Scripture

One of my resolutions is to read the Bible in 2011.  I’ve done the one-year-Bible-read a dozen times, but it’s been a while, and I’ve gotten rusty on some things I used to recall on demand.

My recommended practice is meditating on passages of scripture in relation to the movement of God in history. A surprising fruitful practice for me, I learned from early Christian writers, is to mediate on scripture in light of the Pauline mystery.

People keep asking me about “my” Advent book. My local women friends want me to bring copies to the next group meeting.  I oblige, and I notice how heavy the books are.  I lug them rather than bring them.  Suddenly I find myself thinking that Advent/Christmas is rooted in the material, the here and now.

While I was between college and the military draft in the mid-1960s, I lived and worked in New York City. One Saturday as I was walking to the subway, an astonishing thing happened. I was making my way through the complex and crowded station at Rockefeller Center when I suddenly recognized a close friend from college days. We were both overcome with joy. The last time we had seen each other was at school in Colorado, but we had lost touch. Neither of us knew that the other had found his way to New York. We enjoyed a great day reminiscing and experiencing the city together.

Luke 1:48, “for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”

When the angel approached Mary, the words of greeting startled the young woman. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. (Luke 1: 28,29).  The angel knew that this instilled fear in her heart and announced to her that the Lord had found favor in her and as a result she was to bear a child who would be named Jesus.

Today something struck me in reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—something that never occurred to me before.  It concerns the two roads that Jesus describes.  “Enter through the narrow gate,” Jesus says.  “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find it” (Matt. 7:13, 14).