Meeting 3 - God - The Word Incarnate ************************************ .. tags:: content|word-of-god|Word of God, content|truth|Truth, method|text-work|Text work, method|art-activity|Art activity, method|discussion|Discussion, type|biblical|Biblical Meeting Goal ============ Arousing in oneself a longing for the word that could pierce our heart and change us. Internalization of the "known truth" that "the Word dwelt among us". Introduction for the Animator ============================= The meeting is a bit in a losing position. We are to tell with words... that there are too many words in our world, that God lives in words. Success is therefore certainly not hidden in us mastering as many words/sentences as we can speak. The meeting should be perceived as a common time of searching for sensitivity. Prayer ====== For light and sensitivity. The Holy Spirit is essential for us to open ourselves to the action of the Word. The Word is not a means to prayer, but is already prayer. Introduction to the Meeting =========================== A moment ago we were making paper from a pulp created from "ordinary words". Let's try to start by sharing our reflections, interpreting what happened: * Why didn't we throw those sheets into the trash and take new sheets, but transform the form? * How did you feel while making paper? Do you associate such another situation from your life that you "rebuilt" something? We try to fight for the word on this retreat. There are very many words in our life - we told ourselves about this yesterday. An attempt to search for "words we are waiting for" by adding new 200 sentences of what we hear every day would not give anything. Such a tactic will only cause an increase in the thicket of words in which we move. We do not want to add. We want to change what is already now. We will fight for this at this meeting. God Became the Word =================== Let's read: | In the beginning was the Word, | and the Word was with God, | and the Word was God. | He was in the beginning with God. | All things were made through him, | and without him was not any thing made that was made. | In him was life, | and the life was the light of men. | The light shines in the darkness, | and the darkness has not overcome it. | There was a man sent from God, | whose name was John. | He came as a witness, | to bear witness about the light, | that all might believe through him. | He was not the light, | but came to bear witness about the light. | The true light, | which gives light to everyone, | was coming into the world. | He was in the world, | and the world was made through him, | yet the world did not know him. | He came to his own, | and his own people did not receive him. | But to all who did receive him, | who believed in his name, | he gave the right to become children of God, | who were born, | not of blood | nor of the will of the flesh | nor of the will of man, | but of God. | And the Word became flesh | and dwelt among us, | and we have seen his glory, | glory as of the only Son from the Father, | full of grace and truth. -- John 1:1-14 In the Johannine Gospel, the Greek logos (λoγοσ) meaning word is used. It is a word coming from the Stoics and it is not easy to translate it into Polish (or English). It has three meanings: 1. One listens to Logos because it is a word; 2. Logos grants understanding because it is reason; 3. Logos connects people because it means "connection"; * Which meaning of the word logos fits the context of the prologue? Every one. That's exactly the point, that these three functions of the Eternal Word - Jesus are simultaneous and complementary. Reading this Gospel, therefore, we should consider each sentence on these three planes. It would not be good, however, for us to discover some theory at this meeting without relating it to our own experience: * Do I listen to God in his Word? * Do I seek understanding (of life situation, life, meaning) in his Word? * Does contact with the Word of God lead me to other people? One feels like answering these questions "well of course, yes!". However, it does not have to be that simple. Contact with the Holy Scripture is not easy. Sometimes it may simply seem foreign to us, or "ineffective"... somehow not adapted to the world in which I live. When someone tells me "God acted!" I rather have in mind some spectacular miracle, healing, prophetic elation....and not God who shows himself in the Word. God chose "revelation in the word" knowing that it will be hard for us sometimes with faith, that's why in his Word itself he left us promises referring to his Word in many places! Let's read: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, ... so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. -- Isa 55:10-11 * Is there a conviction and faith in me that "only Your Word is enough, and (something) will be..." ? .. note:: We say at every Mass: "**but only say the word**, and my soul shall be healed" * Have I experienced God's Words that "transformed" something before my eyes? Can you say something about it? We Speak Words ============== God is a God of dialogue. He not only directs words to us but listens to our answer. When man commits sin, God does not preach a sermon to him but asks "Adam, where are you?" (even though he knows the answer). Since God himself said that "The Word that goes out from my mouth, does not return to me empty before first accomplishing what I wanted" it means that His Word meets with a response! Let's read: Every creature speaks and is called to express some particular aspect of God's thought. There it finds its name and identity; confirms and secures its freedom and originality. -- New Vocations for a New Europe * Does "God's thought" necessarily have to be some "pious thought"? What is God's