“The Future of the Book” headlined the cover of the Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2009.  The first article I read by Christine Rosen was entitled the same as the first sentence in the Gospel of John:  “In the Beginning Was the Word.”  I was hooked by the article as it began to discuss the bankruptcy of Reader’s Digest, its history and the critique it lived with since 1922 of condensing a novel into a short version resulting in the loss of so many words and thoughts.   She reminds us that we have now moved from 62 pages in a condensed version of Readers Digest to 60 seconds of sound bites to hear the daily news.  “Our willingness to follow a writer on a sustained journey that may at times be challenging and frustrating is less compelling than our expectation of being conveniently entertained,” she writes (p.48).   The articles in the Wilson Quarterly juxtapose the written word to digital snippets and images.   It questions the possible implications of gathering information quickly through digital snippets and images on our minds?  How will it effect our culture regarding our ability to translate human experience. If our stories are based on images and sound bites will we begin to run into the danger of not being able to interpret real or unreal events, because life is handed to us second hand? (p.47-53)

The article said nothing about religion or advent but I couldn’t help but think about how the Bible has been taught in most churches: a condensed version of passages cut and pasted to support selected doctrines.  In reality the Bible is a library of books that span diverse cultures, many authors and several thousand years.  I can’t help but wonder how the “condensed Word of God” has impacted the way we do theology and church in the United States.  Sound bites serve as a reason for faith and the complexities of the “word” remain hidden behind scholarly veils.   Perhaps the condensed version has limited our theological imagination so that the complexity and broad scope of understanding the God of the Bible is reduced to snippets of how to be right about who God is.

The condensed version of Jesus birth is inscribed on everything from Christmas cards to Christmas pageants.  But we know that birth is not accomplished in a sentence.  That is not real.  The sound of a wailing woman experiencing the intense pain of labor doesn’t match the image of Mary with a halo on her head that has been handed to us.  We know better.  I think the storyteller in Luke wanted us to get the picture that a woman gave birth in a stable and it wasn’t pretty or nice. She believed, she bore, and she became an example of what it means to give birth in the midst of devastation and struggle.     In its raw form it serves as a beginning to flesh out the meaning of God becoming flesh……and dwelling among us.  It isn’t neat and tidy.  It happens in the midst of the struggle.  The noise, the tenacity, the sheer guts of the narrative is what inspires and gives me reason to believe.   “First hand” experiences of God are found in the complexities of life!

It’s been several years since I left the condensed versions of the Gospel and second hand experiences of creeds and doctrines.  When it comes to my religion and the library contained in the Bible, I do not want the condensed version.  Going back to the words of Christine Rosen in the first paragraph, I want to be on the sustained journey that may at times be challenging and frustrating but much more compelling.