Journey to the Passion: Praying with the Text

Wednesday, March 19, 2025 – Romans 15:1-6

Because we’ve been partnering with Trinity Lutheran Church for our Lenten worship services, I’ve not been preaching each week. But I did preach on March 19, and below is that message. We’re focusing during this Lenten season on “Holy Habits” or spiritual practices. This week’s topic is scripture reading.

Romans 15:1-6

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why do we read? I can think of several reasons why I read. Sometimes, I just read for the pure pleasure of good writing. When someone has written in a way that takes me deep within a story – to the point of almost full immersion – it can be a transforming experience.

Reading Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Secret Life of Bees, was like that for me. She created such an alluring world in that community of women and their honeybees that when I finished reading the novel, I literally cried because I didn’t want to leave those people.

A good text can take us deep into another’s experience. Reading fiction especially has been shown to increase empathy because we can get inside someone else’s life and feel what they’re feeling.

I also read to learn. Most of what I read for that purpose is nonfiction, but did you know that fairy tales were considered teaching stories written to educate children and adults? Even when we know that a fairy tale isn’t true in the literal sense, we can learn great wisdom from reading it because it’s true in the deepest sense of that word. Fairy tales and myths can show us eternal truths about human life. Myths are about events that never actually happened but which happen in human life over and over again.

We may also read to learn the facts about an event. We aren’t carried into another world by journalistic facts and we aren’t typically learning great truths. We read for basic information not for transformation.

In the same way, we can read scripture in different ways and for different purposes.

Origen of Alexandria, one of the earliest Christian scholars and theologians, lived in the second century. In the year 250, he was tortured for his faith during the Decian persecution and later died from his injuries.

He saw the scriptures as divinely inspired and taught that there are three different ways to read and interpret biblical text.

Reading at the level of “the flesh” was the literal, historical interpretation, at the level of “the soul” was the moral message behind the passage, and the level of “the spirit” was the eternal reality that the passage conveyed. He saw this “spiritual” level as the deepest and most important meaning.
At this “spiritual” level, biblical text doesn’t have literal meaning but only allegorical meaning. That’s the same kind of meaning that fairy tales, myths, and fiction has.

Once Christianity became the state-sanctioned religion of the Roman empire with all its imperialist trappings, many Christians fled to the desert where they developed contemplative practices and formed monastic communities centered on devotion.

One of the practices that emerged from those communities is what is called lectio divina, or “divine reading.” Lectio divina is different from Bible study where we read scripture for information and an understanding of the context of the passage. Lectio divina is a method of prayer that uses a reflective reading of scripture to lead us into those deeper meanings that Origen described so that the text can transform us.

We used the practice of lectio divina during our Lenten services last year so let me share again the basic steps to allow you to practice it for yourself in the coming week.

1. You would begin by opening the passage that you wish to use for your prayer period and then entering into silence and remembering your intention to encounter God there. You want to take your time with this process.
2. Then, you would simply read or listen to the passage with the “ear of the heart.” What word or phrase stands out for you? Does anything “shimmer” or hold special interest?
3. During a second reading of the passage, you would then “chew on” or relish each word, letting them resound in your heart. Here you would want to be open to receiving what speaks powerfully to your heart.
4. In a third reading, you might respond spontaneously with gratitude or praise while you continue to listen and re-read the passage.
5. Finally, you’ll spend some time in silence, resting in God’s presence as you open yourself to an even deeper hearing of the Word. You may feel called to live out what you have received in your prayers.

Paul writes that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” I think we’ll find that it’s when we approach our reading of scripture in this prayerful way that we can more deeply encounter God as our source of hope.

In this way, we can be changed by what we hear and then offer the gifts of hope and transformation to the people around us.