July 2022


The following is a possible framework for the Witnessing of the Word. It can be personalised or altered: its purpose is to serve as an example of how this Saying might be used primarily in the context of a Prayer Group, but it may be used by individuals too. It is not intended to be definitive.  In the context of a group: the periods of silence should be appropriate for your group - probably not less than 5 minutes, or more than 15 minutes.

The saying for the month is: 

Jeremiah 6.16 'ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it’ (RSV)

You may like to shorten this to ‘… the good way …’

To begin the exercise, first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; you may want to relax your way through your muscles or you may find it helpful to become aware of the sounds around you and then put them aside as you offer this time of prayer to God.

Say this introductory invitation to prayer, then keep a further minute or two of silence:  ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11.28).


Introduction to the first silence - a preparation for listening with the mind:

Jeremiah 6.16.  ‘ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it’,

We take this Saying into our minds, allowing the saying to speak to us:

‘ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it’,

The fuller text is this: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls’.

We cannot tell what the reason is for these words in the first place.  Maybe it was the reforms of 621 BC which didn’t really work and which Jeremiah could see were failing the nation.  It could be, though, that the words simply refer to the disintegration of the lives of the people in their behaviour and their approach to their faith.  We don’t know and are not told.

But Jeremiah is drawing on the words that he received from God himself and is passing on those words to remind them of the whole basis of their lives, their faith and that of the nation to which they belonged.

The reforms of 62 BC were based on the Book of Deuteronomy.  If you read that book, even if only skim read it, you can see it presents us with choices.  The overall choicer is between a society that is disintegrating and lacking any positive direction, and the full content and the full force of the Law of Moses.

‘The watchmen’ in the next verse are no doubt the prophets, and Jeremiah, again with the inspiration of God, declares that the people are taking no notice of the prophets, refusing to pay attention or to heed any warning they are given.

The call is not somehow to go back to the ‘good old days’, but rather to the basics of their faith and life.  Those basics involver a return to the relationship with God himself, responding in obedience to his love and offering their love in return.

Through the prophet God is offering the people a chance to break the downward spiral by seeking to re-establish that relationship with the loving God.  There is no other way and it is not until that choice is made that there is any chance that the promises made by God over the centuries will come to fruition.

As reported in verse 20 that follows, the people are religious all right.  Or at least they thought that they were as the offerings they brought to him were lavish and costly – incense from Sheba, no doubt coming on the camel trains from SW Arabia as they passed through – the burnt offerings were of whole animals offered to God on the altar as a gift.  God’s verdict on all this was that it was ‘unacceptable’.

The question that God was posing through the prophet was to do with their motive – not the cost of their worship.  They could give the most costly and expensive things to God, yet they could be spiritually meaningless because there was no love involved.

Words from Deuteronomy: ‘I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life … loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and cleaving to him …’

It was the making of this choice with honesty and loving conviction that was lacking and God, through the prophet was seeking to bring the people back to the basics of their faith in the loving God and his loving choice of them as his chosen nation.  So he says:- 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it'.

A time is now kept for silence of the mind – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.  

The silence concludes with a short thanksgiving, and/or feel free to repeat the Saying.

The first silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.


Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart:

‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it.’

Now we seek to take these words deep down into the context of our own lives.  It is always good to take time to review the way that we are going on our journey – our Christian journey.  A retreat, a quiet day, or simply an hour or so of time when we can sit, relax and think.  There can be no better way to start such a review than to take this saying – ‘stand at the crossroads and look – ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it.’

We can ask ourselves questions – like, what does it man for me to take a step further in my pilgrimage, a step further in my understanding of the love and the compassion of God ?  What signposts should I be following, what distant destination should I be aiming for?  Where does healing lie?  Where do I find wholeness more deeply?

There are endless questions and choices, but in one sense they are not the point.  We can stay questioning in our lives for ever seemingly.  The point is to allow God to speak to us and to receive deep down what he has to say.  Our task is to listen, to rest as he speaks to us.

In the silence that follows we can imagine ourselves to be at that crossroads – take in the scene, the hazards ahead, the destination that is in mind, the state of the road, the choice you have to make.  Listen to God endlessly guiding us – this is the force of the word ‘look’ and where our contemplation begins and our prayer deepens.

To ‘return to the ancient paths’, for me, is so fundamental.  For me, deep down, it involves returning to the one who knows me, who surrounds me, supports me, embraces me and loves me.  He exists for me and it is he that is there at the crossroads to guide and to direct me – not forcing me, but loving me.

We take this deep down into our own lives, setting aside for a while the anxieties and distress that we experience and resting, listening, just simply being in the loving presence of God at the crossroads.

‘Stand at the crossroads and look – ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it.’

Now we take this word into our hearts, as we allow God’s’ words to speak in us, to let it touch us and let it work more deeply upon our lives.

A time is now kept for silence of the heart – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.

The second silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.


Introduction to the time of intercession – taking God’s word outwards into the world.

'Stand at the crossroads and look … ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it'

Say the name of a person or a group of people, and after a short pause, repeat the saying. For example:

‘Alison and your family       …      'Stand at the crossroads and look … ask for the ancient paths where the good way is, and walk in it'.

As we allow the word to speak through us we might direct Jesus’ word towards those people and situations where there is suffering, hurt and an absence of joy and where abiding in Christ would bring comfort.

Conclude this time of intercession with words of thanksgiving: Father, we thank you that your Word has gone out through us to those for whom we pray.


The Conclusion

Feel free to use the Fellowship Prayer (below) or another closing prayer to conclude your time of contemplative prayer:

Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for all your unsearchable riches which pour forth from you as light from the sun, in boundless profusion and generosity, whether received, ignored or rejected. And now we offer to you, in so far as we are able, as an emptiness to be filled with your divine fullness, ourselves, our souls and bodies; all that we are, all that we have and all that we do. Amen

You may wish to say the Grace together before departing.