We all have our fantasies. Here is one of mine. There is a campfire and I’m sitting around it with friends. It’s dark and quiet except for a single voice reading aloud to us. We are hearing read a book from the Bible.
Why a book of the Bible
Why not chapter and verse? Because this night is different. Usually we only get a nibble when the Bible is spoken to us. Maybe a few chapters supporting a sermon, a verse to provide comfort, or a few verses supporting a belief. This seems to feed us so we don’t ask for more.
But maybe we don’t ask for more not because we are full, but because the Bible is too full. Full of things we don’t know or care to know. Places no longer on the map, ancient customs, foreign histories and unpronounceable names. We want to just cut to the chase and are grateful to the preachers and scholars who filter out “the unnecessary.”
But what are we losing when we only nibble?
Much. Ponder for a few minutes snacking versus sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. A snack is straightforward. One eater and a thing to eat. It is not about bounty. Neither is the time given to it bountiful. Think power bar.
Then think of the mess of a Thanksgiving dinner. From the messy relationships around the table to the mess to clean up afterwards. Daunting, and yet how glorious!
Maybe we nibble with our verses and chapters because a whole book of the Bible is too bountiful for us. A feast we are not prepared to attend.
Snacking is economics. Feasting is life. So too with nibbling versus feasting on the Bible.
Hearing the Bible alongside others
So what are the reasons for wanting the messy mingling of people when hearing a book of the Bible?
To begin with, a people wrote the books of the Bible. It is a record of one family, then a tribe, and finally a nation, sovereign and then dispersed. Struggling over several thousand years to be a people of God. The Hebrews.
Another reason in gathering to read the Bible, these stories of the Hebrew people, is the improbability of it spreading to other peoples far and wide. We have this ancient collection of books written down two thousand years ago, not sitting encased in a museum but on the shelves in our homes. How is that possible? And why not celebrate this improbability by reading it aloud together.
But the best reason. We are still struggling to be a people. The Bible speaks of war, sacrifice, laws, peace and blessings. These we still have with us. So let’s hear it together.
What’s with the campfire
You don’t often here the word “sensual” in the same breath as a Bible reading but why not? Sometimes when I’m reading the Bible, the language and the image compel me to read aloud, even if to myself. It’s language and message so fill the senses.
Whether it is the image of God walking in the garden of Eden, “at the time of the evening breeze,”
or the Beloved in Song of Songs asking their Lover to “sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.”
Or this tender image of Jesus in Mark. “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”
Or this stark image of us at our worst in the book of Judges. “Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon’s belly; the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the dirt came out.”
I want darkness around this small, vulnerable group of people. Clothing us in mystery as is only fitting. The fire crackling and dancing with its ethereal light at the center. Percussion and stage to the solo voice carried to each of us as we sit close together hearing a book of the Bible. Sensual.
Why stop now
Okay, so we may be open to hearing a whole book of the Bible but what about hearing the whole Bible. In under three hours. Well now, that is a fantasy. In the real world it would take at least 70 hours to read aloud.
So how is it possible to hear the whole Bible in under three hours without resorting to chapter and verse? Or someone else’s summary of key points. Easier than you might think with a little creative license.
Tucked in amongst the hefty and standard length books like Exodus, Isaiah and Matthew there are a few small books. Smaller than the typical Biblical book, but no less complete, complex and compelling.
By selecting just the creation stories from Genesis and then smaller books from throughout the Bible you could, in less then three hours, get a good, graspable, first hand feel of what the Bible is about.
| Hebrew Bible | ||
| Genesis 1 – 2 | 10 min* | Creation myth |
| Ruth | 15 min* | Literature |
| Habakkak | 10 min* | Prophetic |
| New Testament | ||
| Mark | 85 min* | Narrative |
| Philemon | 5 min* | Letter |
| Total Time | 125 minutes* |
Let’s go feasting
Think about making real this fantasy. Consider using it to bring people together who read the Bible very differently. Letting the words flow over, under and around all differences in beliefs. Not to erase or dilute this rich diversity but to join it together for the work ahead of us.
Rolling up our sleeves to do the messy work of the world.
Check out this blog on the book of Judges. There are some tips on overcoming the difficulties in reading the Bible.