An Opportunity for Deep Personal Prayer
I
The People’s Experience of God
The Bible is a love story of God and his people. It is simple and clear. Yet, it is also complicated because this love absorbs human frailty and sin covering centuries.The creation accounts in Genesis are written in their own symbolic and narrative style. They contain complex insights about the human experience and our historical reality. They portray the human venture based on three fundamental and deeply connected relationships with God, our neighbor and creation. The Genesis account relates a basic brokenness in these three relationships. This is sin. Adam and Eve, our first parents, set the pattern. We follow it as we place ourselves rather than God at the center of all reality. We refuse to acknowledge the constraints of being creatures.
While the Bible is the story of salvation, the consequences of sin are at the center of the story in Genesis’ first eleven chapters. They lay out the need for salvation. Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, the Tower of Babel and, of course, Adam and Eve and the apple are examples of humankind’s pulling away from God. God’s instruction “to have dominion over all the earth” (Gen 1:28) is mangled in our selfish patterns of behavior. God also told us to “till it and keep it.” (Gen 2:15) Our failure on both accounts has severely disrupted the balance between God, humanity and creation. This rupture is expressed in our time in wars, violence, abuse, neglect of the most vulnerable and the continuing violation of nature.
Pope Francis describes this sin that places ourselves at the center in today’s historical experience as “practical relativism.” He defines this practical relativism as follows: “When human beings place themselves at the center, they give absolute priority to immediate convenience and all else becomes relative.”
This relativism, a powerful and pervasive expression of sin in our day, leads to the exploitation and neglect of others at all levels. People are reduced to objects. Abuse of others, economically, racially and sexually, is a natural consequence of this mentality. We see all of this expressed in the invisible forces of the market, in human trafficking, in organized crime, in malignant consumerism, in the drug trade, unrelenting racism and in the rampant misuse of the land and the sea and air, flora and fauna. All these destructive forces flow from a false vision and denial of human dignity.
The story of salvation begins in chapter twelve of Genesis with the call and promise made to Abraham. What follows is nearly two thousand years of the evolution of that promise leading to Jesus in the epic struggle of sin and grace.
In its broadest sweep, the story flows in a time-frame across two thousand years from Abraham to Moses to David, moving to the prophets and climaxing in Jesus. Throughout, there is a continual expression of God’s faithfulness and human ambivalence. The story moves from the promise to Abraham, destined to become the father of a great nation, to Moses liberating the people on the way to the Promised Land. The era of David and the kings introduces the idea of hope for God’s final intervention in the person of the Messiah. The enlightenment of the prophets’ message expands and deepens this hope. Along the way, we are gifted with the collective wisdom of the people in other books, especially in the psalms. Each draws us deeper into the mystery of this ever-active, always loving and saving God.
Throughout this journey of Abraham’s family evolving into the Jewish people, the hope of the promise advances in spite of consistent and profound infidelities to the Law of the Covenant. Likewise, there is a slow but steady growth in the communal understanding of who God is and what God wants. Many centuries after Abraham, the people came to the deepest truth of all: there is only one God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
The entire thrust of the movement of this salvation history leads to Jesus, the Word of God. In Jesus, we have the fullness of God’s revelation. We have the invitation to enter into the Mystery of Love reflected in the beautiful harmony between the Jewish Scriptures and the great event of Christ crucified and Christ risen. The fullness of God’s grace and truth is revealed in Jesus in the abandonment and utter poverty of the Cross. Here we encounter the ultimate truth of God, a God of saving love and mercy.
II
The Bible as a Source of Prayer
The Bible’s story of salvation was put together by the people reflecting, sharing, and praying about their experience of God. Most of the writings in the Bible are the conclusion of the community’s deep discernment. Their on-going encounter with God took place over a long period of time. There was a steady process of maturing in their knowledge and acceptance of God. The gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit directed the journey leading to Jesus, the final and absolute Word of God in the flesh.A centerpiece of this journey for God’s people was the Exodus: the liberation from slavery in Egypt. This included the passage through the desert and the entry into the Promised Land. The singular power of this experience guided the people down through the centuries of an often-torturous history. Again, and again, the children of Abraham reflected on the faithfulness of God who set them free. They found strength and fortitude in encountering the revelation of this God of the Exodus in their constantly troubled plight
The same is true of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This ultimate expression of God’s saving love has become the gateway to the new day, the New Exodus, in Christian history. We see in it the continual opening to hope, no matter how dark and stinging the ravages of life may be.
The central point of the story of salvation in the Bible is this. The message, in all its breadth and depth, comes from the people’s experience of the saving power of God who is active in their lives and their history. The Bible teaches us that the same God of the Chosen People is in our life. The word in the Bible gives us the light that enables us to encounter, understand, and embrace the reality of God’s continuing presence in our life. We are invited to participate in the call and promise today. This is the pilgrimage through history to the kingdom of God. The gift of God’s word in the revelation of the Bible is always a call to new life and new horizons.
III
Study and Prayer
Our approach to the Bible requires two distinct methods. One is to study the Bible to absorb the story and to grow in familiarity with the word of God. This should be done with a reverent spirit. However, it is an exercise of the intellect. We must develop a familiarity with the overall story. This should include a broad sense of the general themes, major events and the basic timeline from Abraham to Jesus. Pope Francis calls for this bible study in the The Joy of the Gospel. He says, “The study of the sacred Scriptures must be a door opened to every believer. It is essential that the revealed word radically enrich our catechesis and all efforts to pass on the faith…Let us receive the sublime treasure of the revealed word.” (#175)The second method is the prayerful reading of the Scriptures. This task goes beyond the mind to the depth of the spirit within us, a truly different tactic. The prayerful reading of the Bible seeks primarily to listen to what God has to say to us in the midst of our lives. This demands an openness and emptiness that echoes Samuel as we approach the Holy Word: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)
We need to always be aware that the text is more than fact. It is a symbol, a window, and a reflection that lets us see the past as a mirror of today’s experience. This prayerful reading of the word of God needs to lead us into our present historical reality in a way that it discloses the mystery of God’s saving presence here and now.
Our search has three goals:
We want to acquire a personal understanding of God’s word.We want to let God’s will for our life situation to become clear and practical.We want to live the call to walk with Jesus.
These goals prepare us to face the challenge of the brokenness and confusion of our daily experience. In this prayerful reading of the Bible, we need to receive the message as if it is addressed to us personally at this specific time in history because it is.
In this time of prayerful reading of the scriptures, it is important to set aside any sense of study or preparation to share our understanding with others. We prayerfully read the Bible for one purpose. We want to grow in faith and simply be in the presence of the living God.
