NOT HAVING TO READ BOOKS

Saturday, August 11, 2007

For years, as a minister, I felt the need to read books and I did. I kept up. I kept growing. I owed it to the church and to myself not to let the world pass me by. I needed to read to stay fresh. I needed to read to stay motivated and aware.

Free at last. Free to read what I want to read. Free to go on reading adventures not caring where I end up. Oh, I have always done some of this kind of reading but not nearly enough. Now that I am retired—I’m free to read anything I please.

I have made a discovery. Now that I don’t have to read the “tough” stuff to stay informed and educated—I want to. Go figure! Now, for the first time in fifty years, theologians are seriously rethinking the Apostle Paul. ‘New perspective’ scholars argue that we need a new perspective on justification by faith. Do we? I don’t know, but I do know that now that nobody is asking me to tell them what is right or wrong about all this, is that I am greatly interested in getting to the truth of it all.

Oh happy day. I can read or not read. Tomorrow morning when I go to church I will not be stopped by the first deacon I meet or the first old lady, demanding to know what I think about the new perspective on Paul.