SOLO PAGE
Errrggg…consistency is such a struggle!!!
Finding the time to be consistent with some sort of daily bible study / devotional / meditation time is a struggle for most of us. It is not that we don’t want to do it or that we are not richly rewarded when we do; it is that our lives are rarely consistent from day to day or week to week. We may have jobs and some of our jobs may even be boringly routine, but “our time” is still not.
Some rare mornings, we get ourselves up very early before the rest of our family wake up, when the birds are just beginning their morning songs and we snuggle into an oversized chair with our Bible on our lap. We’ve got our cup of coffee or tea, and then we pour out our heart to the Father. Quietly, we meditate on His Word, and listen carefully for what he brings to our hearts. We carry around that glow all day and enjoy His peace as we experience His world.
Do you do it again the next day? Maybe. Or just as likely…you have to get up early and get to work because of some big project…or you have to clean the house for company coming…or you have to meet friends at the gym for an early workout. That wonderful rewarding time of solitude, burying yourself in God’s Word is just yesterday’s memory because today the tyranny of the urgent once again rules.
Some of us searching for practice in being consistent in our personal bible study time have committed to working through a book called “SOLO.” The book is a 365-day devotional, written by Eugene Peterson that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. He uses a short text from his translation, “The Message” and encourages you to read an extended passage from your own Bible to gain more understanding of the events surrounding the story. He then takes the story and helps you to reflect on it in new ways by using lectio divina…a process that requires you to read a passage and to pray about it and then take some part of it with you. This is not a bible study for someone wanting to gain information or learn content. Rather, it is listening to Scripture as though God is speaking to us. Often there is a gentle shift in who you were when you sat down and who you are at the end of a day of reflecting.
A group of us met a few days ago to touch base and talk about our process of personal bible study. These are some of the things we discussed:
· How is it going? Are you liking the study?
· When we were meeting regularly with a Spiritual Disciplines group, we often discussed how difficult it was to maintain consistency in our personal study. I am not talking about the reading we do for the class on Sunday morning, but the reading we do that allows us to place ourselves in the presence of God… to hear what it is God is saying to us and to lay before Him what is on our heart. Have you found consistency in your practice of study, a special time, a special place, a specific routine?
· It seems like Peterson especially in the beginning is using stories that show us qualities of God. And perhaps the God of the Old Testament is much more similar to the God of the New Testament than we had figured. Do the qualities of this God of the Old Testament surprise you?
· Have you found days that raised questions … Like DAY #2 - what exactly is wrestling (as opposed to fighting) and why would two grown men wrestle all night? Why did the angel ask Jacob his name? There have been days when I was full of questions that I had never thought of. How do you get those questions answered?
· Are you able to take points of a day’s study with you during the day and meditate on them?
· Each day asks us to pray about the topic of the study. We are easily comfortable with our usual prayers – shopping lists – of all our needs wants and desires layed down. However these prayers are very different and often require us to place ourselves in the story or identify with the characters in very uncomfortable ways. How are you able to do this?
Our discussion together was great. We decided we definitely would plan another time to meet together and touch base, hold each other accountable. This is not about measuring how far each of us have gotten, or how consistent we have been, or how thorough we have been in doing each day’s lessons. This is about encouraging each other and listening to new ways that folks have developed to absorb these lessons and how they have allowed God’s Word to change them.
If you are not doing a personal Bible Study, I would really suggest that you go to the bookstore and look for Eugene Peterson’s book, SOLO. And find a friend to do it with you!
Errrggg…consistency is such a struggle!!!
Finding the time to be consistent with some sort of daily bible study / devotional / meditation time is a struggle for most of us. It is not that we don’t want to do it or that we are not richly rewarded when we do; it is that our lives are rarely consistent from day to day or week to week. We may have jobs and some of our jobs may even be boringly routine, but “our time” is still not.
Some rare mornings, we get ourselves up very early before the rest of our family wake up, when the birds are just beginning their morning songs and we snuggle into an oversized chair with our Bible on our lap. We’ve got our cup of coffee or tea, and then we pour out our heart to the Father. Quietly, we meditate on His Word, and listen carefully for what he brings to our hearts. We carry around that glow all day and enjoy His peace as we experience His world.
Do you do it again the next day? Maybe. Or just as likely…you have to get up early and get to work because of some big project…or you have to clean the house for company coming…or you have to meet friends at the gym for an early workout. That wonderful rewarding time of solitude, burying yourself in God’s Word is just yesterday’s memory because today the tyranny of the urgent once again rules.
Some of us searching for practice in being consistent in our personal bible study time have committed to working through a book called “SOLO.” The book is a 365-day devotional, written by Eugene Peterson that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. He uses a short text from his translation, “The Message” and encourages you to read an extended passage from your own Bible to gain more understanding of the events surrounding the story. He then takes the story and helps you to reflect on it in new ways by using lectio divina…a process that requires you to read a passage and to pray about it and then take some part of it with you. This is not a bible study for someone wanting to gain information or learn content. Rather, it is listening to Scripture as though God is speaking to us. Often there is a gentle shift in who you were when you sat down and who you are at the end of a day of reflecting.
A group of us met a few days ago to touch base and talk about our process of personal bible study. These are some of the things we discussed:
· How is it going? Are you liking the study?
· When we were meeting regularly with a Spiritual Disciplines group, we often discussed how difficult it was to maintain consistency in our personal study. I am not talking about the reading we do for the class on Sunday morning, but the reading we do that allows us to place ourselves in the presence of God… to hear what it is God is saying to us and to lay before Him what is on our heart. Have you found consistency in your practice of study, a special time, a special place, a specific routine?
· It seems like Peterson especially in the beginning is using stories that show us qualities of God. And perhaps the God of the Old Testament is much more similar to the God of the New Testament than we had figured. Do the qualities of this God of the Old Testament surprise you?
· Have you found days that raised questions … Like DAY #2 - what exactly is wrestling (as opposed to fighting) and why would two grown men wrestle all night? Why did the angel ask Jacob his name? There have been days when I was full of questions that I had never thought of. How do you get those questions answered?
· Are you able to take points of a day’s study with you during the day and meditate on them?
· Each day asks us to pray about the topic of the study. We are easily comfortable with our usual prayers – shopping lists – of all our needs wants and desires layed down. However these prayers are very different and often require us to place ourselves in the story or identify with the characters in very uncomfortable ways. How are you able to do this?
Our discussion together was great. We decided we definitely would plan another time to meet together and touch base, hold each other accountable. This is not about measuring how far each of us have gotten, or how consistent we have been, or how thorough we have been in doing each day’s lessons. This is about encouraging each other and listening to new ways that folks have developed to absorb these lessons and how they have allowed God’s Word to change them.
If you are not doing a personal Bible Study, I would really suggest that you go to the bookstore and look for Eugene Peterson’s book, SOLO. And find a friend to do it with you!
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