Saturday, July 19, 1997

Jots and tittles from the world of religion

By TOM SCHAEFER / Knight-Ridder Newspapers

Jots and tittles from the world of religion:

The ancient practice of memorizing stories and other texts has a new champion: Word Keepers.

Bill Steensland, executive director of the 9-month-old, non-profit organization in Ohio, said he hopes to persuade large groups of people to memorize the entire Bible one or two verses per person.

To meditate on the Word, he says, requires memorization. With that idea I have no problem. But he also notes that memorization may become crucial some day should an oppressive government confiscate and ban all Bibles. In this country, that sounds a bit paranoid to me.

Nonetheless, he has persuaded 36 members of Congress to memorize two different verses of the Book of Proverbs. The other 504 didn't respond to his invitation.

By my calculations, those 36 account for only the first two chapters of Proverbs and 17 verses of the third. Which still leaves 27-plus chapters. Which barely makes a dent in the 31,102 verses of the entire Bible (Protestant version).

Steensland, a former pastor and radio host, is undeterred. He has asked churches to consider divvying up a book of the Bible among their members to memorize. So far, 100 churches have asked for information on the project.

I admit I have mixed emotions about Steenland's plan. But if you want to learn more about it, check the Internet at www.wordkeepers.org.

I just hope you don't have to memorize verses of the Book of Numbers.

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Taking even the briefest time to reflect and meditate on spiritual matters can be challenging. And when we're finally prepared to ponder, materials to inspire us are not always readily available or easily accessible. (May I see a show of hands of those who are gung-ho to read "The Philokalia"? ... I didn't think so.)

I recently came across some booklets titled "The Modern Spirituality Series" that feature excerpts from the writings of such Christian thinkers as Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Carlo Corretto, Michael Ramsey and Bede Griffith. The series is published by Templegate Publishers in Springfield, Ill.

One of the booklets includes the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor who was hanged by the Nazis shortly before World War II ended. Bonhoeffer opposed Hitler and supported the 1943 attempt to assassinate him.

Bonhoeffer, who was 39 when he died, had a profound understanding of the costly nature of grace (hence, his classic writing "The Cost of Discipleship") and posited the provocative idea of "religionless Christianity," a concept he never had a chance to fully develop.

If you're looking for an easy and thoughtful approach to devotional reading and, no, I'm not discounting the importance of reading the Bible consider this booklet on Bonhoeffer as well as the other booklets in this series.

Here's an example of Bonhoeffer's spiritual insights, from his "Letters and Papers From Prison":

"I think we honor God more if we gratefully accept the life that he gives us with all its blessings, loving it and drinking it to the full, and also grieving deeply and sincerely when we have impaired or wasted any of the good things of life ... than if we are insensitive to life's blessings and may therefore also be insensitive to pain."

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In my ongoing quest to discover good reading material, with a spiritual edge, I received this interesting suggestion from Jeff Baker of Wichita, Kan.: "The Reach" by Stephen King (yes, THAT Stephen King, says Baker).

King's short story, included in "Skeleton Crew," is a real surprise, Baker writes. "I found it a moving, touching affirmation of not only life but of death as well."

The story is about Stella Flanders, 95, who has lived on Goat Island, Maine, all her life and has never crossed a 4-mile stretch of water (the reach of the title) to visit the mainland. A winter storm freezes the water, and she decides to make the journey, certain she is dying of cancer and troubled by ghosts she is seeing.

"The walk across the reach is almost a metaphor of life as a journey as well," Baker says. "I recommend the story highly. I can't hear the Doxology without thinking about 'The Reach.' "

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On a lighter note, ponder the significance of this hypothetical conversation between a man and God:

"Is it true that in your scale of reckoning, a thousand years is like a minute?" The Lord assures him that it is.

"And is it true that in your weights and measures, a thousand dollars is like a penny?" Again the Lord assures him that he is right.

The man then says, "Lord, I am a poor man. Give me a penny."

The Lord says, "In a minute." from "How to Keep Laughing," edited by Richard Deats.

(Tom Schaefer writes about religion and ethics for the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle. Write to him at the Wichita Eagle, P.O. Box 820, Wichita, KS 67201, or send e-mail to tschaefer(at)wichitaeagle.com )