thought? God's thought is His design towards Creation - everything in which He expressed Himself. Laws of physics, psychology, nature, philosophical inquiry, relationship with loved ones - all this is planned by the Creator. * Have I met in my life some "God's thought" which seemed to me somehow particularly mine? Some that my heart "naturally understood"? We all hear the same words from God. Each of us lives in the same world. However, what we speak differs among ourselves. We answer in a different way. **God scattered different sensitivity to his words in our hearts so that we would be mutually needed by each other** - so that in the community meeting and talking we always have more than alone. **Exercise** .. note:: This exercise is nothing else but advanced Vasteras with an artistic claw ;) We will try to prepare a "word map" now. Each of You will receive the same fragment of text. We will try to rewrite it, but "in our own way" - changing it graphically, but not changing its content. Example: .. image:: slowa.* :align: center The text can be chosen freely, I propose: | For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven | and do not return there but water the earth, | making it bring forth and sprout, | giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, | so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; | it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, | and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. | For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; | the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, | and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. | Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; | instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; | and it shall make a name for the Lord, | an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. -- Isa 55:10-13 After completing this task (10 minutes) the animator asks a question: * A moment ago I tried to find my special bond with this word myself. How did I feel? Was it easy? What was difficult about it? * Do I read texts in this way? Do I read the Word of God like this? * Please interpret what you have done. Why did I do it in such a way? What does it mean? One text. Answers to it as many as readers. The Word of God is alive and works in us. What is really important is that the received word (every one! Not only the Word of God!) is not transparent to us - that it means something. Let's read: The primitive and ancient world, the religious world in general, does not know what "empty words" are; it never says "enough words, let's finally proceed to action", and the longing to never "dabble in words" again is foreign to it. This does not come from a lesser sense of the reality of the world; on the contrary; it is we who have artificially made words empty, degraded them by reducing them to the rank of objects. -- Gerardus van der Leeuw, Dutch religious scholar, 1890-1950, professor, faithful of the Evangelical Reformed Church Maybe it sounds good, but are these our experiences? The fight for faith takes place on this basic plane! * Do I have a feeling that I constantly hear or say "only words, words and words"? That too little action? * Have "big words", "words asking about God" not become commonplace to me? Words That Are a Mirror and Purification ======================================== If we hear the Word of God and answer to it - we begin a wonderful journey. The Word of God will lead us. It is a journey of faith. Let's read: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. -- Rom 10:17 * Is my faith based on the words of Jesus or on "common opinion"? * Have I experienced a moment of verification, that I thought God was some way, and after reading His Word I became convinced that I was wrong? What was the situation? .. warning:: The animator should decide whether they want to carry out the exercise below. It can be done only in groups that had earlier experience of reading the Scripture - but not necessarily some advanced. .. note:: beginning of optional section The animator asks participants to write down on a piece of paper the features of God in whom they believe e.g.: .. hlist:: :columns: 3 * Immortal * Creator * Almighty * Savior * Shepherd * Seeking man * Eternal * Merciful * Just * Father * Servant * Triune * Giver of gifts * Redeemer * Judge Creating this list should come to us quite easily - after all, everyone knows what God is like ;). Let's try now together to check if we can find "justification" for our faith in the Scripture for each of these Divine attributes! It is best if we could find specific fragments in the Scripture and read them aloud, but you can also talk about a fragment if it is "commonly known to the group". At the end we share reflections: * Was it a difficult task? * What was the most difficult? What was the easiest? * Do we feel the need to seek confirmation of our faith in the Word? If we couldn't find something, it doesn't mean that we should assume that God isn't like that ;). One shouldn't be particularly sad in such a case either. The goal is not to answer all questions here and now, but to take a certain path. .. note:: end of optional section Let's read: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. -- Heb 4:12-13 * What does it mean to me that the Word of God is living and active? Tonight we will experience the Celebration of the Word of God. We want to really meet Christ, who is the Word Incarnate in the pages of the Bible. Therefore, this sentence from the letter to the Hebrews is a call for us. We must arouse in ourselves a "hunger for the word" to experience what is before us. We must want to be touched by the "two-edged sword". .. warning:: Reading this sentence will undoubtedly give nothing