March 16: Devotion to Public Reading of Scripture
♫ Music:
Day 31 - Friday, March 16
Title: Devotion to Public Reading of Scripture
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:11-16
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Poetry: Setting Out
By Scott Cairns
Pilgrim: What is it that you do here?
Monk: We fall, and we get up again.
In time, even the slowest pilgrim might
articulate a turn. Given time enough,
the slowest pilgrim—even he—might
register some small measure of belated
progress. The road was, more or less, less
compelling than the hut, but as the benefit
of time allowed the hut’s distractions to attain
a vaguely musty scent, and all the novel
knickknacks to acquire a fine veneer of bone-
white dust, the road became then somewhat more
attractive, and as the weather made a timely
if quite brief concession, the pilgrim took this all
to be an open invitation to set out.
PUBLIC READING OF SCRIPTURE
What does your diet look like for digesting scripture, whether individually or collectively? Maybe it is mostly from the New Testament, with an emphasis on Paul’s epistles? Perhaps it is mostly the result of a private reading? Maybe you mostly take-in short passages of scripture instead of larger chunks (or whole-books grasped) in a single reading? It is worth paying attention to how your Bible reading practices shape you.
What is the value of routinely experiencing a public reading of scripture? It is a way of training and habituating our mind, body, emotions, and affections to focus and attend to how scripture speaks; of letting it address us as its subjects versus it being our subject under our mastery and control. When scripture is read aloud, it has a way of clearing the air, opening up mental space, inviting us into a different way of imagining reality, even reorienting our mental environment, shaping the tone, texture and authority of a place in which we as subjects hear scripture and experience ‘us’ anew. For it is no longer me and me alone reading/hearing, but my participation in a summoned, called-out ‘we’; a people of God knit in togetherness of hearing, listening and doing, even historically over time.
Private readings of scripture, whether individually or collectively, tend toward an experience of scripture at the level of our interior thoughts, reflections and responses. As such, it is easy to get “stuck in our heads” when experiencing scripture; perhaps prone toward experiencing it as one among many mental exercises, while juggling other mental distractions in the playground of our minds. Private readings of scripture tend toward an eye-fixated attention as we analyze a text, while our ears remain largely disengaged, under-developed and untrained to rightly hear.
The public reading of scripture is not about us ‘fitting’ scripture into a preconceived or prearranged ‘public space’ and then believers or critics of scripture deeming that ‘public’ as the only appropriate space for scripture to be heard aloud. Could it be that wherever scripture is read aloud, it has the power – indeed, the chutzpah! – to (re)define what is ‘public,’ even to taking captive our very notions and itemizations of what is ‘public’ and ‘private’ life and grasping them as subjects summoned to ‘come and hear’? Reading scripture aloud is identity forming!
Notice the painting by Francois-Auguste Biard. Unlike most paintings related to the public reading of scripture, this painting does not suffer from an edifice-complex; the encounter of scripture is not reduced to some appropriately deemed ‘sacred space’ known as a church complex or cathedral. Here, scripture is read aloud in a wider public of the outdoors, for some near and some in a distance. It summons and addresses its hearers as they are, in the fragility and realism of their life with others.
The public reading of scripture is part of a broader vision and repertoire of what it means to be apprentices to Jesus and His ways, not just within the ‘public’ of the pastor-congregation relationship but especially among how the people of God engage the wider culture and governing authorities (see 1 Tim. 2:1-6).
The ways, words and works of the Kingdom of God embody a public culture of living with God. Scripture is inherently public; it traffics in rich currencies of knowledge, wisdom, witness and love of what is ultimately real – God, His rule and mission to bless all peoples. Those are all ‘public’ in the sense that they are discoverable and open to being accessed by all without exception. The public reading of scripture is a way of re-enacting these truths over and over again, with echoes of ancient practices in the story of the Kingdom (cf. Ex. 17:14, 24:3; Joshua 8:34-35; 2 Kings 23:1-3; Neh. 8:8), forming all who hear the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Prayer:
Word of God, come to me.
