Shema.
Hear, O Israel.
For centuries, the Word of the God was spoken and heard.
The people of God would listen as their parents and grandparents and leaders and shepherds would recount their creation stories, their deliverance stories, their war stories, their resistance stories. They sat under the stories of God together.
Poems. Songs. History. Everything Israel knew of Scripture was experienced within the context of community. After hearing the Scriptures, they would bring their questions, ideas, confusion and clarity into that same community and wrestle with God and one another for a revelation of truth that would shape them.
The early Jesus followers were no different. With the Holy Spirit as their guide, they were faced with the task of wrestling with the Jewish Scriptures anew in light of the reality that the Messiah had come.
Every year, we explore what it means to be a Spirit-empowered community in our own context and approach to scripture. Week by week, we will engage and respond to a different text (this year from a variety of Paul’s letters to different churches) through the ancient spiritual practice of Lectio Divina (learn more here.).
Please read through this week's passage of Scripture three times using the following questions and practices to guide you.
Lectio (Read)
Read the passage slowly and carefully.
1) What images or words stand out as you hear/read the text?
Meditatio (Reflect)
Read the passage a second time. Take time to sit in the passage and engage it with your imagination. Pay attention to the details. Repeat the main words or phrases that are sticking out to you.
2) What might the Spirit be inviting you to receive from this text?
Oratio (Respond)
Read the passage a third time. Ask the Holy Spirit for understanding of what he is saying.
3) What might the Spirit be inviting us to do or put into practice as individuals and/or as a community through this text?
After prayerfully engaging with the text, either as a group or individual, please share your insights, questions, visions, or convictions with us! We want to know what you are hearing so that we can get a fuller picture of what Jesus is saying to our community.
Colossians 1:15-20 NIV
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Share with us what Jesus is revealing to you in this passage!
Written Reflection - Reflect on and answer one or all of the three questions above.
Questions - What questions arise for you about the text or what it means?
Creative Expression - Respond to what the text is revealing to you through song, poetry, sculpture, painting, photography or any other creative expression.
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Or email info@spaconline.com or text us at 833-290-7411.
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