Last summer I was sitting at the CBF General Assembly in Houston Texas in the middle of the summer hearing Bo Prosser talk about this new opportunity to “listen to the Bible” during Lent. 28 minutes a day for 40 days. Sounded good to me—but then, I was in Houston in July! What could I have been thinking?!
But it did sound like a good idea! What better way to encourage our congregation—people who claim to be people of the book—to actually know what is in the book. Let’s be honest, how much of the New Testament have most of us read. Even when we read it we do so in short segments in worship, or in a Bible study. But whole chapters, several chapters at a time—my guess is that is not something we regularly do. (At least I don’t!)
But I committed! I said I would do it, and to make sure I decided to blog about the sections each day. Thank God I said I would blog! Otherwise, I am not sure I would have made it. 28 minutes a day turned out at times to be more difficult that I imagined. My commute is about 8 minutes. Exercise in the midst of this cold winter did not happen—oh, maybe 28 minutes a month! The blog forced it to happen.
In reflecting on the experience I would echo Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” How to distinguish them may take a while, however!
It was a great opportunity to again hear the stories. I heard things that I have never heard before—as my daughter put it, “If I were reading this I would just skip over that part.” How many times have I done that? Listening to an entire chapter, a whole section, put stories into context, opened up new avenues of hearing a too familiar story. It also allowed me to hear things that even with all the New Testament classes and sermons and readings I had never heard before.
And that may be part of the problem. Often times I did hear things that I would never have guessed were there. Jesus making sure that his disciples had swords as they headed out to the Mount of Olives? What do I do with the angry Jesus; the regular/constant admonition against sexual immorality in the church; the strong case for maintaining the status quo in regards to slavery. What I heard—really heard in a way that reading it had never hit me, was how much the culture of he 1st century is laid atop the biblical message.
What are we to do with that?
How do we decide what to keep, and what to toss away?
It seems to me that the issue of hermeneutics (how is that for a theological word which means how we read the Bible) is crucial for the church as we go forward. It is at the crux of so many of the denominational battles that are being waged. It is at the core for many turning aside after being told that they have to accept all-or-none.
I often joked—or was I—that I wasn’t sure that it is a good thing for people to read the Bible! It is too disturbing, too controversial, too thought-provoking. The “problem” is that it is also so life giving. How do you balance that?
It will take more than 40 days. Maybe even a lifetime!
I am grateful for those who added their reflections and comments to this blog--both written and verbal. It was encouraging, and a reminder that we were doing this "as church." It made it a much more meaningful experience and a meaningful Lenten season. Thank you!
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