Okay, besides the fact that my life has been really crazy this past week or so....I have been having a very hard time trying to find anything to say about these Proverbs. My kudos to Jordan and Matthew and Sue for their diligence.
Apparently, the author of Proverbs is also having a bit of a hard time recording this long list of sayings. V. 10 "Differing weights and differing measures - the Lord detests them both." and v. 23 "The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him." If some of these words seem repetitive to me, there is a reason.
It reminds me of two conversations I had yesterday. My brother-in-law and I were speaking of the time when he had been Pastor for about 6 months and hit that point where he really felt he had said everything he had to say and he had nothing left to preach about. This happened to coincide with Advent - when the scriptures are the scriptures we all know very very well - and saying anything new about them is a challenge. And yet, he couldn't just decide not to preach anymore - he had to learn to wade through.
Last night we were talking about the Sunrise Easter Service and talked a little bit about how everyone knew the scriptures and the story (especially those likely to show up at the sunrise service).
How do we find meaning and truth in the too-familiar stories of our faith or the repetitions of Proverbs? How do we still pay attention and trust that God has something new to say? When the faith is no longer novel and the stories become old friends, how do we keep allowing them to challenge who we are and keep from using them as static security blankets?
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When I'm reading the Bible and find myself skimming (i.e. I know this story), I intentionally slow down and force myself to wade through the text, looking for anything new. Generally, when I slow down enough, God reveals something to me I didn't see the first 45 times.
ReplyDeleteI'm also very wary of saying from the pulpit, "You all know this story," because in our culture today, not everyone has been in Sunday School their whole life or even picked up a Bible, even if their church has given them one (or many). I am routinely shocked by the Bible stories church-going people don't know.