Sabbatical - More thoughts on Hands On Prayer Resources

A continuation of my thoughts on yesterday's post:

• Bible Study - I've come to believe that for some folks these remain two of the most frightening words in the Christian lexicon.  The reason is that too often what is presented as a Bible study is so incredibly dull and un-engaging that folks simply can't face it any more.  So a couple thoughts:

• Figure out why you're doing it.  If the best you can do is basically "Because I'm supposed to know the Bible" you might as well quit now.  It's going to be dull and a chore and you're going to quit relatively soon anyway.  Save yourself the agony.  Let me suggest a couple of much better reasons that will give you a much more intriguing approach to your next study (of whatever portion of scripture you choose.)  If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test you know that one of the distinctions made is Thinking vs Feeling.  (Before anyone gets all worked up I am using a grossly simplistic version of the MBTI.  I'm not doing the basic concepts any violence however).  Think of it as Head and Heart.  Some folks approach life from a Head point of view, others from the Heart (we are in fact a balance of the two, usually with a greater weight on one side than the other).  Each type can approach scripture in a way that will help them connect more deeply.  So think in these terms:
• Head - seek the wisdom and truth revealed in the passages you're reading.  What is the passage trying to teach me?  What can I use in my daily life?
• Heart - seek a relationship with Christ.   Find in the passages what Christ wants for you and your life.  How do I walk more closely with the Divine based on what I'm reading now?

Again, gross simplification but I hope you see that there is more than one way to read the Bible.  You can take the exact same approach to any inspirational/theological work.  Finding the way that works for you is far more important than deciding which passages to read.

This past lent Father Eric Williams from St. Luke's Jamestown has done a rather interesting approach to a Bible study that I want to share.  He has taken the Daily Lectionary as his reading.  The cool twist on this is that he then summarizes what he gains from the day's reading in the form of a Tweet (a 140 character long post on the micro-blogging site Twitter.  (Fr. Eric's Twitter Feed)  I love this concept for a variety of reasons.  First, reflection on the reading is always important no matter what kind of approach you take.  But not every one is as long winded as I am (pipe down in the peanut gallery).  At only 140 characters (and each space is a character) you don't have to write a lot but it forces a certain amount of discipline on you.  (The previous sentence is 137 characters.  FYI)  Beyond that imagine a community of folks, studying scripture independently but then sharing their insights through a twitter feed.  Of course you could do the same thing on a larger scale through a Facebook group, a blog or any number of other digital means.

•  Another interesting approach (also pointed out to me by Fr. Eric) is useful for two primary groups of people - those for whom reading is a burden and those with time problems.  Not everyone enjoys reading, for a variety of reasons.  And some people just don't have the time to add in a block set aside to just sit quietly and read.  So what to do?  How about audio versions of the Bible (or whatever but I'm dealing with Bible study here)?  The versions available are amazing.  Bible Gateway offers 6 different English versions (KJV, NIV, CEV, NASB, TNIV, ESV), there are other online KJV (Here as an example).  Those are all free.   There are also paid versions you can get on CD or as MP3 (Check out The Message for under $15).  With this you can be free of the burden of reading or be able to do other things with scripture as your soundtrack.  Any of the rest of your practice could be exactly the same.  An MP3 version could be loaded onto your computer or your iPod/MP3 player and be with you pretty much any where.  You could be in your car or sitting in an airport or listen during lunch breaks.

I've got a couple other ideas that I want to share but this is getting a little, ummmmm, long winded?  So I'll save them (they are other than Bible study anyway) for the next post.