to the group. **This is the place for Your testimony**. Evening prayer is the center of this retreat - you have to fight for your participants. Tell them about your meeting with the Eternal Word, tell what changed and in what way in Your life. You are an animator - enliven, realize your vocation - the Spirit will lead. Let's read two more texts: The Church ... is built upon the word of God; she is born from and lives by that word. Throughout its history, the People of God has always found strength in the word of God, and today too the ecclesial community grows by listening to, celebrating and studying that word. -- Verbum Domini And a fragment of the New Testament: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -- Col 3:16-17 * What vision of the community of believers is drawn based on these fragments? * Is such a vision attractive to me or maybe I have to fight for it in myself? * Can I currently say about myself that the Word of Christ dwells in me? Words That Reveal Themselves to Us Over Time ============================================ Reading the Word of God is an adventure. Really. Unique is this moment when we read the Word of God and begin to see a deeper meaning through signs created with ink on paper. Let's try to experience this! .. warning:: Dear animators. Using this at Babice we lose the possibility of using this wonderful exegesis at retreats, conferences etc. Don't do this if it's supposed to be quick and you would lack time. What am I going to hide - it was my "animator ninja" so far ;P Let's read: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” -- Mark 1:1-15 * What do we read? We read a prologue, that is some important part in which the author presents some goal of creating the work, or outlines the main thought (see: Prologue of the Gospel of St. John) * What does this description look like in other evangelists? Luke 4:1-13 - long description. Detailed scenarios of temptations. Little attention devoted to the scene of baptism itself Matt 3:13 - 4:11 - long description. Similar to Luke. Developed description of baptism John 1:31-33 - strangely short description. Mentioned as if in passing. We know the context then. Let's try to wonder if Mark's description has any structure. .. note:: The animator has prepared "strips of paper" with fragments of the gospel as in the scheme presented below Let's arrange them chronologically. Let's try to compare the first with the last, the second with the second to last etc. * Do you see any common parts on the first and second pair? let's underline it Do we see something common on the third pair? Let's check the Millennium Bible and check the footnotes to these two fragments. Both fragments additionally quote practically the same place of the Book of Isaiah! * Do we see something common in the fourth pair? let's underline it * What is the middle fragment. Doesn't something similar exist in it too? Conclusion - the structure of this prologue is: **A - B - C -D - E - D’ - C’ - B’ - A’** Where C and C’ are additionally reinforced as quotes from the Book of Isaiah from the same place - which indicates absolutely intended action of the author. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. -- Isa 40:3 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. -- Isa 42:1 It can be presented like this: +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A | The beginning of the **gospel** of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | B | Behold, I send my **messenger** before your face, who will prepare your way | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | C | The **voice** of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | D | **John** appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a **baptism of repentance** | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | E | I have **baptized you with water**, but he will **baptize you with the Holy Spirit.** | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | D' | In those days **Jesus came from Nazareth** of Galilee and was **baptized by John in the Jordan** | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | C' | And a **voice** came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | B' | And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the **angels** were ministering to him. | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A' | Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the **gospel** of God. | +------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Undoubtedly it is not a coincidence and it is something strange. Let's look at this more closely. What does this construction remind us of? Symmetry! What is symmetry? When is it used? If one wants to show some equality or identity of two things, perfect balance. * What does one wing of this construction speak about, this first one? Jesus is the chosen one. The announced Messiah. * What does the second wing speak about? Jesus is someone who feels hunger and thirst, Satan tempts him. Jesus is a man! * What is the axis of symmetry? Combination of water baptism and Spirit. Jesus is God and Man at the same time.... wherein we have perfect symmetry here. St. Mark in his prologue "hides" the basic confession of faith in the person of Jesus Christ!!! Ending - Application ==================== Let the application from this meeting be our resolution to make room in ourselves for meeting with the Word of God at today's evening prayer. Now let us pray for the Holy Spirit to help our group in this - without Him our effort is vain. Let us boldly awaken desire in ourselves! So that the Word of God is not for us "a very important matter that must be listened to - because it is a good work", but something we cannot wait for, because It transforms us into more beautiful people!