God is Love?

I thought our discussion last week was really good. Something said to me later provoked this post. To paraphrase, "It's hard to think about God as love in His fundamental nature." The gist of that statement and what followed, if I understood correctly, is that this is such an abstract idea we can't really process it. Somewhat like trying to imagine the size of the universe.

In my reading last week, I bumped into an exercise I have seen before. Perhaps it's one way of getting closer to knowing God as love.

Start with a portion of 1 Corinthians 13. We usually hear this at weddings, and while a marriage is certainly a place where agape love must be present for any chance of success, Paul was talking about the members of the church community in Corinth loving one another. Here's a good section:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

If God is love, then we should also be able to substitute a reference to Him for all the references to love in this passage. Transformed, it would read like this:

God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. God
is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, and He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God never fails.

If we read and reflect on this transformed passage for a few days, I'm certain we will have a fuller understanding of who God is according to John -- God is love.

More of Psalm 115.

I included a couple more verses than usual of our psalm for the week -- #115. I just had to, because of the end of verse 7:

They cannot even clear their throats.

60's Idol choking.

How lame is that?

Session 4 Discussion.

For those of you who didn't make to class this Sunday, here's a chance for you to share your thoughts on the lesson. Of particular interest are your thoughts on the question about John 16:8-11 -- in your own words, how would you describe the role of the Spirit when it comes to convicting the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment.

If you were in class, what do you want to share?

And I hope you all had a great time celebrating Mother's Day, knowing that for some it's a rough day. Blessings to all.

Session 3 Discussion

Our third lesson was about the Word becoming flesh and tenting with us ... learning more about and drawing closer to the invisible Father God through the recorded life of the visible Son.

What do you want to say?

Session 2 Discussion.

What would you like to say?

Session 1 Discussion.

This post is available for you to comment in to talk with each other about last Sunday's class, or preparation for this Sunday. For example, you might want to share your experience in doing a meditation this week. (I'll have a comment on that later tonight.)

Meditating on God's Word

"St Francis in Meditation",
by Caravaggio (1571-1610

meditate:
From Latin meditatus, past participle of meditari (“to think or reflect upon, consider, design, purpose, intend”), in form as if frequentative of mederi (“to heal, to cure, to remedy”); in sense and in form near to Greek μελεταν (meletan, “to care for, attend to, study, practise, etc.”)

In our culture today, most people think of meditation as the Eastern practice that often involves sitting in one place, while working to empty the mind of all thought. For many Christians, the idea that meditating on passages from the Bible is a useful practice doesn't make sense because of this connection to the eastern practice.

As is evident from the etymology above, in the western world, meditation has a long history, going back to both Greek and Roman cultures, and is primarily about thinking, reflection, and consideration with intention. These are not practices you can do with an empty mind. In fact, most teachers who recommend meditation as a sound spiritual discipline would call it a "filling up" not "emptying out" the mind. Here's a sound definition of Christian meditation from Donald S. Whitney:

"... let's define meditation as deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer."¹

You've probably meditated in some sense at some point in your life. Maybe you've worried through something. Considered all the angles ... if this happens I'll ... then this other thing might happen and ... or it could go this way ... but that would be ... so maybe I can start by .... I wouldn't call this a productive meditation, but it is really thinking, reflecting, and focusing your attention on a particular subject.
But as a discipline, most of us have little practice, and as I said on Sunday, I would post a couple of pointers to get you started on this blog. This first post will be some very basic starting techniques. We'll add to them as we go. Or, you could pick up a book on spiritual disciplines that covers the subject in a more complete fashion.

The most important step in meditation is committing to do it. Second, it's usually good to have a set time and place to at least start your practice. However, once you get started, and especially if you've memorized the particular verse(s) your meditating on, or the thoughts and principles derived from a passage; you can continue the process anywhere you have free time available. Third, you need to pick a passage, and fourth is always starting your process in prayer. These steps are all pretty simple and obvious, but we don't want to overlook anything.

Picking a passage.
For the purpose of our study, picking the passage is simplified in that it should probably be one or more verses from either the lesson, or our psalm for the week. My choice this week is to go through Psalm 130 a couple of verses a day. For this post, let's look at verse 5 from the REB:

I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.

In other circumstances, it's a good idea to pick passages that are connected to your life in some way. This could include choosing the main message within a larger passage you're studying.

Prayer.
Before and after your time of meditation. Before, asking for the Spirit's help during your time of meditation; after, flowing out of the insights you've gained during your time of meditation.

Two basic techniques.
Here, then, are two basic techniques to get you started after the preliminaries above.

1. Repeat the passage emphasizing different words. (I would do this out loud if possible.)
   In the case of Psalm 130:5, the first few readings would look like this:
   
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   I wait for the Lord with longing; I put my hope in his word.
   
   This wouldn't be mindless repetition, but a paying attention to the truth you discover with each emphasis. For example, the emphasis on "I" in the first line, might lead to questions such as "do I what for the Lord?" and thoughts such as "I will make this my declaration -- I will wait ..."
2. Rewrite the passage in your own words.
   This technique can really help you focus on what your meditating on. It's a way of corralling your mind to the task at hand. Using your words means you're working on really understanding the meaning of what you've read.

If you have any techniques to share, leave a comment. Questions welcome too.

¹Quote from and material adapted from Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald S. Whitney, 1991 Navpress.