UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 101-105

SUGGESTED PATTERN Read Psalm 103 with your spouse or household then re-read Psalm 103 again with spouse or household, then spend 2 mins in silence focussing on  Psalm 103:8-14 asking the Lord, the question “What does this text mean?” then 2 mins in silence asking the Lord what He is saying to you personally through Psalm 103:8-14 and then share together with your spouse or household what the Lord has been saying. Finally one person reads out loud the devotional below and then pray for one another.  

PSALM 103:8-14 “  The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”

A couple of days ago, looking at Psalm 95, I focussed on St Benedict’s “wake up” call, drawn from Psalm 95 where he says Scripture calls us to wake up, hear God’s voice and to obey Christ. Yesterday I looked at psalm 97 and how singing the psalms was thought by the Church Fathers to fashion us into the likeness of Christ. However for the last few hundred years the western church has not been pursuing virtue or godly character. Alasdair Macyntyre  said in his book(1) “After virtue” that the history of philosophy took a wrong turn with what he calls the ‘Enlightenment experiment’. In the last sentence of that book  he wrote(2) “We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another- doubtless very different- St Benedict.”

So today I am again challenged to revisit Benedict’s  prologue to his Rule, as I look at what must be one of the most favourite psalms in the Psalter, Psalm 103. Psalm 103 repeats  beautifully what many believers say, is  ‘The Father heart of God’ in the Old Testament, that is Exodus 34:6-7. We sometimes forget that when Psalm 103 repeats these words, it follows them  with  verse 13, As a father has compassion on his children so the Lord has compassion on THOSE WHO FEAR HIM…and it is all unto OBEDIENCE.. verse 17 says, ‘the Lord’s love is with those who fear him’…verse 18 says ‘with those who keep his covenant  and remember to obey his precepts’..verse 20 says ‘Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word’… verse 21 says ‘Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.’

Benedict confronts his reader with an urgent Wake up “call” to hear and obey. The word obedience is derived from the Latin obediere, which shares its roots with the Latin ‘audire’, which means ‘to hear’. So ‘to obey’ really means ‘to hear and then act upon what we have heard’ or, in other words, to see that the listening achieves its aim. We are not being truly attentive unless we are prepared to act upon what we hear.’ There is a ‘calling’ going out to the whole world, inviting all to come to Christ, and it is an invitation to hear and to obey.

(3) Lectio Divina was a practice used by Benedictine monks and literally means a ‘divine reading’, unto obedience . It was a way of reading the Bible practised by monks to cultivate their relationship with God. We are not just passive listeners to what God has said and done in the past. The words are addressed to us and we are expected to do something. Although it is not mentioned in Benedict’s Rule, it is the way of reading that would have been expected by individual monks as they engaged in private Bible reading and prayer. In Benedict’s time reading was not a silent mental activity; people tended to read aloud, even to themselves. There were four stages of Lectio Divina: a) Lectio = I read b) Meditatio = I reflect,  c) Oratio = I respond d) Contemplatio =  I rest. In his book “Reading with God” (4) Brother David Foster of Downside Abbey, calls the four stages Hearing the word, Receiving the word, Praying with the word, Wondering at the word. Esther de Waal says,(5) “in some ways Benedict’s rule might be thought of as a… commentary, a practical working out of the central theme of the primacy of the word. The rule is simply an aid for us to live by the Scriptures.” Benedict  says (6) “..take up the powerful and glorious weapons of obedience, renouncing your own will with the intention of fighting for the true king, Christ the Lord.”

If we are going to have  transformed lives by the love of God fearing him and obeying  Christ.. then maybe as Alasdair Macytyre says, in his book(7) “After Virtue” “.. it is time for another doubtless very different Benedict.” Hans Boersma says that in the early church (8)   Virtue is  prerequisite for Good reading, it is content of the text, and aim of the exegetical process.’ Early church exegesis was interested in transformation of character, through hearing and obeying Christ. It is as if today ,that ancient well of life has been blocked.

Jesus Christ is the Living Word. Through listening and obeying Christ, in the fear of the Lord and through being conformed into the likeness of Christ, we can grow in Christian character. It is time to unblock the well of the living word!

Prayer

Lord, you are a compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Help me to hear… receive… pray.. and ..wonder at your word. Teach me the fear of the Lord that I might have a heart of wisdom….  that I might hear and obey YOU Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word.

References 

(1) MacIntyre, A. After Virtue. 

(2) Macyntyre, A. After Virtue,  263.

(3) Foster, D. Reading with God: Lectio Divina. Continuum: 1.

(4) Foster, D. Reading with God: Lectio Divina. Continuum: 18-112.

(5) De Waal, E. Seeking God, 17.

(6) Benedict. The Rule. The Prologue:7, 9.

(7) MacIntyre, A. After Virtue, 263.

(8) Boersma, H.  Scripture as presence, 263-266.