Reflections on the Beatitudes
This post is my reflection on the last story that I have been Internalizing - Making it My Own Story. I have told this story (or parts of it) in two different settings - one at a committee meeting where I used this story as a devotional/inspiration to begin our meeting and the other during our last worship service as the text for which our Senior Pastor launched his sermon series on the Streams of Christian Spirituality.
I have based my thoughts on a couple of questions that I have ask my fellow Kortright Storytellers to reflect on for their own stories as well.
Q: In the Beatutitudes what is it that I have found myself spending the most time on?
Q: What part of the story is most meaning for me and how does that change my attitude toward others and the world around me?
I've found myself spending most of my time on trying to understand the connection between the blessed are those who part and the for they will be part.
What has struck me the most is the more I think on these connections, the more I think of how merciful I am (vs. 7) - the merciful will be shown mercy, how much I hunger and thirst for righteousness (vs. 6), or how much of a peacemaker (vs. 9) I am in the world I live in. Do I really hunger and thirst for righteousness, seek to show mercy, or strive to be a peacemaker in my world. Thing is . . . I feel as though I'm really nowhere near where I'd like be. I struggle with "hungering and thirsting for righteousness" - I mean really! do I really want to be filled . . . with righteousness? My automatic answer is yes! I do! But, what does that mean for me, here and now? What does that require of me?
The most meaningful part of this story for me is the part that starts with You are the salt of the earth . . . I think the reason this is so meaningful for me is that it provides for me an image that I can grasp to apply to my life - I can be salt and a light to others around me. I can see how what I do helps others, how for example when others say, "you once said _____, and that helped me." I often don't remember my saying exactly those things to people but I suppose I did and that has made a difference.
This makes me think . . . what comes out of my mouth/my actions have a real impact on others. My attitude is critical to all this considering that non-verbal communication makes up for a majority of our actual communication with others (I think the statistic is 90%).
So, what are your thoughts? I invite you to comment with more insight, more questions, agreement, disagreement, whatever!
I have based my thoughts on a couple of questions that I have ask my fellow Kortright Storytellers to reflect on for their own stories as well.
Q: In the Beatutitudes what is it that I have found myself spending the most time on?
Q: What part of the story is most meaning for me and how does that change my attitude toward others and the world around me?
I've found myself spending most of my time on trying to understand the connection between the blessed are those who part and the for they will be part.
What has struck me the most is the more I think on these connections, the more I think of how merciful I am (vs. 7) - the merciful will be shown mercy, how much I hunger and thirst for righteousness (vs. 6), or how much of a peacemaker (vs. 9) I am in the world I live in. Do I really hunger and thirst for righteousness, seek to show mercy, or strive to be a peacemaker in my world. Thing is . . . I feel as though I'm really nowhere near where I'd like be. I struggle with "hungering and thirsting for righteousness" - I mean really! do I really want to be filled . . . with righteousness? My automatic answer is yes! I do! But, what does that mean for me, here and now? What does that require of me?
The most meaningful part of this story for me is the part that starts with You are the salt of the earth . . . I think the reason this is so meaningful for me is that it provides for me an image that I can grasp to apply to my life - I can be salt and a light to others around me. I can see how what I do helps others, how for example when others say, "you once said _____, and that helped me." I often don't remember my saying exactly those things to people but I suppose I did and that has made a difference.
This makes me think . . . what comes out of my mouth/my actions have a real impact on others. My attitude is critical to all this considering that non-verbal communication makes up for a majority of our actual communication with others (I think the statistic is 90%).
So, what are your thoughts? I invite you to comment with more insight, more questions, agreement, disagreement, whatever!
posted by Phil English at 6:55 PM
2 Comments:
You asked so here goes...
I'm currently preparing John 4:1-42 - the woman at the well - for the Renewal Fellowship conference in March.
As with all stories I'm doing two things as part of the preparation process:
1. Reading at least two commentaries on the passage involved. This usually involves the Matthew Henry Commentary I have in paperback, and an on-line source. For a major passage (such as the gospel of Matthew, which is a project I'm working on in the background) I will also acquire specific resources.
2. Spend time contemplating the material I have read. I decide whether or not I agree with it and how it should or should not affect my own Christian walk.
Why so much work? Because Biblical Storytelling is not just about memorizing the text, it's about understanding the text as best we can. Only then can we take possession of the story and make it our own.
The key to great storytelling, as Phil points out, is coming to the point where the passage has personal meaning for me as a person. I research other people's opinions on a passage because I don't have a personal opinion on every passage in the Bible. (No... really... I don't... Honest!) Reading what the scholars and pastors have said gives me a starting point for evaluating how the story affects me as an individual or as a member of the church. This will help to shape how I tell the story.
As for the question of personal impact - since the initial venue for this story will be a worship conference, I find myself focusing on the phrase "his worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in truth. " What does this phrase really mean? How can I tell if I am worshipping in spirit and in truth? Most importantly how can I tell if I'm NOT. I'm still in the midst of this process, so while I have an idea or two, I have not yet come to anything I could call a formed opinion.
Hey Dennis,
Thanks for taking the time to post this on my blog - it's good to hear your process on this.
Reading through your comments I think I just have more questions than comments per se.
? What things do you think about in contmplating the material? What kind of questions do you ask yourself - particularly in this passage?
? Do you ever notice that sometimes certain truths just pop out at you as you are going along that affect your Christian walk and you're not sure if you agree with it or not? Kind of like - you're not sure what just happened but, it sure was cool!
? I'd sure like to know what the personal lmeaning is for you on this story once you've worked with it a while.
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