I just finished reading the One Book, One Community selection for Waterloo Region for 2017. It is written by Wayne Grady , and it is called Emancipation Day . The book is about racism in Canada, and it is mostly set in Windsor and Detroit. The book takes place mostly during WWII, and the years following. It explores what it means to be white and black in the society. One couple has a baby, and the boy is white, although both his parents are black.
The meaning of the book is found in the story that is told. The moral, and there is no moral, should not be found outside of the book. It is like a good poem, the meaning is found in the words, and it should not have to lead somewhere else. It is really hard to read poems and books in this way, but I believe that this is the way to read fiction. We should not try to find meaning into the future, of a book we are reading now.
When I read the Bible, it is hard to not to try to find meaning for my life. But, I should try to enjoy the stories that are found in the different histories, poems, biographies and letters. The writers are trying to make sense out of God, for the time that they are living . And the words , in Hebrew and Greek, are so far removed from 2017. I should try to stay in the story or poem.
To read the Bible literally makes no sense to me. To read it metaphorically is also hard, and what metaphor am I going to listen to anyway. To attach a meaning to every character so that I might find spiritual meaning is not the way to go either. For parables, some people like to say this is God, this is sin, this is the world, and this is salvation. Every object, animal and person has meaning beyond itself. This is not a good way to read the Bible So, how am I supposed to read the Bible ?
Let me reflect on one short story in all the stories that we find in the 66 books we have in the Bible. It is a story told by Mark, Matthew and Luke, in their biographies of Jesus. They all tell it slightly differently.
A man, a leader in the community, comes up to Jesus, and asks what he must do to get to heaven. This is pretty fundamental in the Jewish and Christian communities. Jesus asks him if he has followed the commandments. Yes, I have done that he replies . Then Jesus says you must do one more thing, “… you lack one thing, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor,,,, and then come follow me. “ The leader went away saddened, because he had great wealth “ I am not going to do this in my life, I have great wealth. Most Christians I know are not going to do it. We do not take this story literally because we do not want to do what it asks of us. But it is about eternal life, right ? What is the story telling the people who are hearing it for the first time ? What does it say, and what does it mean, and what am I going to do about it ? Discuss.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 