The past two sessions of our Mid-Week Meditation, the literary edition, we have explored the concept of midrash (the idea of filling in the missing aspects of a biblical text). Last week, in worship, we read the story of the Paul and Silas getting put in prison which begins with their excising a demon from a slave girl who follows them calling out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved”. Sadly, the text (Acts 16:16-40) says that Silas rids her of the demon not to cure her or help her, but in his annoyance. The story then pivots to the trial of Paul and Silas who are sent to prison for this crime and this poor slave girl is left without her “gift” and still in slavery. In the sermon, I asked people to think more about this gift, who she was, how she was marginalized on multiple fronts, and even dared to wonder if what Paul and Silas did was helpful or harmful to this girls future.
In our meditation group, I asked them to think even more about this girl and write her story. Because so little is written about her, the leeway of what might be written is pretty wide.
This week I offered them pictures of Biblical stories like Rahab’s red cord, Moses being put in the basket and sent down the Nile, the rubble of the walls of Jericho, the woman at the well with Jesus, etc. Instead of writing from the perspective of the human characters in the story, I invited them to write from the perspective of an inanimate object. Mine for example was told from the perspective of a tambourine that the daughter of Jephthah (Judges 11:30-40).
Both of these exercises, while not scripturally sound, invited participants to interact with the scriptural texts in way they had not before. It opened up questions and curiosities; and invited us into a much deeper conversation.
I invite you to try either of these writing exercises and share them with us below.
Wandering and Wondering 