The Holy Bartender
Wisdom has built her house… - Proverbs 9:1
At one point the Bible paints the picture of scripture as a bartender, and a female bartender, at that! Hmmm. That’s not what we traditionally think of, right?
But in the the Old Testament world, the Woman of the house would throw a feast and say “drink the wine I have mixed” (Proverbs 9:5). When it came to things like ‘wisdom,’ ‘insight,’ ‘knowledge,’ ‘understanding,’ and ‘learning’ (Proverbs 9:9-11), these all show up in the context of a party, hosted by this bartending Woman who’s not afraid to throw some shade at our pretentiousness and challenge our pettiness. The rebuking going on at this table is not about our manners but about our injustice, and Her teaching includes a lot of laughter but never at anyone else’s expense. And the table just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
So what if today you saddled up to Scripture like sitting down to a bar? And the Bartender was an old friend who was really kind and really strong and really honest, and She knew you really well and had just the right thing for you today. Of course, we can’t create that experience here in an awkward online devotional. But just doing an imaginative exercise like that might help. So read through this passage with that kind of attitude and see what the Spirit might say to you.
Jesus said, “I think you’re the best, Dad, because you hide these things from pastors, and reveal them to kids. You could do it any way you wanted, Dad, but this is what delights you! - Matthew 11:25-26
Additional Resources
1. Some City Church people have found helpful this wonderful daily podcast by a group of monks and nuns called Pray As You Go. It is a 10-13 minute Lectio Divina (like we did in church on Sunday - reading a passage of scripture twice with some questions and song and some silence)
2. Many City Church people have found the book Inspired by Rachel Held Evans to be a very helpful a) intro to the Bible or b) re-entry to the Bible. Rachel has been like a patrol saint to City Church.
3. Being in a group this Fall with others. Sometimes the communal aspect of talking about the Bible helps us through our issues with it. We’re looking at having a bible study on Philippians this Fall. If you’re interested you could express that interest here.