#11 TATWTD "Lent -- Day Four
Fourth Day of Lent
I am slowly reading through what should have been a very quick read, a pre-published copy of “How the Bible Actually Works* ‘In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News’” by Dr. Peter Enns, A.S.C Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University.
I’ve reached Chapter 6. I’ve reached the first pericope of chapter 6, “The Universe Freaks Me Out,” and I’ve reached a point of quiet ecstasy. “YES!” my innards holler. Once again, Peter Enns’ queries and observations keep me from totally abandoning Christian faith – as Christian faith is writ large in American Evangelicalism, 2019.
I once wrote that I am like the kid who grew up in a family listening to Lawrence Welk’s Orchestra, being told the only music is Lawrence Welk music, only to hear the L.A. Symphony under the direction of Zubin Mehta playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti. The discovery is fantastic! The remove from a family that throws hands over ears and refuses the idea of “other” music, is painful. But necessary. Lawrence Welk’s Orchestra does make music, but . . . Ah, Bach.
One more “It is like . . .”
My reading Enns is like being the dog lifted by a tornado, dropped, sopping, shocked, and slightly injured into the yard of a faraway and unfamiliar family that welcomes him, bathes him, feeds him, but understand that sadness accompanies him. There is loss. Real loss, because what had been normal, what had been familiar – the small house, the small yard, the fixed schedule and routine, the genuinely caring family—was remembered but gone. How-ever, the spacious field for running, permission to climb onto the couch, or into the backseat of a car with windows cracked enough to deliver scents of the world, the daily refreshed water in the bowl, a few familiar rules, sure; the company of fellow canines of various shapes and sizes and temperaments under the care of patient people, well, resettling, recovery, renewed happiness comes quickly. It’s like that, reading Chapter 6 of “How the Bible Actually Works*” on this Fourth Day of Lent.
