“Master, give me a word!” If you could get into a time machine, and travel back to the deserts of Egypt, to the 3rd century AD, you would probably find yourself in a community of monks. The monastic movement began in Egypt in the 3rd century AD, and was started by Christians who wanted to imitate Jesus’ practice of retreating to quiet places to draw near to God in prayer (Mark 1:35). In Egypt, desert retreats, for sustained prayer and meditation upon Scripture, evolved into monastic communities, often headed by an ‘Abbot’ [or spiritual father—and, in the case of women retreatants, a spiritual mother].
Young monks would often seek spiritual direction from their Abbot, by voicing the request, “Master, give me a word!” Using spiritual discernment, the Abbot would offer the inquirer a pithy saying like a proverb. This proverb was always tailored to the individual spiritual needs of the inquirer. Having been given a ‘word,’ the inquirer would internalize its truth, recalling and reflecting upon this truth at different times throughout the day.
Returning to our own time—what if we attended our worship services with a prayer to the Holy Spirit—“Master, give me a word!” Have you ever paused to notice how our traditional liturgy is saturated with Scripture from beginning to end? There are opportunities for Christ, your Master, to ‘give you a word’ through virtually every element of the service. The Call to Worship. The Assurance of Pardon. The Hymns and Introits and Anthems, all infused with scriptural truth and phrasing. The Scripture Readings. The Children’s Message. The Apostles’ Creed
and Lord’s Prayer. Gloria Patri, Doxology, and Benediction. The Eucharistic Liturgy. (And maybe even, from time to time, the Master may ‘give you a word’ in the sermon.)