Monday, January 08, 2007
Right Back At It
Yep, I'm right back at it; with barely 3 days to prepare (when you subtract all the traveling we did over vacation--you know, the necessary visits to family, etc), the new semester has come crashing in upon me. The first day is always a complete zoo; the afternoon I wanted to spend in uninterrupted study of wonderful biblical minutiae was spent instead on not-so-wonderful academic minutiae. By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, I was grinding my teeth in frustration; as soon as one person left my office, their life-or-death crisis resolved or at least held in abeyance until tommorow, some other student would crash through the door, splash to the floor in a puddle of tears, and beg to know why (WHY?) they happened not to pass some certain class last semester. Of course, I exaggerate; they didn't really "splash".
Anyway, I am desparately praying that this semester will somehow be different for me. About halfway through most semesters, I get so desparately muddled that I end each night zombie-fied (Is that a word? It should be.), staring at my computer, literally unable to do anything productive. Have you ever been so busy that you actually couldn't think? It's not a very comfortable feeling.
Slate's Bible Blog
I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a great blog running on Slate; David Plotz, a writer for Slate and, by his own admission, a no-so-observant Jew, is blogging about his experience reading through the Bible. Currently, he's in the book of Isaiah; he's already covered most of Books of the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and some of the historical books.
He opens his blog on Genesis 1: "You'd think God would know exactly what He's doing, but He doesn't. He's a tinkerer. He tries something out—what if I move all the water around so dry land can appear? He checks it out. He sees "that it was good." Then He moves on to the next experiment—how about plants? Let's try plants. " God as a "tinkerer", hmmm? Now, that may not be the exact way you and I have read that story, but, I gotta admit, it's a pretty fresh take on the Creation.
It is SO easy, especially with such a sacred book like the Bible, to think we know "what it means". I really think that's why people struggle so much with daily Bible reading; they think they already "got it down"! I've spent almost the last 10 years of my life engaged in systematic study of the Word of God; in many ways, I feel like I know less than when I started--really, I've stopped playing in the tide pool and finally noticed the ocean! It's things like this blog and Cash's novel about Paul that are just enough left of where we stand to jar us out of our complacency and arrogance about the Word of God.
So, maybe this year, those of you who, like me, have made a New Year's Resolution to read through the Bible, can join this other journey; I guarantee you, the conversation will be worth every minute.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Yep, I'm right back at it; with barely 3 days to prepare (when you subtract all the traveling we did over vacation--you know, the necessary visits to family, etc), the new semester has come crashing in upon me. The first day is always a complete zoo; the afternoon I wanted to spend in uninterrupted study of wonderful biblical minutiae was spent instead on not-so-wonderful academic minutiae. By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, I was grinding my teeth in frustration; as soon as one person left my office, their life-or-death crisis resolved or at least held in abeyance until tommorow, some other student would crash through the door, splash to the floor in a puddle of tears, and beg to know why (WHY?) they happened not to pass some certain class last semester. Of course, I exaggerate; they didn't really "splash".
Anyway, I am desparately praying that this semester will somehow be different for me. About halfway through most semesters, I get so desparately muddled that I end each night zombie-fied (Is that a word? It should be.), staring at my computer, literally unable to do anything productive. Have you ever been so busy that you actually couldn't think? It's not a very comfortable feeling.
Slate's Bible Blog
I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a great blog running on Slate; David Plotz, a writer for Slate and, by his own admission, a no-so-observant Jew, is blogging about his experience reading through the Bible. Currently, he's in the book of Isaiah; he's already covered most of Books of the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and some of the historical books.
He opens his blog on Genesis 1: "You'd think God would know exactly what He's doing, but He doesn't. He's a tinkerer. He tries something out—what if I move all the water around so dry land can appear? He checks it out. He sees "that it was good." Then He moves on to the next experiment—how about plants? Let's try plants. " God as a "tinkerer", hmmm? Now, that may not be the exact way you and I have read that story, but, I gotta admit, it's a pretty fresh take on the Creation.
It is SO easy, especially with such a sacred book like the Bible, to think we know "what it means". I really think that's why people struggle so much with daily Bible reading; they think they already "got it down"! I've spent almost the last 10 years of my life engaged in systematic study of the Word of God; in many ways, I feel like I know less than when I started--really, I've stopped playing in the tide pool and finally noticed the ocean! It's things like this blog and Cash's novel about Paul that are just enough left of where we stand to jar us out of our complacency and arrogance about the Word of God.
So, maybe this year, those of you who, like me, have made a New Year's Resolution to read through the Bible, can join this other journey; I guarantee you, the conversation will be worth every minute.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
# posted by Luke @ 8:49 PM 
