World Book Day & the Good Book

 

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 

There is no longer Jew or Greek,  

there is no longer slave or free, 

 there is no longer male and female; 

for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3: 27-28 

 This is World Book Day and I'm more than willing to celebrate the happy reality that despite dire predictions the printed word wasn't likely to survive this simply wasn't the case. Hurray.

I'm also thinking about the bible today, a term which literally means "the book." The bible is actually a compedium of books from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. During our three-week study based on John Dominic Crossan's How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian we acknowledged that the Good Book can be a Not-so-Good Book in its problematic passages. While we may consider scripture inspired by God and worthy of our attention and even reverence we must read it critically and in its "matrix" (Crossan's term) or context. 

My preparation our our discussions got me thinking about which passages I would choose if I had to distill the bible into a pamphlet to take with me if I could leave with essentials.  

In our older testament the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and the creation psalm, 104. I would add the verses from Micah 6 and figure out which covenant, or promise relationship passage was best -- chapter 9 in Genesis (Noah) or Jeremiah 31:33, the covenant written on our hearts? 

In the New Testament the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, and the resurrection story in John 20 would be essential. And what scholars figure is one of the earliest creeds and hymns of the early church in Galatians 3 or perhaps from Galatians 5 about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Oh ya, James 2 is powerful regarding care for the dispossessed, or maybe Matthew 25 on the same subject. Parables?...Good Samaritan or Prodigal Son or...

This just isn't going to work. I would have to find a pocket bible and hope that my aging eyes could make out the small print. At times the bible confounds and perplexes me, yet it remains the Good Book in my life and I hope it always will.