Susan Lafferty“I don’t read the Old Testament,” she said. “I don’t like it. It’s too bloody.” She cited the blood of battle and sacrifice.
Her words followed my announcement that our small group would be studying passages in the Old Testament.
And I knew what she was talking about. You don’t have to read very far before there it is again.
Blood and sacrifice.
It’s 2013. I sit in the easy chair and contemplate upcoming travels. Across the ocean. Our way of life means moving back and forth.
And adjusting to changes between two different worlds. Parallel universes, really.
We are heading back into the intensity of culture and color and music that is South Asia. The constant calendar of religious festivals. The daily encounter with spiritual worship of every variety.
The relentless dust.
The candle flickers.
Just enough light to see the words.
While they were there in Bethlehem to register, “the time came for her to give birth” (Luke 2:6).
The time came.
On a short-term trip. In the midst of a temporary stay. Far from family and the familiar.