UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 131-135

SUGGESTED PATTERN: READ PSALM 133 AGAIN with spouse or household.

SPEND A FEW MINUTES GOING THROUGH 4 STEPS OF LECTIO DIVINA (1), ON  PSALM 133:1-3

“ How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

READING  “Put the food whole into your mouth”

MEDITATION,  “Chew it up”

PRAYER “Extract its flavour”

CONTEMPLATION “The sweetness which gladdens and refreshes”

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.  

A few years ago, I watched the film “Luther” (1) (the story of Martin Luther and the beginning of the Reformation) with a group of young people on a YWAM Discipleship Training School. Shortly after the film started, I remembered that one of the girls in the group was a German Catholic girl and I suddenly realised that maybe I had been insensitive suggesting to the group that we should watch that particular film. Her comment at the end of the film was “how sad it all was.. the breakdown in the unity of the church”.

While journeying through the psalms, I have pointed out how The Enlightenment emphasis on reason has hindered the church seeing Jesus revealed in the Old Testament. Today I would like to suggest that The Reformation has also been responsible for hindering the Bible being read together by the community of faith. I believe that Alisdair McIntyre is right, in his book “After Virtue” (2) that the western ‘Christian’ world has no longer been pursuing ‘virtue’ and godly character since the Enlightenment, but maybe the Reformation has also been responsible? If character is transformed in community, then when Luther left his monastery, the church moved further from the pursuit of the Christlikeness in community, which had been the original focus of monasticism. Not only did the Reformation split the church it also has resulted in the diminishing importance of the monastery and the increasing importance of the university in shaping the modern world, and consequently less intentional pursuit of godly character fashioned and honed in community living. 

I find it fascinating reading about Eric Metaxes’ description of the underground remote seminary called Finkenwalde in Germany in 1935, in his biography of Bonhoeffer (3). As Europe descended into chaos and the Second World War with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, Bonhoeffer devoted his time to developing a beautiful Christian community. Shortly before his death he produced two books, “Life together” and “The psalms.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his book “Life together” with the words from Psalm 133;1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” He says (4) “it is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was actually alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers….So, between the death of Christ and the last day it is only by gracious anticipation of the last things the Christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other Christians. It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned,  the sick the scattered, the lonely, the proclaimers of the gospel in heathen lands stand alone.”

Maybe we have been listening to academics reading scripture in ivory towers too much and for too long… it is important to read the scripture in communion with others. More recently, Stephen Fowl and L. Gregory Jones wrote ‘Reading in Communion’(5). They emphasize the importance of embodying scripture. They contend that “because of the distance between biblical context and contemporary contexts, Christians need to develop moral and theological judgement and that judgement requires the formation and transformation of the character appropriate for disciples of Jesus. They say Christians develop such character in and through the friendships and practices of Christian communities.” This is why ‘reading in communion with others’ is important. They go on to say, this reading in communion includes reading in communion with the saints that have gone before us. 

As the world stage becomes increasingly threatening in 2024, the church needs to seriously address its priorities. Maybe since the Reformation, we (Protestants), have been trying to fellowship around right doctrine and haven’t given sufficient importance to fellowship as one body around the person of Jesus, reading the bible as a coherent stor,y with the community of faith, in the light of the resurrection.  

Bonhoeffer ends his first chapter of “Life Together” repeating psalm 133 verse 1, saying (6) “we can rightly interpret the words ‘in unity’ and say, ‘for brethren to dwell together through Christ”. Finally he says, “For Jesus Christ alone is our unity. He is our peace. Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another.”

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

Reference

(1) Luther, M.  Film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309820/

(2) MacIntyre, A. After Virtue

(3) Metaxes, E. Bonhoeffer,

(4) Bonhoeffer, D. Life Together, 7.

(5) Fowl, S. and Jones, L.G  Reading in Communion. Quote from.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtBoTM0v9Y

(6) Bonhoeffer, D. Life Together, 26.