OK, now that's out of the way...
I can't sleep.
Again...
I don't know if you do this or not but sometimes when I can't sleep I read the "begot passages" of the bible. You know the ones....Abraham begot Issac, Issac begot Jacob, and so on. It usually goes like this...
Abraham begot Issac, Issac begot Jacob, Jacob begot zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
And I'm out like a light.
Well, that no longer works. It's the third week of school and these classes messed up my sleeping devices (although the TV still works like a charm). Instead of drifting off to sleep around the forth or fifth generation, I'm now wide awake going, "what does this contribute to the story?" "What is the significance of this and how does it set up the story of Jesus? What does it reveal about Him and why?"
I mean, really?
I must confess: my name is Tamisha Tyler, I'm a seminary student and I don't read the bible. OK, that sounds bad...It's not that I don't read the bible; but I don't READ THE BIBLE. Usually I would read the bible out of obligation: I'd read on Sunday at church, try to read something about the bible during the week so I don't feel bad, and I hope that all of those lessons I learned throughout my life would suffice. Sometimes, I would see my bible on the shelf and catch a little glimpse of dust on it and feel bad. So I would grab it and read a "pity verse." Now don't get me wrong, I love reading. I am usually the one with a book in her hand whenever you see her; always have been. But I never felt connected to the bible like I've been connected to say my favorite novel.
Then, for some odd reason, God put me in New Testament: Gospels with Tommy Givens.
After my first week of class; my brain hurt.
Tommy (in the nicest way possible mind you) completely ripped me a new one! I couldn't believe it! Everything I thought I knew was thrown out the window. Now I know how those guests on that Style Makeover show feel when the host takes all of their horrible attire and throws it out. "But I love that!" "No, not my favorite sweater!" That was me, feeling separation anxiety from my own comfortable theology. But alas, not all is lost! New wine deserves new wine skins! And I needed a makeover; fast.
I could go into detail, but I will spare myself the painful memories and just get to the bottom line:
There is soooooo much more in reading the bible then I could have ever imagined!
He mentioned something during that first week of class that really stuck with me.
Most of us read the story of Jesus, yet we already have a picture of what Jesus looks like when we read. We read the story with the story already figured out.
That's when things started clicking. How often during my times of reading the Word did I already assume that I knew what was being said? My attitude was one of, "there's nothing new really, I've been hearing it for so long, I think I get it now." But if there's one thing I've discovered is that practice doesn't make perfect; it makes permanent!
Now before you start throwing stones, lets back up a minute. I'm not saying that the things I've learned were wrong and unhelpful, quite the contrary. I just believe that there is more to it than what I thought there was. It's kind of hard to explain, so picture it like this:
Say our concept of Jesus was a jigsaw puzzle (just roll with me here). Most of us come to the Word of God with the puzzle already complete, and we try to use the word to fill in the gaping holes and cracks that exist in-between the pieces we've put together. Again, that was me. Everything I thought about God, Jesus, His Word, my part in it and how it all connected were pieces that I'd already figured out. I mean after all, I DID get accepted into Seminary. I figured that had to count for something. So to me, reading the bible was like reading a book for the 100th time.
Oh how wrong I was.
God did not want me to come to him with it all figured out. He wasn't looking to fill in the gaps of what I thought I had together.
He wanted my broken pieces.
Everything that I learned, everything that I am, everything that I went through; I couldn't separate myself from them. But God was willing to take all of those broken pieces and through the revelation of his word, put them together to create a true picture of Jesus. Yes, that does include some pieces being moved and some even being discarded, but the picture it created is more than I could ever begin to imagine. Not only that, but he placed me within a people, a history and a community with just as many pieces.
So now think about that Jigsaw puzzle, with millions of pieces. Sounds pretty impossible right? But you know the feeling you get when you start putting pieces together and you start to see an image, that excitement you get in the midst of the discovery. That's the feeling I now get when I read His Word. That I get to participate in a jigsaw puzzle that people have been working on throughout history. And each time I read, I get a new glimpse of what Jesus looks like.
I sent this in an email and I can only hope I somewhat grasped this concept.
The Word of God should be read as being within our culture, being shaped within the traditions and customs of those that were before us (namely the people of Israel), and is also transcendent of our culture, shaping the very perspectives and traditions that have shaped the way we view the Word. That instead of allowing our preconceived notions to judge the word, we should look through the eyes of the very traditions that were shaped by the word and allow our notions to be judged by the word; either fortifying or adapting our current views into the traditions that the generations to follow will view the word through. This speaks to the very nature of the Living Word.
So, that's why I can't sleep.
Thanks a lot Tommy.
Tamisha A. Tyler
P.S. Feel free to post comments or questions; conversation is always encouraged here.
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