Lord, here, I am, open to your Speaking.
Holy Spirit, grasp my ears and eyes to see and hear what I ought to know and believe.
Call forth a Response from my Heart and Mouth.
What shall I confess to You?
What word shall I speak today to those within my reach?
Enable my will to move into spaces and places where you, Word of Life, are already at work.
Joseph E. Gorra
Founder and Director of Veritas Life Center
About the Artwork:
Pastor Laestadius Instructing the Lapps
Francois-Auguste Biard
1840
130 x 162 cm
Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum Museum
Norway
Pastor Laestadius was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Lutheran Church in Lapland. He is shown in this painting preaching among the Sami people of Lapland. Laestadius was a self-identified Southern Sami, and during his ministry collected Sami myths that were left unpublished until 1997. One of his main missions was to tackle the severe problems brought about by alcohol. According to an account when Laestadius gave up drinking, "The Sami began to notice that...Laestadius had changed…He preached about a God who cared about the lives of the people. He attacked priests and traders who lined their pockets at the expense of others...something new had begun to happen between the pastor and his parishioners. Young and old alike wanted to learn to read. There was also a bustle and energy in the church, with people confessing their sins, crying and praying for forgiveness…Drunkenness and the theft of reindeer diminished, which had a positive influence on the Sami's relationships, finances and family life...." Biard’s painting shows the preacher and his congregation standing at a crossroads of life and faith.
About the Artist:
Francois-Auguste Biard (1799–1882) was a French genre painter who did traveled extensively throughout his career. Near the end of his career he spent two years in Brazil where he enjoyed the protection of the Emperor Dom Pedro II. While in Brazil, he traveled to the rainforests of Espírito Santo and Amazonia, where he depicted native populations. Biard was among the very first European painters to meet and depict these populations. In 1862, after returning in France, Biard published a travelogue about his experiences in Brazil entitled Deux Années au Brésil.
About the Music:
“ABREGE - Folk Suite for Nyckelharpa and String Orchestra, IV. Till Farmor (For Grandmother)” from the album TrondheimSolistene - In Folk Style
About the Composers/Performers:
Emilia Amper (b.1981) is a Swedish instrumentalist and composer, best-known for her performances on the traditional Swedish nyckelharpa, or keyed fiddle. She is a member of the folk group Skaran together with Jonas Bleckman (cello) and Anna Rousell (flute). Amper debuted in 2012 with the album Trollfågeln, published on the record label BIS Records. Here she performs her own composition, a folk concerto for nyckelharpa and chamber orchestra, with the Trondheim Soloists.
The Trondheim Soloists (Trondheimsolistene) from Norway are one of the most exciting young ensembles performing on the international stage. Through the orchestra's dedication, commitment, and enthusiasm, it has quickly established itself as the most innovative chamber ensemble in Norway. The ensemble was founded in 1988 and has been responsible for professional concert training for string-players at the Music Conservatory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Their performing style has been described as “a hybrid between modern techniques and period ideas: they use Baroque bows but on metal stringed instruments.”
About the Poet:
Scott Cairns (b 1954) is an American poet, memoirist and essayist. Cairns earned his BA from Western Washington University, an MA from Hollins University, an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and a PhD from the University of Utah. Cairns has served on the faculties of Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University, and University of Missouri. While at North Texas, Cairns served as editor of the American Literary Review. Cairns is the author of eight collections of poetry, one collection of translations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir, a book-length essay on suffering, and co-edited The Sacred Place with Scott Olsen, an anthology of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Dr. Cairns is currently the program director of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA in Creative Writing program.
About the Devotional Writer:
Joe Gorra is founder and director of Veritas Life Center, a California-based 501c3 religious nonprofit aimed at advancing the Christian tradition as a knowledge and wisdom tradition for the flourishing of human life and society. His writings have appeared at ChristianityToday.com, Patheos.com, EPSOCIETY.org, and various publications, including the Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, the Christian Research Journal, and the Journal of Markets and Morality.