Gospeling Your Life - how we read

 

Beginning in September, we will launch into reading the Gospels in fifty-ish days.  Maybe because it is the time of year when back-to-school supplies are on sale or because there is always a part of us that wants to get an “A” on any assignment in life, even after graduation.  It is important to name and notice our intention and pay attention to how we read scripture.  If reading the gospels feels like a burden, you don’t need to do this.  If life is too chaotic or the weather pattern of your soul is stormy with no end in sight, feel free to skip the next few weeks.  Sometimes for me, returning to stories of Jesus that have been shared for centuries can help find me amid the wilderness of my life.  Sometimes I read the old, old story, and one word suddenly leaps off the page, lands on my soul, stirring me in new ways.  Yet, how I open Scripture matters and makes a difference.  If I am speed reading through just to get done with the “assignment” to move on, I might miss that word or image or phrase that was hidden there in plain sight.  More than reading, the response and reaction to what you encounter is equally as important.  I want to invite you as you read to have paper or an app on your phone open to write down your questions and insights.  Please remember that questions set us on quests – or adventures. Some questions stir curiosity and some questions shut down conversation.  Some questions are rhetorical and some cause us to leap down a beautiful rabbit hole to a wonderland.  A couple of examples of open questions.  After you read you may ponder:

 

What do I need to understand about the story?

What do I know objectively from the story? 

What assumptions am I making?

What might be another way to look at this narrative.

 

For example, if you look at Luke 2.  We know objectively, Jesus is born in Bethlehem.  We assume through Christmas pageants of our youth it was in some inn ~ like a Motel 8.  But the word, “inn” can also mean, guest room.  Some scholars suggest Jesus might have been born a cave.  As you read pay attention and be aware what are you reading into the story, especially when the story is familiar.  In fact, the more you know a story, the more holding your assumptions and previous conclusions about the message and meaning is important.  Today, I invite you to practice this.  Go to Luke 2 and read Jesus’ birth narrative.  What questions and insights do the words provoke and evoke?  What emotions are stirred reading about God with us in the middle of August rather than the familiar setting of Christmas Eve candlelight?  What surprises you with the sacred?  As always, I would love to hear your insights and thoughts!  May God surprise you with the sacred in your life this day.  Amen.