Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear friend,

How many times have you tried to start reading the Bible from the beginning? The other night I was sitting at the dog park letting Sammy run after it had cooled off, and I tried again with Genesis. As usual I got stuck just about the time that God separated the waters. I was curious why, is it because I already know how this chapter goes generally? Is it the repetitiveness? Is it my human mind that can’t comprehend over and over the grace of this creative God for whom we reach? Maybe. But since I was curious, at the dog park after all, able to be a bit playful about it, I tried a different cadence in my head. Usually “and it was evening and it was morning the first day” sounds quite somber in my head. Why not in the voice of a favorite actor or beloved family member who used to tell me stories, or in the voice of those who would have first told these story, trusted orators in a community who have the rapt attention of the listener? Then, I looked up as my dog was chased toward me and heard “let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind, cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” That kind of closeness of experience, being "in situ" to the rambunctiousness of life, made the poetry of Genesis come alive again for my reading.

With a more playful ear I could hear things differently and wonder, how is there evening and morning and day before there is a sun and stars? Was that order already a part of the order of creation?

I could hear “let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,” and also hear “they were all together in one place” from the Acts 2:1.

We know play unlocks things for children, it teaches them about human relationships, consequences, motor skills. It must teach adults something too, however silly it may sound in our heads to use a new voice for scripture.

Approaching the Bible, not with irreverence, but with joy and loving wonder can release us from the academic fear that we’ve got to have it all figured out, and instead allow us to hear anew what the Spirit is up to in our day!

In Christ,
Taylor