The glory of God is a human being fully alive' Irenaeus, 2nd century theologian

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• The glory of God is a human being fully alive.
  --Irenaeus, 2nd century theologian

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Reigniting Love for Scripture Engaging Scripture
with Five Senses

• The Purpose of Bible Reading
• In the COTN we believe that the Bible was written
  to lead us to salvation in Christ and to assist
  us in growing in Christlikeness and holiness.
• Ways We Learn About the Bible

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• Five Senses Approach to Scripture
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• This is not a method so much as a way of life
  rooted in daily listening to the Word of God.
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• Background
• Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)
• Alexandria school of allegorical interpretation
  (2nd and 3rd century A.D.)

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• It is all too easy to stand outside the Bible
  and ask what it is about. In this way we come to
  know about God, but not to know God. It really
  helps if we can think of the Bible, not as a book
  or word, but as a place a place where God and
  persons meet. If it is a place, then the
  challenge of Bible study is to stand in that
  place, hear what we would have heard, feel what
  we would have felt, and ask our own questions.
  Sometimes when we stand in the Biblical story, we
  recognize it as our very own story. --Hazelyn
  McComas

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• How do we read the Bible with our five senses?
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• Be in a quiet place with a relaxed mind, open to
  God who is eager to be with you.
• Pick a gospel story and place yourself in the
  scene.
• Participate in what is going on. Talk, speak,
  listen, smell, touch. Interact.
• Identify with one of the characters.

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• What are you doing? Are you talking, listening,
  or something else?
• Attempt to use all of your senses as you slowly
  read the passage.
• See the story three-dimensionally.
• Hear the story.
•  
• Touch the story.

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• Feel with your emotions.
• Smell the story
• Taste the story
• Experiencing the biblical stories with our five
  senses enables us to recognize the Bibles story
  as our own.
•  

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• Some Practical Considerations
• Read the passage through several times.
• Be quiet and receptive before God and the text.
• Listen to what God is saying to you through the
  text (1 Samuel 3).
• Be patient and keep at it. It takes practice.
•  

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• What experience have you had with this kind of
  prayerful and imaginative Bible reading?
• A Couple Caveats
• Meditative prayer is a slow process.
• Be content with small and ordinary insights.
• Dont feel that you have to come up with
  spectacular insights every time you read the
  Bible. 

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• Beware of projecting your own cultural
  presuppositions onto the text.
• Entering into scripture with our five senses
  works best with narrative portions of the Bible
• Old Testament and gospel stories with characters,
  dialogue, and movement work well. Different
  types of scripture will need different
  approaches. Pauls epistles, for example, will
  need another approach such as lectio divina.

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• Miscellaneous Thoughts about Scripture and
  Transformation
• Our personality affects the way we approach
  scripture

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• It might also be of use, if, while we read the
  Bible, we were frequently to pause, and examine
  ourselves by what we read, both with regard to
  our hearts and lives. . . . And whatever light
  you then receive, should be used to the
  uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no
  delay. . . So shall you find this word to be
  indeed the power of God unto present and eternal
  salvation. --John Wesley, Works Vol. 14, p.
  253.
• Live in the biblical stories
• Practice is required.

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• It takes discipline.
• In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on
  the strength of the promise that it has something
  utterly personal to say to us for this day and
  for our Christian life, that is not only Gods
  Word for the Church, but also Gods Word for us
  individually. We expose ourselves to the
  specific word until it addresses us personally.
  And when we do this, we are doing no more than
  the simplest, untutored Christian does every day
  we read Gods Word as Gods Word for us.
  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 82)

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• Getting the Bible from our head to our hearts.
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• Make scripture personal.

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• Questions for Reflection and Response
• Be with Mary either on Good Friday, Easter
  morning.
• What would you have seen, felt, heard, or
  experienced if you were Mary?
• Where would you have been on Good Friday? Easter
  morning?
• What do you imagine Jesus saying to his mother on
  Easter morning?
• What words or feelings burst forth as your risen
  son appears to you?