This is an odd assortment of various sermons and teachings I have given over the years, as well as articles I have written. They are all copyrighted. To receive permission to reprint, please e-mail Alison L. Barfoot.
Prayer of Silence: Becoming User-friendly for God
Until Christ Be Formed in You
The Cell of Self-Knowledge: Insights from Catherine of Sienna
Yes, God Can Reform the Church
Scripture, Tradition, and Reason Revisited
Listening to God
Praying Scripture
Five Ways to Hear God
Praying Scripture
(Transcribed from a tape of the meditation)
Alison L. Barfoot.
Prayer is a very broad term and probably means as many different things as there are people in this room. Prayer is a human activity which opens us up to God, to become "user-friendly" to God. Prayer is also spontaneous moments when we become acutely aware of God's presence. It's not that we deny that He's always there. It's just that most of the time we're not aware of it. Prayer for many of us is limited to those "experiences" of God's presence.
Let me give you an analogy. I am a musician, trained professionally as a clarinet player. Periodically, I would give a recital or play a concert with the orchestra. Those were wonderful moments of making music. Most of the time, though, I would be in the practice room playing long tones, scales, or learning music. But, that was making music, too. It was a different kind of making music, but it was still music. Practice and performance were both making music; they were just different expressions.
It is the same with prayer. There are many times when we engage in what seems to be a prayer of preparation or of "practice." But, it is still prayer. It is really the prayer of waiting. We make ourselves available for God to meet us. Without the prayer of preparation or of practice or of waiting, we're sure to miss him. But, having an experience of God is not a higher form of prayer than simply waiting on him. To put a value judgment on prayer when we experience God as over and against when we don't is to focus more on ourselves than on God. We make ourselves the standard of measure.
As a "pray-er", i.e., one who prays, we begin with praying the Scriptures. Praying the Scripture is a different activity than studying them. When we pray Scripture, we bring to it an openness and receptivity to hear God speak or to sense the movement of His spirit in ours.
Why do we pray the Scriptures? First, they are a love letter from God. They tell the incredible story of God's love for a humanity which would rather organize itself without God than with Him. God tells us how much He loves us, and we tell Him how much we love Him.
Secondly, the Scriptures are the chief means of God's self-disclosure, the revelation of Himself. If our perception of who God is differs from the biblical portrayal, then we have misperceived God.
Thirdly, the Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation. By this I mean not just our initial salvation when we were saved, adopted as a daughter or son of God, and transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. The Scriptures contain all things necessary for our initial salvation. But, they also contain all things necessary for our daily, on-going conversion of the whole of our lives to living under the Lordship of Christ.
The New Testament speaks of salvation as past, present, and future — I was saved; I am being saved; and, I will be saved. Paul reminded Timothy how from childhood the sacred writings were able to instruct him for salvation (2 Tim 3.15). Instruction, as Paul uses it here, is not a formal kind of classroom instruction, but a kind of instruction whereby we learn to live out our salvation.
Finally, the Scriptures keep us grounded in the truth and keep us faithful to the Holy Spirit of God. It is too easy to follow our own whims, to affirm ourselves in our sin, or to "naval gaze" and lose God's perspective.
So, what is Praying the Scriptures? Let me begin by describing what it is Not. It is not Bible study or academic pursuit. It is not sermon preparation, Sunday School preparation, or small group preparation. (Note: If you have to teach a passage, you should always pray it first. But, never use that as a substitute for the nurture and maintenance of your own prayer life. To try to do double duty is to confuse nurturing our own relationship with God with being a better minister or teacher. It is an insidious trap of which we need to be aware.) Praying the Scripture is not looking for doctrine, information, edification, or satisfying our curiosity.
Now, to what Praying the Scripture Is. It is looking for a word which will speak to our spiritual state. It is pondering in our heart, not our mind, whatever impresses itself upon you. Listen to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has to say about this:
"In the same way that the word of a person who is dear to me follows me throughout the day, so the Word of Scripture should resonate and work within me ceaselessly. Just as you would not dissect and analyze the word spoken by someone dear to you, but would accept it just as it was said, so you should accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart as Mary did. That is all. That is meditation. Do not look for new thoughts and interconnections in the text as you would in a sermon! Do not ask how you should tell it to others, but ask what it tells you! Then ponder this word in your heart at length, until it is entirely within you and has taken possession of you." (Meditating on the Word, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 32-33)
Here are some "nuts and bolts" of how to begin praying Scripture.
1. Ask the Holy Spirit to be your companion and guide.
2. Choose a short passage.
3. Read the passage through for content and context, several times, if necessary. This is the time to notice the things you never saw before.
4. Then, read it slows, word by word, phrase by phrase. Reflect on each phrase until something strikes you as noteworthy in terms of your own intuitive response; it has deep, personal significance for you. You are looking for spiritual truth as it relates directly and personally to you.
5. Then, reflect on that noteworthy phrase. Let it speak to you and say to you what it wants to say.
6. Then, imagine Jesus praying this phrase. Where and when and why would he have prayed it? Reflect on the phrase in light of Jesus' life and teaching. Then, bring Jesus' life to yours, and let it speak to you.
Again, listen to what Bonhoeffer has to say:
"Bonhoeffer recognized the psalter as the prayer book of the Church. But this recognition caused problems. How can sinful men and women pray the psalms of innocence (Pss. 5, 7, 9)? How can Christian people pray the psalms of vengeance (54, 55, 58)? How can those who have suffered little pray the psalms of those who suffered so much (13, 31, 35)? He solved these problems by understanding the psalms as the prayers of Christ. It is the innocent one who prays, the one who suffered for us. We pray, too, but only 'in so far as Christ prays within us, not in our own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ.'" (Meditating on the Word, p. 14-15).
7. Finally, be aware of distractions and other pitfalls which may befall you as you pray.
a. You may come upon an intriguing insight which you want to track down. Then, your prayer has become study.
b. You might get stuck in reflection, looking only to the life of Jesus and not able to bring his life to yours, or your life to his.
c. Don't get caught up with words you don't understand, or trying to get behind the meaning of the English word to what the Greek word must have meant. Bonhoeffer says, "It is not necessary every day to go through the entire text we have chosen for meditation. Often we will hold on to one word of it for the entire day. Passages which we do not understand we can simply pass over. There is no need to take flight into philology. this is not the place for the Greek New Testament, but for the familiar Luther text." (Meditating on the Word, p. 33).
d. Perhaps you find yourself almost frustrated, saying, "I'm trying to understand this passage and I just don't get it." You're almost trying to hard. Let go and assume a yielding, willing, and listening attitude.
e. If your mind wanders, simply return to the passage and the word that has captured you.