a little poem
March 1, 2008 (Saturday)
All our lives we have heard and repeated the poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Simple. Straightforward. To the point. A simple little tale about a little girl taking her pet to school.
You wouldn’t think there would be much to talk about if you decided to investigate the poem, would you? Think again. The outline of a Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia article gives a hint about the wealth of information in it: 1 Original text, 2 Background, 3 Song, 4 Other versions and uses, 5 Media, 6 References 7 Colorful illustrations.
This encyclopedia article makes me think of the way many of us preachers and teachers handle the Scriptures. We take a simple verse, scrutinize it, analyze it, interpret it, give the historical-critical commentary about it, take it apart and put it back together, quote the original lanquage with some observations about the tenses and moods, and finally get around to preaching a full-blown sermon about it.
The only way to understand the meaning of Bible verses is to study them carefully, using all the tools available to us. Many of us who expound the Bible, however, share the recipes instead of the cakes. We can’t eat recipes.
We don’t have to be scholars to be blessed by the Bible. A great way to let the Bible speak to our daily needs is to find a place where we can be alone with the Word, pray a while, read a while, then pray some more, letting the words from God enter our hearts.
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Click here and you will see the encyclopedia entry about “Mary Had A Little Lamb” with lots of information and insights, as well as tidbits of trivia associated with the poem.