Deep Dive
The pandemic has been a time for our family to plan our meals more carefully. Because we are only making one trip to the grocery store each week, we have learned the importance of setting the menu ahead of time. Once a week, we sit around the table during supper and discuss what we might eat the following week. Everyone has a chance to share ideas, which has helped us diversify what we prepare by returning to some old favorites. Before the pandemic forced us to slow down, I would often hurriedly grab something from the store on the way home from work, which made it easy to forget about the classics that require more careful planning. The intentionality of a meal plan has brought renewed meaning and joy to the daily task of cooking.
As the need for physical distancing has continued, we have benefitted from practicing the art of making a weekly shopping list. As a result, we have improved in lots of ways. We are better at shopping for what we need, better at saving money on what we buy, better at consuming all of what we cook, better at adapting to what we have on hand, better at making everyone at the table happy, better at appreciating the people whose work makes our family’s meals possible, better at being grateful for our blessings. There is nothing new about what we are doing, but a deep and intentional return to something familiar has been a gift to us all.
In Deuteronomy 11, God tells God’s people to immerse themselves in God’s words and commandments. They are to put them in their hearts and souls. They are to bind them as a sign on their hands and as an emblem on their foreheads. They are to teach them to their children. They are to talk about them when they are at home and when they are away, when they lie down and when they rise. They are to write them on their doorposts and their gates. God wants God’s people to flourish and recognizes that, in order to do so, the people must return again and again to the stories of their ancestors in order to remain connected to their Creator and Deliverer. The abundant life God envisions for them grows out of their willingness to build a community around a deep engagement with their history as God’s people.
Last Sunday, as I wrapped up a series on “How to Read the Bible,” we read part of Deuteronomy 11 as an example of how we might approach God’s word as a spiritual practice. More than an ancient text to be scrutinized, more than an entertaining story to be retold, God’s word is something that must shape our lives. In order for scripture to have that foundational role, we must do more than look up a passage when it suits us or quote a verse out of context. We must practice the art of reading and rereading and meditating on and discussing the Bible as a daily endeavor. The kind of faith and life formation envisioned in Deuteronomy 11 is one that is practiced over years and across generations. The practice itself is as important and valuable as the texts themselves. One does not practice something without wanting to get better at it, and we rarely improve without practice.
Given the conflict, anxiety, and uncertainty in our society, this is a good time for all of us to return to the basics not for a shallow engagement but for a deep dive. I think that the seven-week series on “How to Read the Bible” was well received because it focused on something familiar but in a fuller way than usual. This summer is an opportunity for our parish to do more of that kind of deep work. Starting this month, we are offering an “all-parish read” of Rowan Williams’ short, complex, yet readable book, Being Christian. You are encouraged to order it online, read it on your own, and participate in online discussion groups hosted by parishioners. Beginning this Sunday, I will start a three-week series on “Eucharist and Pandemic,” exploring the theology behind our core spiritual practice and the extent to which it can be found in liturgical innovations that have arisen in this time of physical distancing. The last few mornings, I have appreciated the struggle of reading Ecclesiastes during Morning Prayer in a time of unrest. Returning to the familiar words has been an opportunity for a deeper engagement with what God is saying through them. None of these practices is new, but our return to them can be.
How have you found new life in old practices? How have you felt the benefits of returning to the basics with renewed intention? When things are unsteady, we are comforted by familiarity, but we are strengthened by immersion.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan