Reading and Sharing a More Useful Bible
I found the following video fascinating. It’s not that the content is all that incredible – it’s essentially a simple retelling of the story of Jesus’ encounter with Mary and Martha followed by a brief interpretation of why this story is important to the narrator. Rather, it’s the very fact that a popular “secular” (not my favorite term, but…) author uses the story at all, let alone to good effect.
Gretchen Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project
This past week she used the aforementioned story that ends with Jesus’ words that “Mary has chosen the better part” and invited us to join her in being more intentional about choosing what is most important to us.
All of which is well and good. But here’s why I’m intrigued. I am absolutely convinced that a primary reason that church as we know it is failing is because our people do not know the biblical story well enough to find it useful.
“Useful” may be an odd word for many when it comes to the Bible. Either because we don’t think of the Bible as useful or because we think we’re not supposed to think that way! 🙂 But let me explain why I think it’s an important term.
I believe that we’ve moved from what I would call “the age of duty” – when you did things (PTA, Rotary Club, church) because you knew you were supposed to – into what I would describe as “the age of discretion” – when you have so many possible opportunities and obligations that you pick only those that make a tangible difference to you. In this newer world of relative abundance (at least in terms of opportunities) the one thing that is scarce is time. And so we end up spending time on the things that make a difference, the things that help us navigate and make sense of our lives in this complicated world.
Which is where “useful” as an adjective for the Bible becomes important. Because if people don’t find that these stories help them think about their lives, make better choices, and understand their place in the world better – that is, if they don’t find the biblical stories useful – then in the Age of Discretion they won’t keep coming to church because they should, or because their parents did. Instead, they’ll devote time to other pursuits that are more useful, meaningful, and helpful.
Which brings me back to Gretchen: if she can offer up a biblical story and think with her readers about how and why this might be helpful and useful – and there are a variety of interesting comments about it – then why in the world aren’t we? Why aren’t we, that is, sharing with others where and how we’ve found various biblical stories interesting and helpful and inviting them into conversation around them.
I have some hunches, but I’d be more interested in hearing from you about whether there are stories you’ve found helpful, whether you’d be willing to share them and what would help you do so, and how and why we might do more of this. I have a feeling that until we answer some of these questions, we shouldn’t look for the trend lines of church attendance to change.
Gretchen’s video is just under two minutes, so watch it now, if you can, and let me know what you think. Thanks!
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Post Image: He Qi, “Martha and Mary” (detail)
Thank you. The “happiness” video’s Biblical storyteller gave me pause to consider what is the one needful thing for me right now at this moment in time, on this day of sunshine not quite yet spring. So I stopped everything to pray. I stopped being Martha in the rush of spring cleaning. I even stopped sitting at the feet of obligation long enough to open my heart and mind to the stirrings of the Spirit. And in that quiet, God is giving me courage to continue working for justice, to keep on visiting pastors and churches not quite ready to receive me or any LGBT person, to continue praying without ceasing. My heart is lighter as the yoke Jesus lifts alongside me everyday.
Thank you, David, for your ministry via “In the Meantime.”
Thanks so much for writing, Anita. I’m gratified that the post was helpful, of course, but also for your living testimony to how Gretchen’s simple sharing made a difference. It offers an example of how simple – and powerful – sharing a biblical story can be. Blessings in your vibrant and important calling!
I’ve been thinking for a long time that the story of Susanna (from the Apocrypha) needs to be told to help girls and women make better decisions. Probable fiction, good detective story, and a happy ending.
I used to sit in a cube and work. Above me and over to one side was a set of clerestory windows. The scene and situation reminded me at times of the story of Joseph. There is an animated version that depicts Joseph tending a small tree growing from a crack in the prison floor. Nourished by a narrow beam of sunlight, and tended by Joseph, the tree grows and thrives. Joseph served and praised God regardless of his circumstance. I took some comfort in the hope that my cube time, like Joseph’s prison time, was preparing me for what was to come. Indeed, that has been the case.
As always, I appreciate your pulling us into some resources that we might not come across ( I had read her first book — an airport purchase!). I also appreciate your questions. I am a little nervous about having what we do/say/present at church needing to be useful. Yes, we need to wrestle with how God’s Word and our words connect. Yes, we are becoming consumers of time and one of the criteria for spending time begs the question: is this useful. But, I am uneasy — could I imagine coming to worship to sing a hymn, hear a scripture, pray a prayer that might not be useful to me on that given day? Maybe it was useful for the person that accompanied me to worship? Maybe it will be useful next week, when something happens and all I can say is — “in peace, let me pray to the Lord.” A lot of rambling here, you have gotten me thinking. Thanks.
I like the emphasis on ways that biblical story can help us live our daily lives and focus on what is needful for today. I also appreciate an insight from Lillian Daniel that Mary was breaking a gender role for her day, namely that women were not supposed to sit at the feet of gurus and think deep thoughts. We each have a little of Mary and Martha inside us, and the trick is to know when our lives need to be rich and full (like Martha) and when they need to be still and strong (like Mary). Thanks for continuing your invitation to allow biblical narrative to form how we live.
One concern — how could Martha have any idea that listening to their guest was the one needful thing — as a Jew, she would be governed by hospitality: preparing the guest’s meal, being surprized her sister doesn’t realize this is the one needful thing. Maybe Mary was simply a spoiled younger sister and Martha the one always expected to do the necessary and pick up the slack left by Mary. To be sure, later Martha and all the disciples [then and now] come to realize “He was/is the one needful thing! It is easier to assume Martha is just acting like a whiney older sister herself becoming whiney. Yet at the same time, when we hear Luther whispering in our ear: “…explain your neighbor’s actions in the kindest way…” we can allow room to at least wonder what is, for Martha, in her place and time, the most needful thing? And why wasn’t hospitality the most needful thing for Mary, in the same place and time?
Bless you David — you and your ‘blog; are truly a most ‘needful thing’ in my life as a pastor!
When studying Ezra Pound’s work on Chinese characters and the brilliant way they pictorially depict a sentence as a snapshot in time, of an ongoing action, it changed how I think and probably influenced how I interpret Biblical passages. Applied to Luke’s narrative, of Jesus first evening with these sisters as a snapshot of a longer relationship, that includes the value of both sisters and their development as disciples,it cuts through, ‘Mary the contemplative’ and ‘Martha the busy’, stereotype making the text more realistic and useful to me, because it helped me understand just how important Martha, Mary, and Lazarus became to Jesus, as friends and supporters, who sheltered, fed, housed, and comforted him on way to the cross and the resurrection in subsequent passages. Jesus chose to work through them and each had a valuable contribution to make; so the practical and spiritual components are balanced and comprehensive in the story.
One of the most useful sections of scripture (for me) is the one where Jesus is describing WHO is a sinner…and, paraphrasing here, He says “if you’ve even THOUGHT about adultery, you’re an adulterer. This puts everyone on a level playing field.
So, when someone says something negative about me, it gives me a chance to step away from the ego injury (since we’re all the same), and start examining the larger issue of why this person wants to try to hurt me? As the old saying goes, “words can never hurt me” UNLESS I LET THEM. I get to look for a deeper issue rather than hurling insults back and forth. That’s a game that no one wins except the devil.