"Take up and read"

“Take up and read. Take up and read. Take up and read.”

These are the words that a down-in-the-dumps professor of rhetoric heard floating over a fence in a garden in Milan, Italy, nearly seventeen hundred years ago. They may have been the words of a child at play, but they turned out to be the very words that the professor needed to hear. Newly inspired, he picked back up the book that he had been reading before he became despondent. They were the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome. The words he read there touched his heart and changed his life. He became a believer in Christ, he left his post as a professor, and he went on to become one of the most influential theologians in the history of the church. The turning point was when St. Augustine heard those words: "Tollo lege," which is Latin for “take up and read.”

I’d like to issue that same invitation to you, to “take up and read” the entire New Testament over the remaining days and weeks of this calendar year. It’s only about 14 weeks now from the beginning of Matthew to the end of Revelation, reading just a few chapters a day. If you’ve ever wanted to read the New Testament all the way through, now’s a great opportunity to do it.

I’d also like to invite you to “take up and read” the New Testament in community with other readers from our congregation. On Tuesday evenings at 7 pm in the Leap of Faith classroom (beside the library in the front of the church), we will gather to review the previous week’s readings and share observations, questions, and maybe even some life and faith decisions. Now, I don’t know if anyone will decide to leave their jobs like Augustine did, but there may well be some new dimensions of discipleship that are discovered.

So let me say it again: “take up and read.”

The reading schedule is posted on our church’s website, in our weekly email newsletter, and on our bulletins. Even though we started in Matthew this past Sunday, there’s plenty of time to get caught up. Here’s this week’s schedule:

Sunday, September 22 – Matthew 1-2

Monday, September 23 – Matthew 3-4

Tuesday, September 24 – Matthew 5-7

Wednesday, September 25 (today) – Matthew 8-9

Thursday, September 26 – Matthew 10-12

Friday, September 27 – Matthew 13-14

Saturday, September 28 – Matthew 15-17

Sunday, September 29 – Matthew 18-20