Tag Archives: Bible

Across chapter lines

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Many Bible reading plans have people read a certain number of chapters each day. If you were doing that kind of plan, and the dividing line came at the end of John 13, on one day you would read about Jesus’ prediction that Peter would deny him three times. And you would lay your Bible down (or close the window at Biblegateway.com) thinking about Peter’s impending failure.

The next day, you would start reading in John 14 about Jesus going to prepare a place for his followers. And unless you were very disciplined in remembering what you read previously, you wouldn’t connect the story of Peter with the story of many houses.

Or maybe your reading plan includes both chapter 13 and 14 on the same day, but the big white space and the fact that chapter breaks “always” reflect breaks in thought let you separate the stories.

But the more I look at this section of John, where Peter raises the question most on his mind (where are you going) and where Jesus answers Peter’s question (I’m going to get stuff ready for you), the more I see Jesus connecting the two. Peter’s fervent affirmation that he would follow Jesus grew out of fear. If Jesus left, Peter was losing everything. His teacher, his calling, his work, his new name. If Jesus left, he had nothing. No wonder he was so intense.

And Jesus says two things:

1. you are going to deny me.

2. but relax, I’m not staying gone.

Both are answers to Peter and to the rest of the disciples. Both say that there is a difference between how things look at the moment and how things really are. And the connection would be missed if we let the chapters (and the headers) distract us from the story.

Read for the story.

Chapter and verse.

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Chapter and verse is how we make reference to what is in the Bible.

The title of the book comes first (John). The chapter is next, followed by the verse number or numbers (3:16). We call a particular book/chapter/verse combination a “reference”. The chapter divisions and verse numbers were assigned by editors long after the words were written to make it easier for one person to tell another person where, exactly, to find a a statement or a story.   So John 3:16 is a verse reference. It is a street address.

Let me give you an example.

If you were to assign numbers to every sentence in this post, it would help you tell someone else, “In 300wordsaday 455:1, Jon says, ‘Chapter and verse is how we make reference to what is in the Bible.’” That statement directs you to this blog, this post and the opening sentence.  But notice that I said you assigned those sentence numbers. I didn’t. I don’t write in numbered sentences. I write for thoughts, and those thoughts end up in words and sentences and paragraphs and posts.

In order to speak meaningfully about that sentence, you may need to think about the sentence before, the post before, the paragraph after. Those other sentences may not help you understand what I say, but they may.

In that same way, when we are reading the Bible and we are talking about particular verses or chapters, we need to be cautious about treating them as distinct, separate, discrete thought units. Instead, we are best served by reading the whole story, the whole argument, the whole paragraph and then using the reference to point to specific parts of the story so other people can see where we are pointing.

Make sense?

(Come back tomorrow to see why this post follows yesterday’s.)

8 ways to read the Bible

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It happened again last week. Someone said, “I know I should spend more time in my Bible.” After scolding him for yelling at himself rather than celebrating the fact that he is spending time with a small group of people talking about the Bible, I realized that lots of people share that same feeling.

I could scold you, too, for thinking that reading the Bible is something you ought to do (rather than thinking it is a way to meet someone). I’ll save that scold. For now, here are some ways to approach reading.

1. Open the book. Read whatever is where your eyes fall on the page. Sometimes, you get surprised by what you see. It can break up routine reading.

2. Turn to Psalms. Read 80-85. If you read 5 psalms every day, you can read the whole book through in a month.

3. Read Proverbs 16. If you read one chapter a day, you can read most or all of the book in a month.

4. Start reading Mark. Wherever you go today, read more. Decide that you will read the whole book in the next two days.  Print out the pages from Biblegateway.com so it looks like a blog post instead of a Bible.

5. Turn to Philemon. Read it out loud. It’s a letter, written by Paul to a friend whose slave had run away and ended up with Paul. Find the emotion that one friend might use in talking to another friend. Pretend that you are one of those narrators in a Ken Burns documentary.

6. Read Hosea. Imagine buying your wife back from a pimp. Really.

7. Decide to memorize Matthew 5-7. You’ve memorized Jabberwocky and the lineup of the 2001 Mets. Why not a famous speech by Jesus?

8. Write a blog translating Bible passages into life. It makes you think. but 300wordsaday.com is taken.

think about it

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“I’ve been thinking about what you said.”

“I’m gonna think about that.”

“Ever since you mentioned that, I’ve been thinking about that.”

“Remember how we were talking about that situation? I started wondering what would happen if we tried this.”

“I was sitting in that seminar and all of the sudden, something clicked. So I’ve been working through my schedule using the principles, and, well, I’ve made some changes.”

Sound familiar? Those are phrases we use when we’ve taken some words and wrestled with them.

Those are phrases that capture what God meant when he said to Joshua,

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

We read “meditate” and we think “silence” and we think “empty” and we think “how in the world am I going to sit around all day and do nothing but think about Bible verses?”

But that isn’t what Joshua did.

Right before God says this to Joshua, he says “get ready to cross the Jordan River.” Right after this, Joshua goes to the officers of the people and says, “go tell them to get ready to cross the Jordan River.”

Joshua lived an active life, leading a huge group of people in a major settlement project. He wasn’t sitting silently all day.

However, he was thinking about what he read, what he may have watched Moses write. He was wrestling with what God said and then looking for ways to apply it, to carry it out.

The invitation to us to meditate on God’s words, repeated in Psalm 1 and throughout Psalms, is to think them through, to understand the story, ask what they mean.

Constantly.

—-

For more on reading reflectively, see “The Heart of Lectio Divina“

For more on where to start reading, see “Just dive in.”

On my reading list

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I have a pile of books next to our bed. I have a pile of books in my office. I have a pile of books here above my desk at home.

I like to read. I like books.

I could list them for you. It would sound impressive.

Until you ask me about the books.

Then I would have to acknowledge that I haven’t read all of  them. They are on my reading list. “I am getting to that one next.”  “I know I have to read that one soon.”

If I were to be honest, I would have to admit that I have more time to buy books than to read them. If I were honest, I would have to admit that I like how it sounds to be able to say, “Yes, I’ve got that book,” — current, engaged, thoughtful, busy. If I were honest, I’d have to admit that a book on the reading list is irrelevant. It may shape your impression of me, or even my impression of myself, but it won’t shape me.

I’ve been thinking about this gap between books listed and books read for the past couple weeks, ever since my pastor and friend had us reading about Joshua.

After Moses is dead, God tells Joshua that he is the leader. God says, among other things,

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

A handful of books. Read regularly. Thought about constantly. Wrestled with, applied, learned, lived.

That’s what God was telling Joshua would direct him, shape him, guide him.

Not books on a shelf.

Apparently, just having a Bible didn’t count. Working to understand it does.