Monday: Devotional Reading – Time for prayer & adoration:
Read through the scripture several times, just listening to the words. Then reflect on the following questions?
1. Imagine the scene. Enter the story.
- What do you first see or notice in this story?
- What do you smell, touch, feel?
2. Find yourself in the scene. Reflect on relationships between the characters in the story and your own life situation.
- What would you say is the “good news” in the scripture reading? In what way is it “good news”?
- If you were to name this story, give it a title, what would it be?
Tuesday: Literary Reading – Listen for literary content:
Focus on the text, itself.
1. Identify the type of writing. What is the literary form of the story?
3. Search for the original meaning. How do you think the first hearers understood the story?
4. What is the overall plot of the reading? Who are the characters? What is the setting?
- Is it a psalm or parable or prophetic literature or part of a letter?
2. If this reading to be taken literally or figuratively? Why do you think so?
Wednesday: Lutheran Theological Reading – Read from a Lutheran perspective:
Reflect on the convictions, insights and expectations that rise particularly from our Lutheran Heritage.
1. Study the Bible in the light of justification by grace.
- We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, not by how we feel, or having the right experience, or what we accomplish.
- The central message of the Bible is both simple and yet grand: God’s loves us, forgives us, and make us the church.
- With these insights – explore the following questions:
2. Study the Bible with the Bible.
- The best resource for Bible study is the Bible. A panoramic view of the biblical story can provide balance as we read the scriptures.
3. Study the passage listening for law and gospel.
- Law – God’s judgments for the world and us.
- Gospel – God’s love, grace, and promises for the world and us.
Thursday: Historical Reading – Read with an ear for History:
Reflect on the historical situation.
1. Who is speaking? Who is the audience?
2. What is the situation for the writer? What is the occasion?
3. What is the intention of the passage?
4. How does knowing something of the historical situation influence your understanding of the verses?
Friday: Catch up on missed reading time
Saturday & Sunday: Day of Rest
