Gospel Reading Plan - Day 2

Day 2 Readings - Morning Thoughts
Matthew 2
Luke 2
John 2

As you take the leap into Day 2 of your reading plan, I want to invite you to consider the type of reading we are committing to over the next few weeks.

Consumption
In the late 1960's there was a detective show called Dragnet.  Sgt. Joe Friday was well known for a phrase that he repeated over and over, "Just the facts ma'am, just the facts."  He was a cut to the chase kind of guy.  He was in a hurry and wanted to slice and dice through all the fluff to amass the right amount of factual information.  Once he had the right information, he could move on to the next case.  For many of us, that's how we read.  We read for information.  We are in a hurry and eager to consume the facts so we can move on.  We skim newspaper and magazine articles looking for the most pertinent information.  We love twitter because a writer can only use 144 characters.  Just give us the facts.

Then we read the bible and apply similar techniques.  We consume information, skim for details, look for pertinent data, and slice and dice through the stories looking for the facts.  Many of the issues and conflicts about the bible center around "which facts are true and what information can be proved."

Encounter
But what if that's not the intent of the Bible?  What if the intent isn't simply to fill our heads full of information but to create the kind of environment that makes possible an encounter with the God that the Bible speaks of?  What if the point isn't the facts, but the stories told.  Reading the Bible is about accepting an invitation.  Every time you flip open the pages of the Bible you are being invited into a strange new world filled with people and places far removed from your time and place.  You are being invited into a space where God is at work, where the world is inhabited by Divine power and purpose, where people grapple to make sense of this God that intrudes into their space and calls them into His space.  You are being invited into stories where though the characters are distant, their lives, their struggles, their journeys are remarkably similar to yours.  We are invited to step into a world where God wants to encounter our lives and reform us.  Reading the Bible isn't about extracting facts, skimming for pertinent details, or consuming information.  Instead, reading the Bible is about being consumed by a story that reframes our existence.

Transformation
Instead of reading for information throughout this reading plan, I want to encourage you to slow down and accept God's invitation to read for transformation.  Beyond just knowing what the text says, why don't you instead ask the question, "how does what the text say transform how I understand God, the world, and my place in God's world?"  Read with anticipation, eagerly leaning forward into the hope that God may have a word for you.  This word may cause the ground to shift under your feet.  It may disturb your fairly settled world.  It may shock and surprise you with the unruly and untame actions of a God that refuses to be placed on the short leash of facts and data.  You may just lose yourself in the stories.  However, you also may find that in losing yourself in the stories, you actually gain yourself in encounter with the God of these stories.

This afternoon I will deal with some thoughts from the texts themselves....Happy Reading!