
John 1:1-18 (the Word)
Proverbs 8:22-36 (I, the Lord, was there before…)
Romans 5:1-11 (God as Christ, showing faith, grace, hope and reconciliation)
Luke 18:9-14 (Approaching God in different attitudes)

The hymn for the week was "O God, Our Help in Ages Past".
(If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Anthony Bloom, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Annie Dillard, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Martin Buber, and Kenneth Leech. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

• …think of the warmth, the depth and intensity of your prayer when it concerns someone you love or something which matters to your life. …Does it mean that God matters to you? No, …it simply means that the subject matter of your prayer matters to you.
  
• What is decisive? Decisive is not our “feeling” but our “certainty” of His being close to us… Decisive is not our emotion but our “conviction”. The true source of prayer…is not an emotion but an insight…insight into the mystery of reality…
  
• It is all right – believe it or not – to be people.
  
• Nothing could be more intensely individual than the prayers of the Bible. …There are as many different ways of praying as there are different individuals.
  
• “How can you bring yourself to say ‘God’ time after time?” …It is the most heavy-laden of all human words. None has become so soiled, so mutilated. …But we may not give it up. …We cannot cleanse the word ‘God’ and we cannot make it whole; but, defiled and mutilated as it is, we can raise it from the ground and set it over an hour of great care.
  
• Jesus is clearly encouraging a relationship with God which is marked by childlikeness.
  
• Unless we can find the right name for God, we have no free, real, joyful, open access to Him. …There are moments when the sacred writers…burst out with something which has the quality of a nickname (a “personal name”)… Remember the Psalm in which…suddenly David bursts out, “You, my Joy!” That is the moment when the whole Psalm comes to life, …evidencing a personal relationship.
  

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 3 not quoted) mean to you? I look forward to your responses.

John

Chapter 2 - Going Inward

Chapter 2 looked at 7 scripture passages selected to focus our attention on some specific aspects of looking inward by people in the Bible (with my personally assigned title for each):

• Isaiah 55 (Free Spiritual Food)


• John 3:1-8 (You must be born again)


• 2 Cor. 4:7-18 (The surpassing value of eternals)


• Matthew 15:1-20 (The superiority of God's commands)


• John 15:1-17 (The life-relationship of the vine and the branches)


• Ephesians 3:11-21 (The mystery that is Christ)


• Matthew 11:25-30 (The mystery of resting in Christ)

The hymn for the week was "It Is Well With My Soul".

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Igumen Chariton of Valamo, Dorothee Soelle, Anthony Bloom, Emilie Griffin, Evelyn Underhill, Edward J. Farrell, Elizabeth O'Connor, Thomas R. Kelly, Norman Cousins, Tilden H. Edwards and Kenneth Leech. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

• "The (prayer) closet is twofold, outer and inner, material and spiritual: the material place is of wood or stone, the spiritual closet is the heart or mind...."


• "Each step of one's own (on the journey of religious experience) is worth more than all the knowledge and insight of others."


• "People who pray, really pray, don't talk about it much. ... In order to find a person who prays, you have to look for clues: charitableness, good temper, patience, a fair ability to handle stress, resonance, openness to others. What happens to people who pray is that their inward life gradually takes over from their outward life. That is not to say that they are any less active. They may be competent (professionals). But their hearts lie in the inner life and they are moved by that."


• "Each of us is the artist of his own life."


• "To know oneself is a vital element in prayer."

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 2 not referenced) mean to you? I look forward to your responses.

John

Week 1 - Authentic Experiences

Week 1 pointed us to 7 scripture passages selected to focus our attention on some specific incidents experienced by people in the Bible (with my personally assigned title for each):

1. 2 Cor. 12:7-10 (Power thru weakness)


2. Gen. 32:22-31 (Wrestling with God)


3. Philippians 3:7-12 (Losing to gain Christ)


4. John 4:1-26 (Christ revealed as Living Water)


5. 1 Cor. 2:6-16 (Wisdom from the Spirit)


6. Jeremiah 17:5-10 (Reliance on man vs. God)


7. Job 42:1-6 (Real awareness of God)

The hymn for the week was "I Know Whom I Have Believed".

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Emilie Griffin, Dorothee Soelle, Kallistos Ware, Joshua Heschel, William Johnston, Frederick Buechner, Howard Thurman and Etty Hillesum. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

This week's class discussion gravitated to Jesus' declaration to Nicodemus regarding new birth and the need for baptism by both water and Spirit. (See John 3:1-8, but especially verses 5&6.)

I know what I've always been taught about these verses, but before I launch into that here, as well as the gist of our discussion which I found very interesting, I would like to know your thoughts - not only about those verses but about anything else covered in the week's scriptures or meditations.

Hopefully we can then conduct an online dialog through this blog and not be so frustrated by the one hour limitation on Thursday nights. Please give me your feedback.

John