Finding something to read is easier than ever before. E-readers give you instant books with only the push of a button and a credit card number. The internet allows millions of people to publish their thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog everyday. You can even publish your own book through the Amazon publishing company if you’d like. It is a great time for readers. (The news Snookie came out with a book today does make me second guess this, but that’s beside the point.)
Reading was an acquired taste for me. Growing up, reading was more forced than enjoyed but there were a few books that drew me in. College, however, was where my taste for reading went from mandate to past time. I can easily sit at a coffee shop and read for hours. I love carrying on conversations with the author. I love the worlds that are created when I am captivated by a story. I love the feeling I get when I read excellent prose.
This year James has invited us to read the Bible, to listen to the story. I hope you will join us as we listen to the words of God. I hope you will notice the beauty of the prose and I hope you will meet with God as you read. I hope you learn and notice things you have never noticed before. I hope we begin to follow the teachings of the Bible more closely this year. But my greatest hope is that you read in community.
We are told the epistles, the letters in the New Testament, were received by the New Testament churches and they were read aloud. I imagine the church gathering with one another listening to the Apostolic words and discussing the teachings over a meal.
Ours is a different world. It is easy with our personal Bibles to read outside of community, but scripture invites us to read together. To be clear, I am not urging us to only read scripture aloud, but instead to discuss with one another what we are reading, share insights, and declare “aha moments.”
James Brownson, in Speaking the Truth in Love, says “Biblical interpretation is not the discovery of the cognitive but it is an exercise in the understanding of how a text affects our lives.” The Bible invites us to follow Jesus Christ, and we cannot figure all this out on our own. We must read with our spouses, children, neighbors, and friends. Not with the hope of getting it all right, as if we have that ability, but with the hope of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
May God’s Spirit change us as we read the life-giving words afresh together.
