Monthly Letter

April 2008

Dear friends,

If you are familiar with more than one translation of the Bible you will be aware of textual variations and footnotes that give some explanation or draw attention to a problem within the text. I quote from the Revised Standard Version: “The most ancient authorities omit 7:53-8:11; other authorities add the passage here or after 7:36 or 21:25….” If I were reading my copy of the Revised English Bible, I would have to look for these verses at the end of the Gospel of John.

Have you identified the story?

One of the things that has always intrigued me about this story is that Jesus, asked to sit in judgement (so that he might be trapped), bends down and writes on the ground. What did he write? Was he doodling? Why did he do it? I am intrigued because I doodle, sometimes merely to pass the time; sometimes because it helps me concentrate. There have been times when the doodling has revealed something to me; helped me to understand a truth in a more enlightening way. I learnt something about the nature of the Trinity of God from a doodle and of the stillness at the heart of all movement – that quiet place where we can all enter and meet with God.

Was Jesus doodling in the earth? Did he find in that a moment of peace; a moment in which he was in communication with God? A moment where he could hear God’s voice in his mind bringing him wisdom and understanding?

A moment where he found the words to throw a challenge back to those who sought to challenge him? Read the passage for yourself (John 7:53-8:11) and come to your own decision.

However we can learn the importance of taking time. How often do we make

ourselves take time before we speak or act? Does our tendency to ‘react’ and speak hastily increase our ability to hurt others? Does it lead to division, dislike and even conflict? We need God’s guidance in all that we say and do, so why not take a moment of time, as Jesus did, so that the words in our mouths may be the words God would have us speak.

God be in my head and in my understanding;

  God be in my eyes and in my looking;

God be in my mouth and in my speaking;

God be in my heart and in my thinking;

God be at my end and at my departing.

Yours in Christ,

Kate