Pages from a Preacher's Prayer Book (9)

Multi-sensory Scripture
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow (Heb 4:12)
The hearing ear and the seeing eye - the Lord has made them both. (Prov. 20:12)
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. (Ps 119:103.)

Preachers (and others) need to engage God’s word with all our senses. Scripture is living and active. It is no mere resource book to be quarried for sermon texts, a place of duty and making sermons. It is a place of rendezvous with God. It pierces our most secret parts, cutting into our inner core. The command to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27) also applies to total personal engagement with God’s word.

Preacher don’t just know “about Scripture” grasping its contents but are to come alive “inside” its message, immersed in its life, grasped by its power, living out its story. Utterly open – heads, hearts, ears, eyes, touch and taste. “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” (Jer.15:16).

Scripture is a place for multi-sensory encounter. By the same Spirit who first breathed on its authors we become active participants within its inspiration - to enter, listen, immerse, taste, see, obey and above all love. Soaked in the Bible not exploiting it

A prayer: O Lord slow me down to experience your word today. Help me to be open to its life and its piercing. Let me touch, hear, see and taste. Grant that I may know some delight as I open your word today. Help me to sense the deliciousness of your promises and to bear the challenge of your commands, Through Jesus Christ, Amen