Spiritual Practices: Visio Divina
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
Visio Divina, or sacred seeing, is a type of prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into an image or a scene in silence to see what God might have to say to us. You can find out more about Visio Divina here. Spend some time prayerfully reflecting on the images below and listen to what God might say to you through them.
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Cross with Wheat Chaff
Cross with Wheat Chaff, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46037 [retrieved March 16, 2024].
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Grain Fields
Evans, Edwin, 1844-1923. Grain Fields, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57001 [retrieved March 16, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evans-GrainFields.png.
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Living Out the Text: I want to be like Andrew
Andrew is my favorite disciple. Many people like Peter or John, one of the inner circle. My favorite is Andrew. We don't see much of Andrew in the gospels. We see him and his brother Peter being called by Jesus (Matthew 4:18, Mark 1:16) , we see him listed with the other disciples (Matthew 10:2, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14) , we see that he lived with his brother (Mark 1:29), and we see him with Peter, James, and John when they asked about the end times (Mark 13:3). Every time we see Andrew doing something on his own, however, we see him doing the same thing: he is always bringing someone to Jesus. In John 1:40-41, Andrew hears Jesus speak and goes to find Peter to bring him to Jesus. In John 6:8-9, at the feeding of the 5,000, it is Andrew who brings the little boy with the five loves and two fishes to Jesus. Finally, in this passage we see that Philip gets Andrew to help take some Gentiles to Jesus. I want to be like Andrew, always bringing someone to Jesus.
Andrews actions in this passage raises a couple of questions for us. First, if someone wanted to know more about Jesus, would they seek us out for us to help lead them to him? Does our life reflect that we have been with Jesus? When someone thinks about us, do they recognize Jesus reflected in us?
Second, when someone does come to us to find out more about Jesus, do we know how to introduce them to him? We are sometimes afraid of these kinds of conversations. We may feel like we don't know enough, aren't smart or wise enough, and may not be able to answer all the questions we may have. The nice thing is that we don't have to be Bible scholars or highly educated to take people to Jesus. All we need to do to introduce people to Jesus is tell stories about him. We tell stories about people all of the time. We do this so the people we are talking to can know more about the nature and character of the person we are talking about. We just do the same thing we Jesus. Maybe you can share a story about Jesus from the Bible. Maybe you can share a story about what Jesus has done in your life. To be like Andrew and bring people to Jesus, we just need to tell them stories about him and he can use those stories to open their hearts and extend an invitation to them.
This is the kind of person I want to be. I want to be like Andrew.
David Dalton
Andrew is my favorite disciple. Many people like Peter or John, one of the inner circle. My favorite is Andrew. We don't see much of Andrew in the gospels. We see him and his brother Peter being called by Jesus (Matthew 4:18, Mark 1:16) , we see him listed with the other disciples (Matthew 10:2, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14) , we see that he lived with his brother (Mark 1:29), and we see him with Peter, James, and John when they asked about the end times (Mark 13:3). Every time we see Andrew doing something on his own, however, we see him doing the same thing: he is always bringing someone to Jesus. In John 1:40-41, Andrew hears Jesus speak and goes to find Peter to bring him to Jesus. In John 6:8-9, at the feeding of the 5,000, it is Andrew who brings the little boy with the five loves and two fishes to Jesus. Finally, in this passage we see that Philip gets Andrew to help take some Gentiles to Jesus. I want to be like Andrew, always bringing someone to Jesus.
Andrews actions in this passage raises a couple of questions for us. First, if someone wanted to know more about Jesus, would they seek us out for us to help lead them to him? Does our life reflect that we have been with Jesus? When someone thinks about us, do they recognize Jesus reflected in us?
