CYNTHIA BOURGEAULT – On Scripture:
18 OCTOBER 1994 (clergy day at Queenswood)
6 June 1996 at St. Philip, Oak Bay and 22 November 1997,
Bainbridge Island  20 May 2001

The Bible is an inner road map which speaks to the illumined heart. (21 November 1997 – St. Philip Anglican church “Word and Silence”)

I think that one of the real invitations, even imperatives, upon us as Christians moving into the 21st century is to re-encounter Christ as the inner Christ calling us to complete transformation of our being. He is right there in the Scriptures but we have lost connection with that and we have to find that again. That’s what we’re about.  (Living Presence – Introduction)

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It is important to approach Scripture on a heart level as well as with the intellect. This is crucial to being shaped by the word of God.

Silence is the ground of our prayer. Silence deepens the word & the word deepens the silence

There is a creative tension between word & silence. When we lose silence we remain with just the cerebral.

Out of silence emerges energy, new form comes out of the silence.

Only in silence can you understand from the inside.

Contemplative prayer renews an interest in and commitment to Scripture.

Resting in God is the drive shaft which drives deeper & deeper into Scripture because can’t access depth of Scripture without participation of unconscious. Quiet which allows to penetrate depths is crucial to process. Cut out silence puts greater emphasis on literal.

In resting Scripture is carried down into marrow of our lives. Scripture begins to reverberate. Word becoming truly our own. Make room in our life for the word of our life.

Merton, Thomas. The Monastic Journey. ed. Patrick Hart. NY: Image Books, 1977.

God spoke His eternal word in silence, and He wishes us to receive His words in silence. If we are merely speculative students of Scripture, breaking the words of god up into scientific fragments and defeaning our spirit with the noise of human argument – which is too often the noise of the ‘flesh’ with its spirit of factions and divisions – then we cannot hear the word who speaks to us silently in the words of God. 50

It is easier to approach Scripture only on a literal level. But it is  important to approach Scripture on a heart level as well. This is crucial to being shaped by the word of God.

There is a tendency for the word to close in on itself. Because we care about it we try to keep control rather than enjoying the chaos of it – opening a contemplative space, frees the creative word.

For Medieval Exegetes there were four levels of Scripture, which were intended to support & reinforce each other

  1. Literal = causality. What is really going on here? What happens here has its place – getting into the text.

Jerusalem = geographical location

The word is not in opposition to history. The literal is the grounding. The literal level is valid & important way of coming to Scripture but it is not the whole story. The literal level does exist! Christian faith is not just archetypal – really did happen in a place. Can’t let literal level drop out. When we disembody Christianity we lose its concrete dimension.

  1. Allegorical/Christological – resonates with archetypal unconscious – How does this passage relate to, shed light on the mystery of Christ? Typology – foreshadowing of Christ

Learning to see history as concentric waves moving out from Christ. Everything is part of Christ. What does this tell me about Christ?

Jerusalem = the church, container of divine mystery

  1. Moral/Tropological – speaks as a direct summons to our life. How does this resonate with my own life? Personal appropriation/application.   Scripture says “yes” – come, act. Scripture begins to interact with unconscious – life is contained within Christ.

Jerusalem = human heart and capacity to receive divine

  1. Unitive/Anagogical/Mystical – Scripture becomes the organizing principle of your intelligence. The story of Scripture begins to be the story of your own life. You enter into the Scripture. Your life becomes wedded to the lifeof Scripture.

Jerusalem = heavenly city, heavenly fullness