Dear Friends,
I was so impressed with all of you and your knowledge of Shakespeare last Sunday! I only tricked you by including one quote from a poem – The Passionate Pilgrim. And who knows? That might have been a line written Richard Barnfield, Christopher Marlowe or Sir Walter Raleigh!
I must confess that I spent ages one time trying to find where in the Bible, “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose…” is written. Merchant of Vencie, Act 1, Scene 3, is the answer. But all of you already knew that!
I was also really impressed with our Sunday Youth Group and their presentation on Sunday. They spoke about where different kind of food can be shared with others, building on the proverb in the selection we were looking at on Sunday – Proverbs 22:9; “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.”
They are asking everyone to bring non-perishable foods (and thanks to the presentation – see the image – we all know what they are!) each week to church and put them in the baskets the Sunday Youth are supplying. These foods will be taken to the Narrabundah Food Pantry ( CS#1 Food Pantry) – a community outlet for people with a genuine need or those on a limited income. If you would like to know more about the pantry, or would like to volunteer, you can email reception@communityservices1.org, or if you would like to drop off your donations directly – you can do that at 63 Boolimba Cres Narrabundah on weekdays between 9am and 4pm.
This Sunday you are all going to be impressed by Rev Dr Jeanette Mathews’ presentation of Ecclesiastes. Based on her work in biblical performance criticism, Jeanette has reimagined Ecclesiastes with it sections coming from different perspectives as a television talk show featuring host, John Clark, with special guests; Qohelet – John Foulcher, The Optimist – Rebecca Hilton, The Pietist – Rob Waites and musical performances from ‘Season’ by Emily Chick! It is an incredible engaging and interesting way to look at this ancient wisdom book.
This performance of Ecclesiastes is from Jeanette’s most recent book, Reading the Megillot. Megillot is the name of the Jewish festival scrolls, a collection of Old Testament books that were read at Jewish festivals, and which recognize that life itself—with all its joys and griefs, successes and failures, achievements and yearnings—can help us interpret Scripture.
According to the review of the book, “in Reading the Megillot, Jeanette Mathews uses her own translations to reimagine each book as a different type of performance: Song of Songs as a Greek play, Ruth as a miniseries, Lamentations as performance poetry, Ecclesiastes as a television talk show, and Esther as a pantomime. Each script is introduced with historical and literary context and followed by commentary highlighting performative features that shed new light on the biblical traditions. These close readings reveal important connections between the books and contemporary issues. Through these scrolls, the drama of human experience becomes a touchpoint for faithful reenactment by new audiences.”
My hope is that this three-week series on wisdom literature, has helped you to make connections between these ancient texts and our own modern lives, between ancient wisdom and contemporary living faith.
Grace and peace,
Belinda