Starving - How to Feed Your Soul
In the book, Wait With Me; Meeting God in Loneliness, I describe a spiritual crisis. I was surrounded by people, relationships, and responsibilities while aching with loneliness. Like a starving baker, I was surrounded by sustenance while wasting away inside.
Many people are in exactly the same place when it comes to their life with God. They dutifully join bible studies, practice devotions, listen to biblical teaching, engage in bible reading or memorization plans, and wonder why they still feel unchanged. Many are like the starving baker, famished in the midst of plenty.
The solution to the crisis described above is a practice I call imaginative reading[1]. Click here to read why imagination is vital to our spiritual health and life with God. Imaginative reading draws us into the story of scripture as a participant, not simply as an observer. It requires us to use our curiosity, imagination, and empathy and places us in a place to interact with God as the women and men do in scripture. One word from God, emerging in this practice, is worth one thousand sermons.
Use the steps below to experience imaginative reading for yourself.
1. Select a passage where God / Jesus interacts with someone directly. Once you get comfortable with this practice, you’ll be able to do it with any passage of scripture, but it’s good to start with a story from the gospels where Jesus interacts with someone. (The story of Jesus, the synagogue leader, and the two women healed in Mark 5:21-43 is a great place to start.)
2. Observe the passage closely. Read the passage a few times carefully and curiously. What do you notice? Are there repeated words, ideas, or phrases? What is the main tension in the story? Who is involved? Are there unfamiliar characters, customs, or categories? What are unexpected or surprising plot twists? How does the story end?
3. Enter the text imaginatively. Take a deep breath. Read the passage again (or else rehearse the story in your mind). If it helps, close your eyes and imagine yourself as one of the characters. Allow your mind to select a character anywhere in the story, a main character, or an observer present to the scene. Pay attention to the sights, smells, sounds, and sensations you experience as you imagine yourself within the story.[2]
4. Pay attention to Jesus. As you imagine the story unfolding allow your attention to focus on Jesus and his words and actions. What is he doing? What feelings or thoughts do Jesus’ actions stir in you? Pay attention to these. Open your eyes and write any questions, tensions, or impressions that come to mind.
5. Talk to Jesus as to a friend. Take a deep breath and close your eyes again. Imagine Jesus present to you. Bring to Jesus the questions, impressions, or tensions that have emerged for you in this time. Listen for Jesus’ answer. Write down any words or insight that emerges from this time.
6. Rest in gratitude. Rest in God’s presence for a few minutes. Thank God for meeting you in scripture. Jot down anything to you’d like to remember and continue to reflect on.
Imaginative reading of scripture is a powerful way to nourish our souls. Try this practice on your own, or try it with a friend, and notice how you become increasingly attentive to God’s presence in your inner life, relationships, and day to day responsibilities.
[1] The discipline I’m describing is better known as Ignatian Contemplation. It is a key element of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, though the practice of using the imagination in biblical interpretation is also found in a variety of Christian traditions.
[2] It is not necessary to have a vivid or lucid imagination to do this. Some people experience a vivid visual scene. Other people don’t visualize the scene at all. Some describe impressions as though recalling a conversation from the past. Others experience multiple different scenes in quick succession. Still others are reminded of a familiar piece of music, art, story, or place. Give yourself permission to imagine in whatever way you can, and don’t worry it is enough.