Second, when someone does come to us to find out more about Jesus, do we know how to introduce them to him? We are sometimes afraid of these kinds of conversations. We may feel like we don't know enough, aren't smart or wise enough, and may not be able to answer all the questions we may have. The nice thing is that we don't have to be Bible scholars or highly educated to take people to Jesus. All we need to do to introduce people to Jesus is tell stories about him. We tell stories about people all of the time. We do this so the people we are talking to can know more about the nature and character of the person we are talking about. We just do the same thing we Jesus. Maybe you can share a story about Jesus from the Bible. Maybe you can share a story about what Jesus has done in your life. To be like Andrew and bring people to Jesus, we just need to tell them stories about him and he can use those stories to open their hearts and extend an invitation to them.
This is the kind of person I want to be. I want to be like Andrew.
David Dalton
Exploring the Text: Philip and the Greeks
John tells us that there were some Greeks in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration who wanted to see Jesus. They ended up connecting with Philip and asking him to take them to meet Jesus. The interesting part about this is that Philip was a Greek name. He mostly likely had a Greek background and spoke Greek fluently. This made him the natural person to take them to meet Jesus because he was like them. They would be more comfortable with him than with someone else.
The question that this raises for us is, who are we like that we can help take to Jesus. God has uniquely shaped each one of us with our own backgrounds, experiences, interests, and talents. Those things help us connect with others who are like us and can open the door for us to take them to Jesus. Who has God put in your life and connected you with that you might be able to take to Jesus?
David Dalton
John tells us that there were some Greeks in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration who wanted to see Jesus. They ended up connecting with Philip and asking him to take them to meet Jesus. The interesting part about this is that Philip was a Greek name. He mostly likely had a Greek background and spoke Greek fluently. This made him the natural person to take them to meet Jesus because he was like them. They would be more comfortable with him than with someone else.
The question that this raises for us is, who are we like that we can help take to Jesus. God has uniquely shaped each one of us with our own backgrounds, experiences, interests, and talents. Those things help us connect with others who are like us and can open the door for us to take them to Jesus. Who has God put in your life and connected you with that you might be able to take to Jesus?
David Dalton
Exploring the Text: "Now is my soul troubled"
In verse 27, Jesus demonstrates an exceptional amount of emotionally honesty and vulnerability. He declares to his disciples, and to the crowd, that his soul is troubled. He knows what is coming and he is probably facing it with some trepidation. We sometimes thing we need to put on a brave face and pretend that everything is going well. We sometimes think that to not do so is a lack of faith. Jesus takes the opposite approach, however. With honesty and vulnerability, he faces what is troubling him, but it doesn't stop him from pushing through with his purpose.
Jesus is facing the darkest moments of his life. In the next few days he will be betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends, falsely accused, conspired against, and wrongfully convicted, mocked, abused, tortured, and finally killed. He knows all of this is coming, yet he will not abandon his purpose. This should be a great encouragement and comfort to us. We know that Jesus will not abandon us in our darkest moments, because he did not abandon us in his. If he was willing to stay true to his purpose of redemption despite the cost to him in his darkest time, we can be confident that he will not abandon that purpose now.
David Dalton
In verse 27, Jesus demonstrates an exceptional amount of emotionally honesty and vulnerability. He declares to his disciples, and to the crowd, that his soul is troubled. He knows what is coming and he is probably facing it with some trepidation. We sometimes thing we need to put on a brave face and pretend that everything is going well. We sometimes think that to not do so is a lack of faith. Jesus takes the opposite approach, however. With honesty and vulnerability, he faces what is troubling him, but it doesn't stop him from pushing through with his purpose.
Jesus is facing the darkest moments of his life. In the next few days he will be betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends, falsely accused, conspired against, and wrongfully convicted, mocked, abused, tortured, and finally killed. He knows all of this is coming, yet he will not abandon his purpose. This should be a great encouragement and comfort to us. We know that Jesus will not abandon us in our darkest moments, because he did not abandon us in his. If he was willing to stay true to his purpose of redemption despite the cost to him in his darkest time, we can be confident that he will not abandon that purpose now.
David Dalton