Contemplative Bible Reading

Mark 4:2 (New Living Translation)

He taught them by telling many stories…

This is how Jesus taught. He told many stories.

When I was a child (many years ago, or was it yesterday? Sometimes I confuse the two), people read me Bible Stories. My father read me Bible Stories. My teacher (it was a Christian school) read us Bible Stories.

The stories from the Bible were wrapped in stories about kids like me and about kids who weren’t like me.

Good grief. Now I have to decide what to write next.

• I learned that their were kids who were not like me, but who believed in the same God. God was God for everyone.
• I learned that those kids learned from Bible Stories, that the Bible was the Bible for everyone.
• I learned that some adults cared enough about me to spend time reading me Bible Stories.
• I learned that I wanted to hear those Bible Stories. There is something about Bible Stories that span time, places, and listening kids and telling adults.

I suppose I could go one longer about what I learned from those Bible Stories and those persons who told and read the stories.

Back to the basics, Jesus taught them by telling many stories.