On Hearing God’s Word
I commute from Baltimore, which means I spend a lot of time in my car, about 40 minutes each way. For a while, I tried listening to the morning and afternoon news reports, talk shows, call-ins that strive for balance – Democratic caller on Line One; Republican caller on Line Two; Independent Caller on Line Three. That wore me out as much as the drive up and down I-97.
Music was hit and miss, even with the internet. Listening to Gregorian Chant was interesting, but a steady diet of the Kyrie and Agnus Dei starts to clash with the thrill-a-minute race that starts right after the Route 50 bottleneck.
Then an idea came to me. Why not listen to the Bible? Why not nurture my faith and fill the time with God’s word? Now, I know we hear scripture every Sunday, and I love this about our church. But we only get snippets. Passages show up without context. Some days it can feel like we’ve walked in on the middle of a movie. Or, we hear a gripping passage and wonder: Then what happened? Unfortunately, the lectionary doesn’t take us word-for-word, or chapter-by-chapter through the Bible.
Listening during my commute solved that problem. Not too long ago I heard the entire Gospel of Mark in one day. It was a beautiful, mesmerizing experience. The narrative is fast-paced, driven by a propulsive sense of movement that doesn’t come through on Sundays.
You can hear the demons howling; you can see the frantic crowds pressing in on Jesus; you can shake your head as the disciples repeatedly miss the point. Then there is crucifixion and the abrupt ending: “[The women] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Radio shows often promote their “driveway stories” that capture your attention and keep you from turning off the radio until the story ends. Listening to scripture can have a similar effect. Even though I know the story, I often find myself sitting in our Charles Street parking lot or in front of my house. It’s like binge watching a favorite show: Just one more episode. Or, in this case, one more parable, one more encounter.
You might try it. As St. Paul wrote: “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17.
There’s a link below to our website that can take you to your favorite book, or you can dive in and strive to listen to the entire Bible. I started with the Gospel of Matthew and figured I might cycle through to Malachi by year’s end. We shall see.
Fr. Dion
The Rev. M. Dion Thompson, Senior Associate