Making The Saint John’s Bible a Part of Your Home
National Bible Week 2015

“National Bible Week provides a unique opportunity for parents to revisit and renew their understanding of the power of the Word of God in the life of their family. As leaders of the ‘domestic Church,’ parents are encouraged to be not only the first but the best of teachers for their children in the ways of faith.” -USCCB

Day Six

Teach—Discuss with your children that God, who created us, gave us our ability to feel and that these feelings are our emotions. When we pray to God, we do not need to hide anything from him. Prayer is a time to be honest and express any feeling that we have, including the emotions that are considered “negative.”

Show— Throughout the Bible, there are a vast array of emotions expressed as people cry out to God in varying circumstances. Identify some Bible verses that show the variety of ways people express their emotions to God. After you read each one, discuss which emotion(s) it expresses.

Examples:

Joy & Gladness – Psalm 4:7; Psalm 149: 1
Sadness – Psalm 119:28
Humility – Psalm 8:4-5
Thanksgiving & Gratitude – Psalm 28: 6-7; Psalm 30: 11-12; Psalm 107:1
Sorry & Repentance – Psalm 51:3, 12
Distress – Psalm 120:1
Comfort – Psalm 23:4, Psalm 34:18
Assurance – Psalm 121:1-4, 7-8; Psalm 145:18-19

You can also use the illuminations to discuss the emotions you see depicted in The Saint John’s Bible. Search for faces and identify the expressions you find.

Brainstorm— Naming emotions can be difficult, it but can be more accessible if there is a list of emotions to reference. After discussing some of the emotions found in Scripture, spend time as a group thinking of as many emotions as you can. Write them down and leave room to add more as you think of them later. This list can be used each time you talk about feelings.

Check-in and Share—Many families already have a system for checking in with one another such as having each individual share the highs and lows of their day. There are many names and versions of this, but the concept is to give every family member the opportunity to express something good and something less than desirable that occurred throughout their day. By doing this in the context of reading Scripture, the connection will be made that God cares for the whole person and all aspects of human life. Invite each member of the family to identify how each particular high and low made them feel, referring to the list of emotions when necessary.

For example:

Today ____________ happened. Because of this, I feel ___________.

Pray: Allow each person to have time to express how they are feeling in a prayer directly to God. This may be done out loud to the group or silently. You may also choose to spend time writing your own psalms. Conclude with petitions that arise from what has been shared or reread one of the Psalms you used.

Making The Saint John’s Bible a Part of Your Home
National Bible Week 2015

“National Bible Week provides a unique opportunity for parents to revisit and renew their understanding of the power of the Word of God in the life of their family. As leaders of the ‘domestic Church,’ parents are encouraged to be not only the first but the best of teachers for their children in the ways of faith.” -USCCB

Day Five

Depending on a person’s preferred learning style—auditory, visual, or kinesthetic—individuals might find affinities for different types of prayer. Consider what types of activities the members of your family prefer and make those a part of your prayer. Whether that be playing or making music inspired by the Word of God, listening to audio recordings of Scripture, singing, drawing your own interpretations of the Biblical scenes, writing and decorating the word you receive in lectio divina, or creating mini plays or skits, honor what you and your family members are naturally drawn to do.

The Saint John’s Bible is undoubtedly brimming with creativity. After spending some time doing visio divina, you might be surprised by the ways in which you are learning God speaks to you—through colors, textures, lines, patterns, and so on. As you begin to trust what God is revealing through the work of the artists and calligraphers of The Saint John’s Bible, hopefully you will learn to trust the images that unfold internally within you, too.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a huge proponent of praying with one’s imagination, which is practiced by placing oneself in the scenes of Scripture. The idea is that once you read a Biblical text, you then begin to visualize what you heard, imagining where you are and who you are with. Next directing your attention to the details, you ask yourself what you see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and feel. This is a type of prayer that anyone can do at any age. Within our imaginations we can see, hear, and touch things in the scenes as if we were there. In this way, the living Word of God becomes personal.

Tips:

• Designate someone to read the passage of your choosing.
• Then allow some quiet reflection time so that everyone can enter into their own imaginations and encounter God uniquely.
• You may find it helpful to prepare a list of basic questions for each person to have in front of them such as: What is around me? Who else is there? What do their faces look like? Are they happy? Sad? Angry? What emotions do I feel? What do I hear? Is anyone speaking to me? What are the smells?
• This could also be a great time to bring out any art or craft supplies, so that those who wish to draw or otherwise create what is in their imagination may do so.
• Invite each person to share about what he or she experienced.
• Conclude by reading the passage a final time.

Making The Saint John’s Bible a Part of Your Home
National Bible Week 2015

“National Bible Week provides a unique opportunity for parents to revisit and renew their understanding of the power of the Word of God in the life of their family. As leaders of the ‘domestic Church,’ parents are encouraged to be not only the first but the best of teachers for their children in the ways of faith.” -USCCB

Day THREE

As you begin to incorporate Scripture into your home life, try adding it after a meal, as part of preparation for bedtime, or whenever your family is most likely to gather together already.

