[1:1] Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

[2] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have been introduced to Paul and Timothy and the local church in the city of Philippi.  And, if nothing else, we’ve received the warm glow of affection shared between author and recipient at the opening of this letter.  We’ve received it just by listening in and hearing words like grace and peace.

Tuesday is always going to be observation day. We’re going to just shut up and really try and listen.  It’s a time to pay attention to words and structure and even try and pick up the tone of what is said.

Before running through a list of great questions to ask to help observation along, I have to point out two things that we have to do on Tuesday to really observe well. One is, we’ve got to set our opinions aside.  Don’t get rid of them.  Just set them aside.  They are important, but they’re not more important than God’s opinions, that’s all.  They simply have yet to be informed by the text.  So hold your opinions, but hold them on a shelf, within eyesight if need be, to be picked up later and educated.

The Second is, we’ve got to hold back our emotions. I learned last night, on election night, that Wilfred Laurier said of Quebecers, “Quebecers don’t have opinions.  All they have are emotions.”  I think that is true of Canadians, of humans.  Ultimately, even our most strongly held opinions are subject to our inherently powerful emotions.  The best way to hold them back (from ruling the day), is not to stuff them away or deny them.  The best way to put them in their place is actually to give them their place. Acknowledge them and think about how they may shape the way you observe life and truth today.

Now the positives of observation:  Words, the structure of words, and the surprises within them, are the three aspects of observation that we’ll focus on Tuesdays.  Simply spend time noting:

• Words
  • Key/Repeated
    • Are there any words that stand out as pivotal to the meaning of these verses?
    • Are any words repeated in this text or repeated within this book?
  • Meanings
    • What meanings have these words had elsewhere in this book or in the Bible?
    • Later we’ll look at some tools to help us think about the original language meanings of the words that you read in English.
  • Connectors
    • How are the key words connected in this text?  What connecting words help you to understand the structure of the text?
• Structure
  • Breaks
    • Are there any obvious breaks in the argument within your text?
  • Order
    • How is the order of the words leading the listener?
  • Main point
    • Can you identify a main point of this text or the larger argument of the surrounding texts?
  • Supporting points
    • Can you identify all of the supporting statements/arguments that are led by the main point?
• Surprises
  • • My favourite: What surprised you in these verses?

I love ending with that question, because it gets personal here.  You can feel free to get personal in your observations (keeping in mind what we agreed on about the appropriate place for our opinions and emotions) .

Remember, that the key to observing text is having an attitude of submission to the text. Observation is not meant to be cold and calculated. Our questions maybe start us off that way, but the Bible was never intended to leave us that way. Start to observe it in such a way as to be changed by it.

Enjoy, and we’ll see you tomorrow.