Deep Like the Rivers

For the last two weeks, we’ve been acknowledging the cold hard truth that sometimes we turn our back on Scripture, failing to pay attention to it, or not letting its message take root and transform us.  I shared with you an example from Luke’s Gospel – how I realized I was habitually skimming over certain verses because on some subconscious level I had classified them as “unimportant.”  I have had several such experiences with Scripture, and even though it is always a little bit embarrassing (shameful would be a better word!), it is also exciting.  I like discovering things I should have noticed before.  It makes me wonder what other shiny new treasures are waiting for me in familiar places!

I’d like to share another experience, even though it will reveal the extent of my bad habit.  Several years ago I was both appalled and delighted to discover that there were a few verses in the creation stories that I had basically overlooked for my entire life.  When studying theology, it doesn’t get any more basic than the two accounts of creation found in Genesis 1-3.  They lay the groundwork for pretty much everything else.  And when teaching theology and Scripture, I have turned back to these stories again and again.  How could I have missed something here, of all places?

Granted, the passage I am referring to is not necessarily fundamental to understanding the creation stories and their meaning.  This is why I had always read these verses without paying any attention to them.  I was always looking to the “juicy” parts like “in his image he created them” (1:27) and “the eyes of both were opened” (3:7).  It seems that when I came to the passage below, my brain said, “Here’s the part about the rivers.  Skip it.” 

But several years ago, when I read this passage carefully (I think I was reading it out loud), I realized what I had been missing.  First of all, the words are beautiful.  They create in your mind an unforgettable image of what we now call the Fertile Crescent – a land of lush vegetation and gorgeous river views.  You can easily picture a pristine land full of precious minerals and rich resources – gold, onyx, and bdellium (a fragrant resin similar to myrrh).  Second, the passage describes a geographical place on earth, communicating to us a simple truth that the rest of Scripture corroborates and develops:  our God is inextricably intertwined with the lives of human beings, in their times and places.  Although he is mighty – he creates worlds simply by speaking! – he is not removed.  Our ancient stories about God don’t begin “long ago and far away.”  They begin with places like “Assyria” and “the Euphrates” and situate their truths in the “mountains of Ararat” (8:4) and “Ur of the Chaldeans” (11:31).  And finally, I love this passage because now that I have rediscovered its worth, it sounds like a poem to me.  It makes me think of what Langston Hughes wrote:  My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

This passage may not mean as much to you as it does to me.  One reason I like it so much is because of my history with it.  But I share this story and these verses with you because I’m sure you understand my experience and may have had similar moments with Scripture.  It is a reminder for me that Scripture will never be fully known and certainly can never be “mastered.”  It always has something new to divulge.  It is a dynamic phenomenon.  You might say it flows like a river.

"A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates" (Gen. 2:10-14).

Two Last Tips for Keeping Scripture Living and Active

In the last several posts, we have looked at ways to keep Scripture "living and active."  Here are a few last ideas.  Please feel free to share your own tips in the "Comments" section below!

Tip #3:  Pick out a word or phrase. 

A classic technique, used in some methods of Lectio Divina, is to read or listen to Scripture with your heart open to a particular sacred word or phrase.  The idea is that in a given reading, there may be one thing that really stands out and has a special meaning for you.  For example, in Psalm 23, perhaps the word “restores” catches your attention, or the phrase “darkest valley.”  Then ask yourself why this phrase means something to you in the context of the passage as a whole and in the context of your life.  Hopefully, this reflection will ignite a conversation between you and God.  This technique helps you pay attention to the scriptures you are reading or hearing because you are looking for or listening for that special word or phrase.  This is a nice technique to use when listening to the Scriptures at Mass when, let’s face it, our minds sometimes wander. 

Tip #4:  Take the time and energy to apply it to your life. 

We always listen to or read Scripture with the intention of applying it to our lives.  We know that if the message just sits on the pages of the Bible, or just rattles around in our brains, it doesn’t do us (or anyone else) much good.  But sometimes we don’t follow through – we don’t really give ourselves the time and the quiet to process what we’ve read or heard.  We don’t do the mental and spiritual exercise of making it real and meaningful.  This is the hard work that allows God’s Word to bear fruit.

In the parish where I used to work, we had a summer prayer series exploring different prayer methods.  One week we discussed praying with Scripture, and I encouraged the participants to try it at home during the week.  The next time we met, I asked how it went.  One parishioner shared a challenging experience.  She had decided to pray over the Mass readings of the day – an excellent idea.  The problem was that as she eagerly read the first reading, ready to ponder and pray, she quickly became discouraged.  The reading was about Moses killing the Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-15).  What to do with a Bible hero committing murder?  How to apply it to one’s life?  All I could say is that sometimes we have to get creative.  God’s Word is living and active all right – it is full of darkness and sin as well as light and love.  We talked about looking below the surface to consider the motivation behind Moses’ act – his love for his people that mirrored God’s own love.  While this did not necessarily justify what Moses did, it did provide a lot to pray about. There is also the fruitful notion that even Moses – arguably the greatest prophet of the Old Testament – could be a hot-head.  Some Scriptures are difficult to apply to our lives.  Doing so requires practice, patience, and sometimes, spiritual creativity!

