Friends
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
“The past is a foreign country they do things differently there.”
“Last night I dreamed of Manderley.”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
All these famous introductions to books leave us wanting to know more of the story. How could it be both the best of times and the worst of times? Is it really a universally acknowledged truth? The past is a foreign country – yes, we can recognise that. Where or what or who is Manderley? And what is this Word that was in the beginning and was not just with God but was God?
This Sunday is the last of the Church Year and next Sunday will be the first of Advent and our lectionary readings will come round again to year A. Have we enjoyed the book? Has it led us onwards into the story so that we wanted to hear the next bit on the next Sunday, or has it been a dry round of unfamiliar and difficult bits, intertwined with stories we know so well that we switch off? How do we ensure that the story remains fresh and engaging so that those who hear it for the first time are excited and others are reminded or challenged by unfamiliar readings? These are the questions preachers ask themselves each week. How do we ensure that our reading and interpretation of the Bible seeks social justice as fiercely as Dickens, engages hearts and minds as strongly as Austen, holds us in a story-teller’s grip as firmly as JB Priestley and keeps us in suspense as much as Du Maurier?
This time of year, as we come to the end of the story and prepare to start it anew, let us “read” the story of the Church year with as much intent and excitement as we read the novels of our great writers, let us seek to find the Bible as un-put-downable as A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, The Go-Between or Rebecca. For we too have a story with a memorable beginning.
God bless,
Vicci