Scripture like clothing...

I am re-reading Lauren Winner's "Girl Meets God." Now I am always biased in favor of the spiritual autobiography genre, and it certainly helps that Winner is a historian, focusing on a period of American Religious history that I have found fascinating. It also helps that she is a brilliant and engaging writer, seamlessly weaving history and theology into her account of her journey from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity.

But raving about this book (and you really should all pick it up) is not what I'm writing about. I read a portion today that I found to be particularly profound. Winner is describing a discussion she had with a Jewish friend regarding a particular text in the Jewish scriptures, and she writes:

I remember that this is what drew me to Judaism, in the first place, these words, turning them over like marbles in my hand, living inside the texts like clothes. Sometimes they are wool and they scratch and you want to take them off and maybe you do but you never stay naked for long.

I love this description of the scriptures. I love the idea of Scripture being so very important, so very central that it is like clothing. And I love the way Winner furthered the analogy - that sometimes the text rubs against you, and you discard it, and yet, you always return to it because to not return would to be missing something essential - to be in some way naked.

I think I feel this way about the scriptures. There have been times when I have set them aside, unwilling to accept the implications of various passages. And yet, they draw me back constantly, because without a scriptural basis, my life is somewhat off kilter.

(In a closing parenthetical comment, if you ever want another good read, pick up "Mudhouse Sabbath" also by Winner. She discusses a number of disciplines in which she argues that Christianity could be greatly enriched by drawing from Judaism. Fascinating stuff.)