Seven Pages a Day: Chock Full O'Wisdom

Hello, faithful readers! Well, here we are a mere week and a few from Palm Sunday. Where did this Lent fly? I’ve managed to read nine more letters, on which I’ve reported below.

This will probably be my last blog for at least a week. This Sunday my husband John and I will be traveling to South Dakota to visit my cousin Lucero and her family. She is living and teaching on the Rosebud Reservation as a volunteer for Teach for America. I’m so proud of her!

We’re very excited about the trip, but I am a little worried about how well I’ll be able to keep up with my Lenten commitment to read the entire New Testament by Holy Thursday. Fortunately, I only have three books left: Acts, Revelations and the Gospel of John. I’m having a hard time deciding which one to read next. Maybe I’ll flip a coin. Wait, I’d need a three-headed coin for that. Well, I’ll figure it out.

Meanwhile...

1^stTimothy: This is one of three letters grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles, along with 2^nd Timothy and Titus. They are so called because they are addressed to Timothy and Titus, two young men ordained as pastors to the early churches. I may have been more charmed if one of the pastors was a woman.  Reading any one of these letters will work just as well as Ambien.

Philemon: This is a brief but touching letter in which Paul pleads on the behalf of Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus, turned Paul’s spiritual son. It is very tender, and has much to say about the power of forgiveness.

Hebrews: This book starts out like the notes from that really boring Christian Theology 101 class you took in Freshman year of College from the 1000 year old professor whose unruly nose hair both fascinated and repulsed you. But then you hit Chapter 11 and you are wowed. Here the author describes with ecstatic eloquence the heroes (uh, more heroines, please!) of faith we are called to emulate. Chapter 11 helps to make more sense out of Chapter 12—if our forebears suffered for the gift of faith, then who do we think we are to escape a similar fate? But then it’s back to more advice on the daily grind. Ho hum.

James: This letter bounces around a bit, discussing a number of issues germane to living a deeply spiritual life. James writes well, borrowing from nature to create lively metaphors and similes. Its wholesome air is summed up in one of my all-time favorite verses: “Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning” (Jas. 1:17)

1^stPeter, 2^nd Peter, Jude: These three letters are worth reading together as they seem to dovetail each other. The first dovetails the second in name (but not necessarily in authorship); the second dovetails the third in its concern regarding false teachers. Jude has quite the jaundiced eye regarding false teachers.

In summary what can I say about these nine letters?  Well, they are chock full of wisdom, faith and good advice.  Nonetheless, a part of me is tempted to sing along with Peggy Lee “Is That All There Is?”   There is so much more I want to know.  These brief letters and gospels just whet the appetite.  Guess I'll have to wait for heaven, where we can all sit around the campfire and hear the rest.