Imaginative Prayer: Your Son Lives

Hello, and welcome to Methods.

This is the twelfth episode of our third season: Vision. This passage is from the Gospel of John, chapter four.

Imaginative prayer, also known as Ignatian Contemplation is the name given to prayer which helps us enter more fully into the passage of Scripture we are reading, by using our ability to form pictures or inner impressions in our minds. We live in a rational, left brain world where information and analysis is the highest priority. But as humans, our soul is still captivated by experience. Jesus called on people’s imagination all the time. He was constantly telling stories and painting word pictures. He asked people to imagine the kingdom of God as a mustard seed, as yeast, as treasure hidden in a field. Through imaginative prayer we step into a gospel story and imagine ourselves to be there in that scene. Rather than reading the Bible abstractly, we enter the story to more deeply experience and encounter Jesus in the scene. In doing so we remain true to the Biblical reading, but more actively experience it. We might be a disciple in the boat with Jesus, one of the crowd at the feeding of the five thousand, or the woman at the well asked by Jesus to draw up water for him. It’s important that as you hear the story you try to feel what it’s like to actually be inside that story. Listen, taste, smell, feel, and watch what happens. What can you see around you? What are Jesus’ facial expressions? What are you feeling?

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