Meditations—points to ponder

Hagah is a word our Hebrew ancestors used frequently for reading the kind of writing 

that deals with our souls. Meditate is too tame a word for what is being signified. 

Hagah has been aptly described as being lost in the Scriptures: 

like letting a very slowly dissolving lozenge melt imperceptibly in one’s mouth. 

Eugene Petersen is interested in cultivating this kind of reading that is congruent with 

what is written in our Holy Scriptures, but also 

with all writing that is intended to change our lives 

and not just stuff some information into our brains. 

He invites us to ruminative and leisurely reading; a dalliance with words—

in contrast to wolfing down information. 

Our canonical writers absolutely demand this type of reading. 

They make up a school of writers employed by Holy Spirit to give us the Holy Scriptures 

and keep us in touch with and responsive to reality, 

whether visible or invisible—God-Reality / God-Presence.

Eugene Peterson Eat this Book! the art of spiritual reading pp2-3

John 1:1 (NRSV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God.

John 1:1 (The Message)  The Word was first, the Word present to God, 

God present to the Word. The Word was God,

John 1:14 (NRSV) And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, 

the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.