How Do You Read It?
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
Thanks be to God I was the storyteller for Children's Chapel at St. Alban's today. As of yesterday afternoon I was on the fence as whether to 1) tell a story about why I'm so bad at card tricks or 2) tell a story about why the name tag that I would wear didn't bear my name but rather three capital letters: NGU. I went with #2 because it's a story about Never Giving Up, which seemed more relevant to kids while story #1 (a fable about trying to live a biblical life without having read the bible) seemed more relevant to..?
Interestingly enough, we are three weeks into our new adult education offering at St. Alban's: The Call of God. That's shorthand for a Bible study on Genesis. I'm happy to say that three weeks into this new adult formation offering we are only three chapters into the book.
Thus far these are some of the comments I have heard in our bible study: "Wait!" "But!" And I could add "Wow!" And "Who knew!" And "What I've always heard is... and that's why people hate Christianity!" Not to mention, "This is so challenging!" These are all exclamations made by parishioners during and after our new Bible Study on Sunday mornings at St. Alban's Church. We are reading Holy Scripture and in some ways we are reading it for the first time. And we are reading it carefully and together.
Every time we read the bible carefully we are reading it for the first time. The simple (but very complex) lessons within it are as relevant to us grown-ups as they are to our little ones and at the end of the day they are the same: Never Give Up, Read the Instruction Manual, God is Love, Go and Do Likewise...
On Sunday we equated the conversation between the "serpent" in Genesis and "Eve" to the conversation in the New Testament between Jesus and "the man who wanted to justify himself." "What Did God actually say?" asks the serpent. And, "Who is my neighbor?" asks the expert in the law.
Methinks we now have two offerings for Children's Chapel at St. Alban's. One for children and the other for... Join us.
Happy Monday,
Jim+
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