Read. The Bible. Slowly.

In my weekly pastoral routine, I put the bulletin together on Friday mornings.  One part of this is putting Scripture into our opening litany – responsive reading.  Now and then, I will try cutting and pasting the text, to save time.  But due to formatting quirks, it’s just as fast to actually type the text in.

 

I realized today, typing out parts of Psalm 5, that this is one of the more spiritually edifying things I (a pastor!) do all week long.

 

I learned it in seminary, too.  When you have to slow down in the Bible, it is almost always beneficial in drawing you to the Lord.  You may be

 - reading aloud to your family

 - typing or writing it out for your own reasons, like I was

 - studying the grammar, or the original language

But whatever the reason, God was wise to tell us in His Word, not just to READ His Word.  But to meditate on it.

 

Over the centuries, our reading habits have changed drastically. 

1. It used to be in Augustine’s day, that only a few elites could read, and only did so out loud.  First-century pastors would read out loud the latest letter from Paul to their Galatian church, in church, because many in the church couldn’t read for themselves.

2. The Reformation brought a revolution.  Tyndale’s driving motivation was to get every ploughboy a copy of the Bible, and the ability to read it himself.  The last 400 years saw people in the West saturated in the written word, as a result.

3. I’m beginning to believe that the technological revolution is undoing much of that effect.  First it was radio.  Then TV and the silver screen.  Then the internet.  Now social media.  They tell me that Zuckerberg’s “metaverse” is next.  With each of these we are more absorbed in a world of images and sounds, and drawn away from the written word.  See Jacques Ellul’s books for more on this.

 

There are exceptions, I know.  ​I'm not a Luddite, and I do a lot of reading ON the internet.  But there is a reason that the first rule of posting on Facebook is to include a picture, or it won’t get read.

 

So, I encourage you:

1. Read.  Read the Bible every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes.  I recently heard that people who read the Bible 4 times a week or more, are significantly more mature and fruitful in their faith.  Reading Scripture less often than that, the picture changes drastically.  Frequency is a factor.  Also, read good literature, and trusted contemporary authors and speakers.

 

2. Read slower.  Read out loud to your family more.  Train your children in the patience of focusing on the non-visual, spoken word.  It’s fine to help younger ones focus by giving them a coloring page at the same time.  But realize that is a crutch off which to wean them, at some point.  (Caveat: my artist wife sometimes during sermons doodles something related to what I’m saying!)  Have your children write out passages of the Bible at home.  (And not just the commands that they broke, as punishment!)  This works on their hand-writing, and gets them to meditate on God’s Word.

 

To the Word!