Skip to main content

Obadobadiah



Just the other week it was the Service at which our Scout Group all reaffirm their promises... So members of all the various sections were taking part, from the Squirrels to the Scouts. My youngest son, who is a Beaver, was asked to read the Old Testament reading... which was exactly what happened to me around the same age...


I actually remember what it was to this day. Obadobadiah 1-11. Actually, it was Obadiah verses 1-11, but when I reahearsed it with my mum the night before I added in a couple of syllables. But my main problem wasn't the title, it was the content with all its talk of pillage and ransacking... I hadn't a clue what it was about. Have you ever read the book of Obadiah... No... didn't think so... Go read it... it will only take you 5 minutes... But it would take you to then read a commentary of 4 times the length to understand it. So what chance had I, as an eight year old child, got when it came to understanding what I was reading?


Mind you, why should I be worried. So often it seems as if the Bible passages read in church mean nothing to the reader. It may as well be the telephone book for all the sense that is drawn out of it. Is this because people don't bother to read it, never mind read it out loud before doing so in church? Or is it because they really think that it is as boring as they make it sound?


If we really believe that the Bible is, or contains the word of God then we should read it in a way that affords it the respect it is due. That doesn't mean putting on a special "I'm reading the Word of God" voice. But it does mean a wee bit of preparation an thought going into what you are reading.


But the question remains, what on earth was the minister in question doing getting an 8 year old boy to read such an impenetrable passage in public? Indeed, why was it being read at all at what was effectively a children's service? Now I'm not for running shy of the more difficult bits of the Bible... we shouldn't simply stick to the miracles and parables of Jesus (although some of those are quite challenging if we are really listening), but there is a time and a place for introducing people to the delights of Obadobadiah... And a children's service ain't it...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Anointed

There has been a lot of chatter on social media among some of my colleagues and others about the liturgical and socio-political niceties of Saturday's coronation and attendant festivities, especially the shielding of the anointing with the pictured spoon - the oldest and perhaps strangest of the coronation artefacts. Personally I thought that was at least an improvement on the cloth of gold canopy used in the previous coronation, but (pointless) debates are raging as to whether this is an ancient practice or was simply introduced in the previous service to shield the Queen from the TV cameras, not for purposes of sacredness, but understandable coyness, if she actually had to bare her breast bone in puritan 1950s Britain. But as any church leader knows, anything performed twice in a church becomes a tradition. All this goes to show that I did actually watch it, while doing other things - the whole shooting match from the pre-service concert with yer wumman in that lemon-