Keep it short and simple. Write down Scripture verses on slips of paper and each day ask a different family member to draw a passage, find it in the Bible, and read it aloud. Make sure to include everyone. For those that are not able to read, pick one line from the passage you have read and ask them to repeat it back to you.  End with a brief discussion.

Other Tips:

• Equip your children by teaching them short verses from Scripture that can be quietly repeated over and over such as while brushing their teeth or if they awake in the middle of the night..
• Use Bible quotes to help your children practice their handwriting.

Once you have introduced Scripture into your daily routines, choose a consistent time that you will intentionally gather together for a longer reflection—perhaps one evening a month or a Saturday afternoon before a special family dinner. One aspect of these longer reflections will be to invite everyone to listen for a word that God has for them as the passage is read aloud. This word is something that everyone can carry with them throughout the rest of the week or month. Find creative ways to check back with your family members on how God continues to speak to them through their word.

Barbara Sutton has designed the following resource, which describes the reflection process you can use with the Seeing the Word Reflection Guides in more detail.

Download it here: Using-Seeing-the-Word-at-Home-with-Families.pdf (524 downloads)

Making The Saint John’s Bible a Part of Your Home
National Bible Week 2015

“National Bible Week provides a unique opportunity for parents to revisit and renew their understanding of the power of the Word of God in the life of their family. As leaders of the ‘domestic Church,’ parents are encouraged to be not only the first but the best of teachers for their children in the ways of faith.” -USCCB

Day Two

Do not let your Bible sit idle on a shelf or coffee table. Bring it out and designate a spot in your home where it will be visible to all members of your family. Displaying the Bible with the pages open is a way of showing that you are receptive to hearing God speak to you throughout your day. Each time you pass by it, you might recall the last verse of Scripture you read and allow that to dwell within you as you go about your daily routine.

Tips:

• Consider using a cookbook stand, an artist’s easel, or a music stand. These are all great ways to prop the Bible up and display its pages.
• Decorate the area around the Bible with cloth, candles, flowers, garlands, etc.
• Allow each member of your family to contribute to the display, adding any physical objects that may serve as reminders for prayer intentions.
• Leave some papers, pens, and a bowl nearby. After you write a prayer intention, leave it in the bowl. Then draw a different slip out of the bowl to pray for a family member’s intention.
• Do not be afraid to remove it from its place during family prayer times to read from it directly! It is meant to be held and flipped through! The Saint John’s Bible was created with the intent that people would gather around it. Thus the size lends itself well for the use of families.

Making The Saint John’s Bible a Part of Your Home
National Bible Week 2015

“National Bible Week provides a unique opportunity for parents to revisit and renew their understanding of the power of the Word of God in the life of their family. As leaders of the ‘domestic Church,’ parents are encouraged to be not only the first but the best of teachers for their children in the ways of faith.” -USCCB

Day One

This first day is all about you, parents! In order to make the Word of God a priority in your home and the lives of your children, start by firmly rooting yourself in Scripture and developing your own prayer routine.

The practices of lectio divina (“diving reading”) and visio divina (“divine seeing”) are accessible to all. They do not demand that you are a Scripture expert coming to the Word with a perfect understanding of its context and content. They simply require you to be open to hearing what God is communicating to you through the Word.

Lectio Divina is a way of slowing down, reading and reflecting on Scripture, and allowing the Holy Spirit to deepen one’s awareness of God through the Word.

Visio Divina builds upon the ancient prayer practice of lectio divina, using both text and art to facilitate one’s encounter with the living Word of God.

Both lectio divina and visio divina can be adapted to the time you choose to set aside for it. When you are just beginning to develop a prayer routine, do not overwhelm yourself. Start by devoting a small amount of time such as 5-10 minutes on a regular basis. As your practice deepens, you may spend 10-30 minutes doing a more sustained reflection.

The following document outlines the six movements of visio divina.
Listening, Meditating, Seeing, Praying, Contemplating, and Becoming Christ-like
Download it here:  Visio-Divina-Movements.pdf (617 downloads)

There are a variety of ways to pray with the Illuminations from The Saint John’s Bible.

1. Reflection Guides
   Seeing the Word offers Reflection Guides for 21 Illuminations from The Saint John’s Bible. The following Guide to Individual Meditation was developed by Barbara Sutton to help individuals pray with these Reflection Guides.
   Download it here: Individual-Meditation-Guide.pdf (545 downloads)

1. The Saint John’s Bible Table Top Books
   These books are great to have at home!  You can choose any part of the Biblical text and practice lectio divina. You can also practice visio divina as you gaze upon the illumination of your choosing.
2. The Seeing the Word Blog
   Several of the illuminations from The Saint John’s Bible are accessible on this blog. If you click on Browse Reflections by Illuminations you will see a variety of illuminations that you can pray with on your computer. These illuminations also have either an audio or written reflections for you to use in prayer.