A daily journey of faith
Each week on Monday I read the lectionary texts for the coming Sunday, and then when Sunday arrives, we gather and I share with you my reflections from the text.
All week I journey with these rich, multi-layered and intertwining writings. I spend time each morning reading the same texts, listening as new things arise each time, delving into them and staying with the parts that are confusing or seem particularly significant, waiting for insight and connections to reveal themselves.
I really enjoy doing this, and bringing you in my reflection something I am excited to have discovered or to explore more with you.
But I am also aware that each week, when you hear the text for the first time on Sunday, you do not have the chance to dwell with the text before I launch in and share my thoughts and stories.
So I would like to invite you to join me in listening for insight and connections, to join in the daily journey with the scriptures as a way to enrich your own faith practices and to enrich us all as we gather together for conversation and reflection.
The Readings this week
You can find all the readings for the week here (acts, psalm, epistle and gospel).
My practice is to read them all at least once, and to return to the gospel reading each day, but you may find yourself drawn to one of the other readings – follow your curiosity; trust the Spirit to guide your instinct.
A thought or two about Thomas…
Thomas knew and trusted certain things about Jesus: that he had lived, taught, healed and saved others; that he died tortured and helpless and did not save himself. There was blood and bone, nails and wood; shouting crowds, soldiers with spears, wailing, women, darkness and silence. There was death. There was an end and it was decisive. All of this was factually evident and true- Thomas knew it and trusted it.
Questions for reflection
What are the things you currently know and trust about Jesus the Christ?
Consider how your world view may be shaped by your beliefs about Jesus….for example, what does it mean to be a human being ..what is the purpose and goal of creation, of life and of living…what is the significance of this world and your actions within it…how does what you believe about the nature and character of God effect the way you live in relationship with others and creation….?
Have you ever questioned any aspects of the ‘world of fact’ that often seems to accompany Christian belief?
When you reflect on the story, what do you notice about Thomas and his doubt? What does his doubt lead him to?
Have you ever experienced periods of doubt?
What is it like to consider these questions?
Wise words on how to approach the questions
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in a letter to a younger man:
….”be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
Practising living the questions
Rilke’s advice may seem slightly obscure…what does it mean to live the questions? How would you do that? Here are some suggestions:
- After reading the gospel story, what is one question you want to ask? You might want to ask a ‘what does it mean when it says…’ kind of question or an ‘I wonder why’ question – if you have lots of questions, which is your best one?
- Ask your question . Make a call, send an email, talk to people in your bubble – and instead of accepting one answer, keep asking as you seek more answers, listen to new points of view.
- Consider your question in the light of all the responses and see what they lead you to – perhaps new questions…
What if you treasured other people’s questions too?
Instead of launching in with an opinion, with advice or with options to solve a problem can you try pausing to consider the question, the curiosity or need behind it and the possibility that you don’t have the answer?
Post Script….
This is not a test you can fail or a chance to show that you have the right answers.
This is an invitation to engage with the living word and to be open and present to your life and the holy spirit.
Scripture is often obscure and can be confusing. Often it seems to be saying something obvious but not always – and sometimes the obvious isn’t easy to put into practice. Occasionally we come across something that is odd or confronting or possibly inappropriate. How do we respond? How do we understand and interpret that?
Because we all interpret what we hear and what we understand it to mean – even when we say we are simply taking it at face value (which is an interpretive approach that is only selectively applied – for example, usually not for Jesus’ teachings on selling everything and giving to the poor or cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin).
So that scripture can speak to us all, I invite you to join me in the daily journey of staying with the same passage, letting it accompany us through our day and returning to it with curiosity the next morning.
You may feel uninspired by this practice…I understand. If it feels like it’s not for you, or that the time is not right, listen to the wisdom of your deepest self – invitations can always be kindly declined without any loss of relationship.
