Signs & Stories of the Kingdom: Part 1: Jesus Central

Signs & Stories of the Kingdom. Part 1. Mark 1:14-34

• A creative option: Provide pens, felts, pencils, crayons, etc., and plenty of paper to your group. Delegate out sections of the text and ask each person to draw a section. Afterwards, discuss how this helped you engage with Scripture.

• A contemplative option: Use the Ignatian Contemplative method to engage with the passage. There is a guide to this below.

• A Bible Study: Read Mark 1:14-34 Read it again, in a different translation.
  • What stands out to you, as you hear the text?
  • What do you sense God is saying to you through his word?
  • What are you going to do about it?
  • Also, given the context of our series, What do these events show us about the kingdom of God?

Ignatian Contemplative Method:

From this link:

• Entering into prayer:
  • Pray for guidance: Pray that all of your thoughts and actions be directed by God. This experience is more than a thought experiment and this prayer helps to remind us that we are seeking greater knowledge and closeness to God.
  • Review the narrative: Slowly read the passage once or twice so that you can remember the events that take place. Afterward, you might put the text away so that you can stay in your imagination.
  • Composition of place: Take some time to set the stage and picture the environment in which the story takes place. Immerse yourself in the scene and look around for a moment.
  • Ask for the grace you hope to receive: What do you hope to gain from this time of prayer? Ask God for that grace. A grace that Ignatius suggests in the second week of the Exercises could be helpful in most prayer periods: “I ask for the grace to know Jesus intimately, to love him more intensely, and so to follow him more closely.”
• Contemplation:
  • Pray through the story: You have already set the stage, so let the narrative begin to play out. Imagine the people and their words and actions. Pay attention to the details as they are helpful for appreciating the story.
  • Application of senses: Although this could be a prayer experience in itself, use your senses to interact with the scene, the environment, and the people. What do you see, hear, taste, smell and touch?
  • If you feel stuck at all, here are some questions that might help you engage imaginatively with the passage:

▪ What do the people look like? What are they wearing?

▪ What kinds of sounds would you expect to hear in this environment?

▪ How does Jesus talk to and treat those he encounters?

▪ How do people react to Jesus’ words and actions?

▪ Do you recognize any of the people, places, or objects?

▪ Are you in this scene? Where are you? What are you doing?

• Colloquy: Toward the end of the prayer experience, Ignatius encourages the person to spend some time in conversation with Jesus “as one friend speaks to another.”