Monday, 2 December, 2002

This is a part of a series of devotions based on: God Was In This Place & I , i Did Not Know - by Lawrence Kushner



Like the One who has no mouth, who spoke the first letter that has no sound, the biblical word conceals an infinity of meanings. "She open a little window in her hidden palace and reveals her face to her lover, then swiftly withdraws, concealing herself." We read the Bible, fix our attention on a phrase, and suddenly find ourselves in a conversation with centuries of teachers who also have come hoping to penetrate the meaning of the same text, convinced that holy words are intimately related not only to what God means but even to who God is and who we are.



This entire book is focused around one verse in scripture: Genesis 28:16. Here Jacob wakes from his dream in which angels are ascending and descending a ladder going from earth to heaven. The verse is the name of the book. Each chapter demonstrates how different rabbis of old and present have interpreted the passage. In many ways, it shows how profoundly inadequate are the "literal" translations of scripture...and how the same can be said for those who say a passage can and must be read in one way. Our journey into scripture is a journey in which we may meet ourselves and find out just who we are as we are looking to see and gain a glimpse of the God who calls all things into being. Sometime we forget to carry on a conversation with scripture as we read it. And then, we do not give ourselves the time to carry on a conversation with other in regard to the text we are reading. More and more, I find it is so important to actually read the scriptures and begin to hear what takes place as we sit together and share the visions and insights that may come from any and all directions - each a window that gives us a glance at our God...one another...and ourselves.



Connection: Listening is a skill we must all take time to develop more fully. It takes time to listen. Especially if we want to hear more than our own side of the story trying to filter what someone is trying to say to us. When we meet and work with others today, it may do us well to see them as a text that is engaging us and demanding our complete attention...a text that will add to the fullness of our lives.



Lord God, you speak the first word of creation and there is life. You engage us in conversation and we become a people whose lives are shaped by you word and the words of those around us. Inspire us to look again and again at the image for life that is presented to us as we converse with one another in the presence of your word of life. Amen.