Reading out loud on a train journey

Now I don't know about you but one of the things I would never do is read out loud when sitting on a train. There are of course those who don't need a mobile telephone because surely they are shouting loud enough to be heard by the other person without the need for assistance, but that's a different story.

Consider this scenario:
There you are sitting on a train and the person opposite you suddenly looks up (you probably don't know them, or if you do, not that well) and starts reading their book out loud, what would you do? Would you:

a. Move,

b. Tell them to shut up,

c. Start sucking your thumb and get comfortable because it's 'story time', or

d. Would you put your earpods in and turn up the volume on your digital music device?

Well I don't use the train that much so that's not something I'm really going to experience but I do have to endure a parallel to this in the number of time that I might go to a social media site and find someone I know (generally not that well) has posted a whole gobbet of a book they are reading onto the page. Often it is some trite tosh from one of the big haired, well-meaning, well-heeled American televangelists, you most likely know what I mean (and if you don't, one recently went a bit like this:

"Be of good cheer for God hears and sees and He is here and you are not alone in your struggles so keep yourself firm and stable for God has your deliverance planned. What you are experiencing now is only in the now but God has you placed in the eternity of Hos being and your being and His are one. . . . "

Now, I wasn't experiencing anything until I read that and then the clouds appeared and the growing sense of 'being read to' crept up on me and so, like those who greet their neighbour with a loud shout in the morning, I was niggled and frustrated. So I hid them author and continued.

Then, on Christmas day, another well meaning person posted today's reading and began to shout about the naming and circumcision of Jesus! Now I don't wish to be churlish here but I was actually enjoying a Christmas morning and the cord had not long been cut when there we were naming and circumcising Him! Then, to place a cherry on the cake, the self same person sent me a passage which saw Jesus marking up the road to Golgotha!

'Blimey' (thought I) 'Can't I enjoy the birth of Jesus, the Christ-child, for just a few hours before I marvel at the gift of life he has given me through the Cross? Can't I marvel at the gift of life that is Jesus and be thankful to the Father for this outworking of His love?

And of course the answer is a resounding 'NO" because the phone wobbled and there the same person was again  this time with:

'The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the LORD'S.' (Obad 1)

Got to be honest, by now I was thinking extremely black thoughts - so I put the phone away and continued being both blessed and (hopefully) a blessing.

But here is a simple plea for 2013:

If you are reading a book and enjoying it, then I am pleased for you - I don't need you to read it to me!

If you have a Bible passage that is doing something in your life, then I am happy to hear it, but unless you are going to contextualise it and put flesh on the situation, the passage and the ways that it is meeting your needs - then don't just post the blessed thing because it more than likely means nothing to me and does nothing for me!

And if you ignore these two simple requests you might just find that you get a response that sits badly with the place you are in.

A 'for instance' - recently out of the blue someone posted:

'The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.' 

(ps 34)

And appeared to be most upset when they received the response, 'Well that's good news for QPR supporters tonight then!'

If you read out loud you will have to expect contextually ambiguous responses - 2013 is the year of them and gentle warnings:

Pax

Daily Office - Jan 1

The Naming and Circumcision of Jesus

Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits;

Who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;
Who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion;
Who satisfies you with good things,  so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

The Lord executes righteousness and judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy,  slow to anger and of great kindness.
He will not always accuse us, neither will he keep his anger for ever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,  nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy upon those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,  so far has he set our sins from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him.
For he knows of what we are made;  he remembers that we are but dust.
Our days are but as grass; we flourish as a flower of the field;
For as soon as the wind goes over it, it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.
But the merciful goodness of the Lord is from of old and endures for ever on those who fear him,
and his righteousness on children’s children;

On those who keep his covenant  and remember his commandments to do them.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven,  and his kingdom has dominion over all.

Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word.

Bless the Lord, all you his hosts,  you ministers of his who do his will.

Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion;
bless the Lord, O my soul.

Genesis 17.1-13
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.’

God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Romans 2.17-29
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery?

You that abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You that boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law?

For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’

Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

The Collect
Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.