I don't usually make New Year's resolutions. Instead I like to set goals for the year - which might sound like the same thing as a resolution, but I think of it as a little different. To me, resolutions are the resolve to do x, y, or z perfectly for the span of an entire year - which so often ends in mid-February with a sense of failure. When I set goals for the year, I make a list of things I want to accomplish by the end of the year, but they don't all require having a flawless record of doing this or that for 365 days straight. For instance, my goal list this year includes "take an art class" and "go contradancing." (The only resolution I've ever kept was the year I resolved to floss my teeth every day! Even then I missed a few days out of 365.)
This year, however, I have decided to make one resolution: to read the entire Bible in a year. It has been such a long time since I've read the entire Bible, and I feel disconnected from many sections of it, because I haven't come across them in quite awhile. I won't be reading every single day, because the reading schedule I'm using only gives 6 readings per week instead of 7, but in my book that's close enough to count as a resolution.
I've taken the title of this blog from Gregory the Great:
"Learn the heart of God in the words of God, that you may sigh more ardently for the things that are eternal, that your soul may be kindled with greater longings for heavenly joys."
- Gregory the Great
Gregory wrote these words in a letter to his friend Theodorus, who was the physician to the emperor. Gregory points out that Theodorus has room to grow in the discipline of reading Scripture daily:
"I have some complaint against... Theodorus; namely that he has received from [God]
the gift of genius, the gift of wealth, the gift of mercy and charity,
and yet [he] is unceasingly bound up in secular causes,
is occupied in continual processions,
and neglects to read daily the words of his Redeemer."
Gregory goes on to describe why Theodorus may want to move Scripture up on his list of priorities:
"For what is sacred Scripture but a kind of epistle of Almighty God to His creature?
And surely, if your Glory were resident in any other place,
and were to receive letters from an earthly emperor,
you would not loiter, you would not rest, you would not give sleep to your eyes,
till you had learned what the earthly emperor had written.
The Emperor of Heaven, the Lord of men and angels,
has sent you his epistles for your life's benefit;
and yet, glorious son, you neglect to read these epistles ardently.
Study then, I beseech you, and daily meditate on the words of your Creator.
Learn the heart of God in the words of God."
When I sent out invitations to my ordination as a priest, I had just enough cheek to send one to the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom I had met when I was a steward at the Lambeth Conference in 2008. I did not expect to receive a response, but I figured that maybe he'd come across my invitation and be encouraged that some of the young people he'd invested in were going into full-time ministry in the Anglican Communion. A couple of months later, when I received an envelope adorned with the archbishop's crest, you'd better believe I opened that piece of mail faster than ever before! In the same way, if we were to receive mail from an important figure who has power or reputation or fame, we would not hesitate to tear that letter open to see what it said. We might find ourselves returning over the years to that letter to remind ourselves of what they said to us.
Gregory points out the parallel here to the Bible - it is the Emperor of Heaven's letter to us; if so, then we will be eager to read it and to find there a life-giving message that shapes us and the way we see the world. As Gregory suggests to Theodorus, when we read the Bible, we are not just reading an instruction book or a history book; we are getting to know the very heart of God. Just as we get to know people through the things they say, we also come to know God better by spending time meditating on his Word. Gregory reminds us that reading the Bible as a Christian is not just an intellectual "head" exercise; it is also an exercise of the heart, that increases in us a longing for heavenly joys.
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| The Reading God's Story Bible |
