Yes, for preachers, and anyone else, the best book to read is the Bible.
As the song goes:
“If you read it every day, it will help you on your way.
The best book to read is the Bible.”
Since I was a teenager, I have followed a pattern of Bible reading that covers most or all the Bible every year. At first sight such a method might appear to be tedious, as it involves going over the same ground every year for over half a century.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible does not change but I do. I am not the person I was as a teenager, my perspective has matured and changed, as have my circumstances.
I sometimes read a novel two or three times because the I have found the sheer pleasure of reading it does not fade with re-reading. I have never read a novel fifty times, but I have read the Bible more than fifty times.
One of the ways that I have maintained my attention span is reading in fresh translations and dipping into the original Hebrew and Greek. In the past few months, I have enjoyed reading the New Testament in the Common Standard Version (from Holmon Bibles). The edition I have been reading is the Connecting Scripture New Testament, A Study Bible of Biblical Allusions and Quotations. This book has been a real treasure trove as it is crammed with footnotes that follow the trails back to the Old Testament origins of so much of the New Testament.
The Letter to the Hebrews has been one of my favourites as it is saturated with Old Testament allusions and quotations. As a preacher I have a soft spot for Hebrews because it is described by the author as a brief message or sermon (Hebrews 13:22). I admire the sheer artistry of the writer’s composition. It is a brilliant model of how one central idea, that Jesus is better than all the types and shadows of the Old Testament, can be woven into one coherent message.
It is always good when I notice something in the text I had never noticed before. For example, in Hebrews 13:5–6:
‘He (God) himself has said, “I will never leave you or abandon you.”
Therefore, we may boldly say:
“The Lord is my helper,
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”’ (CSB)
Throughout Hebrews citations from the Old Testament have been spoken by God, the Father, Son or Holy Spirit, but here they are spoken by the hearers.
In the footnotes the editors observe:
“For the first time in Hebrews, a book dominated by God speaking his word now involves us speaking that same word back to him.”
It is good to remember that preaching is not one way traffic. At its best preaching brings the word of the Lord and the congregation adds its “Amen to that!”)
It is always lovely in a response time to a sermon to hear people use words in prayer or song that reflect back to God what he has said to us.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash