Do you remember the television show Reading Rainbow? It was an American children's television series on PBS that encouraged reading among children. It was highly respected and won numerous awards during it's time on the air.

“Reading,” said English poet, essayist, playwright, and politician Joseph Addison, “is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Reading informs, inspires, educates, enlightens, and entertains. Reading relaxes. Reading is a wonderful hobby. I love to read with my children Hannah and Micah. We read the adventures of Dora and Elmo and his Sesame Street friends. We read about giving a mouse a cookie, a moose a muffin, and a pig a pancake.

For me, I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction. I love to enter the world of Narnia, a good crime novel is fun, and the works of Cormac McCarthy are great. I love biographies, Malcolm Gladwell's books, and spiritual and theological texts. I love to read.

Reading is important to our spiritual journeys; both personally and corporately. For Salvationists, the first Doctrine from The Doctrines of The Salvation Army states: “We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by the inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.” Reading the Bible is vital. The Bible guides us through Christian faith and practice. The Bible is similar to a playbook, an instruction manual, a map. It is, however, so much more. It is the living and breathing word of God.



The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture by N.T. Wright is an excellent book. (Anything by N.T. Wright is worth reading). At one point in the text Wright states: “…the role of the Bible within the church and the individual Christian life indicates three things which are of central importance…” First, “…the God Christians worship is characterized not least as a God who speaks, who communicates…” God talks to us through the Bible. We hear from God through the Bible. The Bible is not an email, a blog, or a Twitter account. It is, however, communication from God. “Second, it is central to early Christian instruction that we be transformed by the renewal of our minds… …reading a book in order to have one's life reordered by the wisdom of God is not counter-intuitive, but is cognate with the nature of Christian holiness itself.” Finally, third, the Bible “…reminds us that the God we worship is the God whose world-conquering power, seen in action in the resurrection of Jesus, is an offer to all those who ask for it in order thereby to work for the gospel in the world (Ephesians 1:15-23).” We are created in the image of God. When “we hear his word and obey his call, we are able to live out our calling to reflect the creator into his world.” (N.T. Wright, The Last Word, pages 33-34).

To paraphrase Joseph Addison: reading the Bible is to our spiritual journeys what exercise is to our bodies. The Bible is vital to our personal walks with God and our communities of faith.

The theme song from Reading Rainbow encourages children to “take a look, it's in a book.” We could sing the song regarding the Bible as well. What is God like? What is Jesus like? What is the Holy Spirit like? What can I read for spiritual wisdom and guidance? What can I read to hear from God?

“Take a look, it's in the Book.”

Captain Mark Braye and his wife, Nancy, are the officers/pastors of The Salvation Army Tri-Town Community Church in Temiskaming Shores, Ont. They have two children, Hannah and Micah. The four of them love to play and watch Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and The Wiggles.