The Joy and Blessing of Learning the Word of God Together

My gratitude for being on sabbatical leave from teaching is so immense. A sabbatical leave is a one-whole academic year leave from teaching in the University that comes with salary and other entitlements. It is granted to college professors who have reached a certain academic rank and have rendered a good number of years of service in the university.

One of the things I am enjoying now which I was unable to do when I was so busy with university work is attending meetings with sisters from the Christian church where I attend.

Every Thursday afternoon before 4 pm, I would wait for sisters in the church in a cafeteria in Lahug so I can ride with them on the way to a house in Beverly Hills to attend a sisters’ meeting.

First, we begin the prayer-cum-life study with loving prayers to the Lord, freely expressing our hearts and souls to the Lord. Then we sing a hymn for the Lord and we enjoy the hymn as we pray-read it. We call it “life-study” rather than “bible study” since we do not just want to intellectually understand the Bible but we want to be nourished by the words of God and apply them to our own individual experiences.

We are now studying the gospel according to Luke – chapter by chapter. Every meeting, we read a chapter from the gospel according to Luke with each sister reading a verse from the chapter until the whole chapter is read. We also read the footnotes which explain words or phrases in what we read. Then we take turns to share our insights and experiences with regard to the parts of the chapter we read. Normally, there are around nine of us – all women, and we call one another “sister.” It is enriching to listen to the sharing of each sister, to what each has appreciated, understood, and imbibed from the Gospel because each sister’s insights come with the unique personality and experiences of the one sharing.

If the word of God is spiritual nourishment for all of us sisters, we also enjoy physical nourishment as the sisters take turns to prepare snacks for everyone. Thus, the spirit, soul, and body are fed: the spirit and soul with the word of God and the fellowship with the sisters, and the body with physical food.

It is a joy and a blessing to learn the word of God together with fellow seekers of truth and fellow followers and lovers of Jesus. Each meeting, we get a new appreciation of the works, miracles, words, and the person of Jesus, the Man-Savior, the God-Man. The insights become more impressed in our minds and hearts since there are many of us who are learning together, sharing our insights with one another, and growing in the Lord together.

I am truly and deeply grateful to God for the joy and blessing of learning the word of God together with my sisters in the church, and for granting me this wonderful privilege of being on sabbatical leave for one whole year. I wish everyone the same joy and blessing of learning the word of God with other sisters or brothers.