Pondering Jesus' parables can lead to a deeper experience of God than reading a theology textbook.
That's the suggestion in Joyce Huggett's book Praying the Parables.
Huggett discovered the power of stories when she and her husband spent time in Pakistan visiting villages and sharing the gospel.
On one occasion, she and village wives squatted on a mud floor while the men sat on chairs around them as Huggett's husband talked about Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."
Rather than give a detailed academic explanation of the verse, Joyce's husband "told story after story of men who had cherished their wives and poured on them the kind of tender, liberating, unconditional, forgiving love with which Jesus loves his church".
Gradually, the women understood, smiling, nodding and giggling, as Huggett's husband said their husbands should love them as Jesus loved the church.
While these women would not have understood a Western-style sermon, "they were delightfully capable of entering theology Jesus-style," Huggett says.
She writes that we can plumb the depths of Jesus' parables in the same way, using them as a springboard for profound experiences of prayer.
Her little book explores several of Jesus' parables and various ways of praying them back to God.
For example, the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-9 can tell us a good deal about God and ourselves. It speaks of a farmer sowing seed on different kinds of ground - a path, stony soil, thorny and weedy ground, and soft, nourishing earth.
What does it say about God? Well, one way of looking at it is that God is offering the good news to everyone, no matter what is the condition of their hearts. He is a great and loving Father who wants everyone to enter his family.
How about us? The condition of our hearts and our readiness to open ourselves to God is vital.
That's just an off-the-top-of-the-head interpretation. But Huggett goes well beyond that as she describes her own meditations on that one parable.
For example, she has imagined herself into the shoes of those who listened to Jesus in Palestine many centuries ago. How would farmers and priests have responded to what he said?
What about the visual picture of tender seedlings being choked by weeds? What does that prompt you to think and pray?
She recommends that we read the parables with a pen and notebook to record our thoughts as we meditate. We should choose a comfortable and quiet place, recognizing that Jesus is with us.
Huggett has felt deep emotions on occasion as she reflects on the parables. She finds they often touch her heart and lead her to pray for herself and her relations with God and other people.
Stories are about people and relationships. God is about people and his relationship with us.
We can understand him better as we ruminate on the parables.
And the parables will drive us to prayer.
That's the suggestion in Joyce Huggett's book Praying the Parables.
Huggett discovered the power of stories when she and her husband spent time in Pakistan visiting villages and sharing the gospel.
On one occasion, she and village wives squatted on a mud floor while the men sat on chairs around them as Huggett's husband talked about Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."
Rather than give a detailed academic explanation of the verse, Joyce's husband "told story after story of men who had cherished their wives and poured on them the kind of tender, liberating, unconditional, forgiving love with which Jesus loves his church".
Gradually, the women understood, smiling, nodding and giggling, as Huggett's husband said their husbands should love them as Jesus loved the church.
While these women would not have understood a Western-style sermon, "they were delightfully capable of entering theology Jesus-style," Huggett says.
She writes that we can plumb the depths of Jesus' parables in the same way, using them as a springboard for profound experiences of prayer.
Her little book explores several of Jesus' parables and various ways of praying them back to God.
For example, the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-9 can tell us a good deal about God and ourselves. It speaks of a farmer sowing seed on different kinds of ground - a path, stony soil, thorny and weedy ground, and soft, nourishing earth.
What does it say about God? Well, one way of looking at it is that God is offering the good news to everyone, no matter what is the condition of their hearts. He is a great and loving Father who wants everyone to enter his family.
How about us? The condition of our hearts and our readiness to open ourselves to God is vital.
That's just an off-the-top-of-the-head interpretation. But Huggett goes well beyond that as she describes her own meditations on that one parable.
For example, she has imagined herself into the shoes of those who listened to Jesus in Palestine many centuries ago. How would farmers and priests have responded to what he said?
What about the visual picture of tender seedlings being choked by weeds? What does that prompt you to think and pray?
She recommends that we read the parables with a pen and notebook to record our thoughts as we meditate. We should choose a comfortable and quiet place, recognizing that Jesus is with us.
Huggett has felt deep emotions on occasion as she reflects on the parables. She finds they often touch her heart and lead her to pray for herself and her relations with God and other people.
Stories are about people and relationships. God is about people and his relationship with us.
We can understand him better as we ruminate on the parables.
And the parables will drive us to prayer.
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