I’m sure you all have your own ideas about how to keep Scripture living and active.  Please feel free to share them with others by leaving a comment below!

Another Tip for Keeping Scripture Living and Active

Continuing our mini-series on Scripture as a living encounter with God, here is another idea for keeping Scripture fresh as you read it:

Tip #2:  Translate it or paraphrase it.

If you speak another language, try translating a Scripture passage into that language (or from that language into English).  Write it down so you are carefully choosing each word.  As a grad student, I had to do my share of Latin translations.  My first Scripture translation was from Luke 1 – it was a short section introducing the birth of John the Baptist.  When I saw “Zechariah” and “Elizabeth”, I wondered why the professor had chosen this passage.  Why not something more exciting?  But it actually turned out to be very interesting – I learned things about Elizabeth and Zechariah that I never knew before, even though I had read Luke 1 many times.  Did you know Zechariah was of the priestly order of Abijah?  Did you know Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron?  Of course we know they were righteous, but did you ever notice how Luke clearly states that they “lived blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord”?  I had never really noticed those things before.  I guess I had already decided that all I needed to know about Zechariah and Elizabeth was that they were righteous and barren.  That was pretty arrogant (and lazy) of me! 

If you don’t speak another language, try paraphrasing the passage into your own words.  Moving from “Bible-speak” to your own way of speaking is a type of translation that still requires you to slow down and think about each word or phrase.  Don’t worry about a “perfectly accurate” translation – the point is to think about the words and their meaning.

Speaking of John the Baptist, why not try it with Luke 3:7-14?

Tips for Keeping Scripture "Living and Active"

In the last post, we reflected on how easy it is to skim over or not give our full attention to Scriptures that we feel are familiar or maybe even boring.  But each time we do this, we give up an opportunity to encounter something “living and active” (Heb. 4:12) that can change our perspective and our relationship with God.  St. Jerome, a true lover of holy writ, insightfully pointed out that while the faithful are appalled when a crumb of the Eucharistic Bread falls to the floor, we frequently let God’s Word – which is also the body and blood of Christ – fall past our ears without even noticing.

In the next several posts, I’d like to share a few ideas for bringing Scripture to life each time you read or hear it.

 Tip #1:  Read out loud.

When we read the Bible to ourselves, it is all too easy to skim over words, phrases, or sentences – without even realizing it.  If you read out loud – slowly – you will probably notice things you never noticed before.  One day when my oldest daughter was about six, she decided she wanted to help me prepare for a lecture.  I was studying the symbolism of blood in the Old Testament and was about to read Exodus 24:1-8, so I asked her to read it out loud to me.  You can imagine that a six-year-old would have trouble with some of the biblical vocabulary.  As she read slowly, sounding out some words as best she could, I had no choice but to listen to every word and phrase in slow motion.  And I couldn’t believe the amazing details in the passage (I’ll never forget the “basins” of blood!).  You should check it out!  Slowly!

The Two-Edged Sword

Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12).

There are stories and passages in Scripture that are so familiar to us that we tend to categorize them in the “been there done that” file in our minds.  When we hear them at Mass, we tune out with a mental note to “check back in” when we hear the concluding words, “The Word of the Lord.”  If we come across these passages when reading on our own, we’re tempted to skim over them, or give them a meaningless, cursory read.  We want something to give us new insight; those familiar passages seem “worn out.”

But occasionally we get blindsided by familiar things.  I love it when a passage I think I’ve read or heard or studied a hundred times divulges something completely new.  It takes me down a notch, and I realize that I’ve taken for granted something that is living and active, something that has the ability to pierce, to divide joints from marrow, and soul from spirit (Heb. 4:12).  Something I thought was lifeless for me actually re-animates me in some way.

You know that amazing feeling you get when you find out something new about your spouse or an old friend?  I’ll never forget how delighted I was to hear the story of how a sweet, even-tempered friend of mine was so determined not to go to school on her first day of Kindergarten that she gripped the doorframes of her home and made her mom pry her fingers away and carry her to the car kicking and screaming.  I certainly saw my friend in a different light after hearing that story.  “Sweet and even-tempered” became “sweet and even-tempered with a seriously stubborn side.”  And every time I find out something new about my husband (which is about once a week), I realize that the people we think we know best will always – always – have more to reveal.  We sell them short when we think we have them “figured out.”  We run the same risk when we dismiss the familiar Words of God.

Karl Rahner described our experience of God as one of “inexhaustible intelligibility.”  Whether here or in eternity, there is always more to know about God.  And when we learn new things about God, we change, our relationship with him changes – just as my relationship with my friend shifts ever-so-slightly each time I learn something new about her.  Scripture is a part of this “inexhaustible” process of knowing God and of being changed by him, of moving closer to him and him to us, close enough to pierce the “joints and marrow”, the very fibers of our being.

So next time your mind glazes over as you hear or read a familiar Bible text, ask God to show you something new.  It is his Word after all, and it is alive.